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Storyline
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Charlie Hillian is killed on the night of his retirement party. Hillian was at one time a senior officer in Oxford and was in fact Morse's boss. He was also writing a book about his most memorable cases, including one about the unsolved death of an 8-year-old girl some 18 years ago. The suspect in that case, Frederick Redpath, was at Hillian's house the day he died and that chapter from the manuscript is missing. There are other suspects however, including Hillian's ghost writer who will now receive all of the book's royalties; a handyman who was working on the property; and Redpath's daughter, who knew the little girl who was killed all those years before. Morse comes into conflict with with a colleague DCI Dawson, who was one of Hillian's protégés, as they again look into the little girl's death. Written by
garykmcd
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Did You Know?
Trivia
The operatic aria heard at points throughout this episode is "Senza Mamma", sung by Janis Kelly, from 'Suor Angelica' by
Giacomo Puccini See more »
Quotes
[
the pathologist has just given Morse a post-mortem report including some rather glib descriptions]
Chief Inspector Morse:
[
sarcastically]
"Lights-out"? "Whammo"? Are those medical terms, doctor?
Pathologist:
I prefer to keep things simple, Chief Inspector. Especially when dealing with policemen.
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Connections
References
An Inspector Calls (1954)
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Soundtracks
"Senza Mama"
from "Suor Angelics" (uncredited
Composed by Giacomo Puccini (1918)
Recording played by Morse several times.
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This episode seems to have everything that made the series great: the unbearable weight of society's hierarchies, embodied here by -- of all things! -- the politics of the police. But there's also Morse's curmudgeonly lovability, Strange's predictable difficulties with protocol, Lewis's wanting-to-believe-yet-almost-bailing. It is probably the most noir of the lot: everyone loses, even Morse's debating team. But it is the chemistry between Thaw, Davies, and Colley that is the most mesmerising. Listen to how Kenneth Colley pronounces the initial sibilant of the word 'slab' in his final scene: terrifyingly competent. And of course the signature tune, Puccini's Senza Mamma, nails it.