Inspector Morse (TV Series) Promised Land (1991) User Reviews

Good to see Morse Down Under

[SummerHoliday · 7/10 · 27 July 2006]

I love Inspector Morse and have waited a long time to see this episode. Being Australian it was wonderful to see the familiar setting, even though most of it was filmed out in the sticks. I was fascinated by Morse's opinion of Australia ("It's too empty"), and his struggle with the heat and the flies, while good old Lewis, known mostly as Robbie in this episode, loved it all ("This is like the Garden of Eden") and made the most of it, cooking his steak on the BBQ, drinking beer with the locals, etc.

The only thing that spoiled it for me was that about one third into the program, one of the local police said something like "between half-two and half-four", evidence that the script, even for the Australian characters, was really written by a Brit, not an Aussie. We don't say "half-two", "half-four", but "half past two" "half past four" etc. So when Aussie slang really was spoken later on, I couldn't help thinking it was all a bit contrived and not genuine.

It was wonderful seeing a very young Noah Taylor, he was by far the best of the Aussie actors on there.

The plot was confusing and not typical of Morse plots. I don't know if my brain was half asleep but it took me about half the episode before I could understand what was going on and figure out why Morse and Lewis had taken the trip down under.

Goosebumps moment: seeing Morse climb up the steps of the Sydney Opera House.

It's Australia Mate, Morse with a different flavour.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 5 May 2018]

I've always thought Promised Land to be one of the most dramatic episodes of Morse. He's a character so comfortable in his Oxford surroundings, so safe in the knowledge he has for his home patch, so knowledgeable of all around him, that it's great to see him outside of his comfort zone. Naturally he strides the Aussie landscape with his usual pomp, treating all exactly as he does. It has a very different flavour, the music, pacing and even story are all very different, it's visually brighter then normal, and has a harshness that isn't usually on show in the generally polished series. The ending, is one of the best in any episode, and Con O'Neill must be applauded for his superb performance, despite having limited screen time. Whately and Thaw are particularly brilliant, there's a fantastic monolgue from Thaw, which truly elevated the character, a human side shown to 'Robbie.' Wonderfully acted, with Rhonda Findleton performing brilliantly, The Opera House was a fitting conclusion.

Brilliant. 9/10

She'll be alright, mate.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 25 February 2011]

Sooner or later every TV series about the police take the principal to another location, and not just when the series is fagged out and desperate for novelty either. I think they took Lieutenant Columbo to England during his first or second season. This episode of "Inspector Morse" is about half way through its run and I suppose it was time to get him and Lewis out of the confines of Oxford and into the Outback.

And the change of locale works pretty well, too. It's the first time, perhaps the only time, we see Sergeant Lewis drink a light draft and Morse having orange juice. "They don't put the triple XXXs on Australian beer for nothing, Lewis." We also get a scenery-sensitive tour of small-town Australia, see sheep being sheared, a steak blackened on the barbie, vistas of the empty New South Wales countryside, a horse race, and the usual antipathy between the local constabulary and the nosy outsiders who have no jurisdiction. They always hand over temporary authority to Hercule Poirot and Columbo and they do it abruptly and without lengthy consideration, but not to Morse. It would deprive the Aussies of japes about the Pommies. Lewis picks up the habit of saying "yep" instead of "agreed," the "yep" being multifunctional, rather like the Canadian "eh". Morse chides Lewis in his usual sour manner.

Morse makes a blue about his reasons for coming to Hereford. He's seeking out a family in the witness protection program but is mistaken -- as he often is -- about the crime in which they're presumed to be involved. It leads to multiple deaths and some soul searching on Morse's part. But he's right about Australian beer. For a nation that drinks so much of the amber fluid they ought to give its quality more serious thought.

The location and the complexity of the investigation aside, this episode is unique in the series so far. There's a violent ending, straight out of one of the more subdued examples of an American cop thriller, and squibs explode and Morse winds up splattered with blood.

I kind of enjoyed it. Again, I couldn't exactly follow the reasons for the trip without constructing a flowchart. But the journey to Australia, for whatever reasons it was undertaken, was a refreshing change. Given Morse's musical tastes and the NSW location I kept waiting for the famous Sydney Opera House to show up. And finally it did.

The 5th series concludes with an explosive excursion Down Under.

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 6 July 2009]

Promised Land is truly excellent, and it was very nice to see Morse and lewis out of Oxford for a change. The scenery of Australia is beautiful, it was a treat because I confess I have never been to Australia and would love to go. The script is very well written and the episode is beautifully shot, especially when Morse and Lewis end up in a town that looks like a set from a western. The performances are of exceptional quality, Thaw adopting a sense of both sadness and sympathy into his character, and Kevin Whately very amusing here at times, particularly when he plays the Australian music on the radio and Morse cries "Turn that rubbish off Lewis". The performances of Con O'Neill, Rhonda Findelton and John Jarett are also excellent, and the highlight is definitely the showdown-like finale, very explosive, but when Morse admits that he was wrong, Thaw did that with such conviction, I actually felt for him, and the scene with Morse climbing the sydney Opera House steps gave me goosebumps with Der Rosenkavalier in the background. Overall, explosive and sometimes even tense, making this an unmissable and fitting conclusion to the 5th series. 10/10 Bethany Cox.

Where would the 'Great Morse' actually be without Lewis?

[ygwerin1 · 8/10 · 19 November 2020]

I can fully understand Australian viewers being to say the least somewhat peeved, at the temerity of the poms setting an episode of an English show in Oz.

Especially with any characterisation that may smack, of portraying Ausies as country yokels.

I have absolutely no idea of whether Australians are right, in considering this a travesty on their country. I can however fully understand, the justifiable apprehension.

Morse and Lewis have to travel far and wide from their usual stomping grounds in Oxford, as well as firmly beyond their comfort zones.

Morse is as arrogant as ever still never giving a monkeys, for anyone else's opinions bar his own.

As well as being totally myopic, only ever viewing things through his own perceptions.

I fully concur with Anne Harding's assessment of Morse, as well as that of the local old bill Scott Humphries.

Overall its good to have a change of scene away from the usual Oxford thoroughfares, though the denouement smacked not a little of High Noon.

Filled With Guilt

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 27 February 2018]

This episode is more of pedestrian police effort. Somewhere in the deep dark past, Morse became involved in a case involving the killing of a fellow police officer. His overzealousness at that time has brought about far ranging consequences. He and Lewis end up in Australia, seeing a family that provided evidence for this prior case. They are in a kind of British witness protection program. Morse and Lewis are not welcomed and he tends to be as irascible as usual. But someone is out for vengeance and that provides the goal. Sometimes things just don't work out.

Morse Down Under

[grantss · 6/10 · 16 September 2022]

A novel Morse episode in that it largely set in, and filmed in, Australia. The fictional town of Hereford, New South Wales to be exact (actual location: Canowindra, New South Wales) with a few shots of Sydney towards the end.

The rural Australian setting is a far cry from the genteel surrounds of Oxford and being set in summer also makes for dramatic change in climate. Some great scenery.

However, the script doesn't quite live up to the novelty. The plot is contrived, confusing, nonsensical at times and full of cliches. Talking of cliches, just about every Australian stereotype is on display, including a jar of Vegemite on someone's desk. I was waiting for one of the characters to have a kangaroo as a pet!

Luscious New South Wales

[jad-62091 · 7/10 · 10 June 2015]

For me this episode was all about the NSW countryside, much of which our family has traveled through over the last 35 years, and little about the plot. The glorious exposure of hills, mountains and pasture at a time of plenty - not drought; the chain bridge over which the abductee cycles, the 'bent' main street (created by the bullock drivers in a previous century), the street-scape, pubs and café in 'Hereford'; the railway sidings in 'Eugowra'; - all have changed very little in a little less than 20 years. However, the fleeting glance of a barn extolling 'Dunlop' on the Sydney to Cowra road has lost all its roofing (the family kept a mental log as each year or two another sheet was lost) and the Sydney ferries are now painted in green and gold!

Morse in Australia

[safenoe · 7/10 · 24 December 2023]

Here we see Inspector Morse and Lewis headed to Australia, and more specifically Hereford, which is actually a fictional place, and the filming was mainly done in Canowindra and Cowra in the state of New South Wales, along on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. Noah Taylor (who has an amazing resemblance to his The Year My Voice Broke co-star Ben Mendelsohn) is one of the Australian stars in Promised Land, along with John Jarratt. Nearly 15 years later he played the sadistic Mick "head on a stick" Taylor in Wolf Creek.

The country town atmosphere of Australia seems quite quintessentially Australian with accents and all.

I would have loved for Morse to do an episode in New York, Los Angeles, Bangkok, Mallorca or Athens.

Some red herrings were not resolved.

[bittermelonisgoodforyou · 2/10 · 6 October 2020]

So let's start by suspending my disbelieve that a detective can up and travel half the world in search of a case without even telling his supervisor. In real life, this trip would have to go through so many levels of bureaucracy that Morse and Lewis would have retired before they could pack their bags.

Another laughable conversation was when Morse told the witness' wife that they have his "personal guarantee". I would have been rolling on the floor laughing at this "personal guarantee". He couldn't even find the witness.

And thirdly, the wife said they were always afraid of their safety. Yet her doors were always unlocked, and her children went about by themselves. Morse asked the local constable for personal protection. This guy was a one man operation overseeing 500 sq miles!

Anyway, who killed the witness? I still don't know, nor do I care.

A litany of incompetence

[SimonSaysSmallScreen · 3/10 · 26 August 2021]

It does the series, not to mention Dexter's characters, a great injustice to write Morse, Lewis and the Australian police as completely incompetent at every single turn. Surely there would be a way to write this story without making them all idiots?

Excruciating

[makrhod-2 · 2/10 · 4 January 2011]

I am a "Morse" (and now "Lewis") fan from 'way back, but this episode was the worst I've ever seen. Firstly, the plot is so thin that you could turn away in disgust for 15-20 minutes and not miss anything important, but more serious was the cultural cringe caused by the episode. I don't think they could have squeezed in any more clichés or stereotypes if they had been commissioned to make an "Aussie Parody". There was everything: hay-strewn streets, wind-swept desert (right next to fertile farmland??), dopey locals, corny trucking songs on the radio, and insultingly naive and inept Australian policemen. Not to mention the 1950's clothes, furnishings, vernacular and vehicles. I didn't actually see any kangaroos hopping picturesquely and ludicrously down the (solitary) street, but that could well have happened during one of the times I had to leave my chair and stomp around muttering furiously (albeit in my quaint Ocker way) about condescending British script-writers who have all too obviously never even been to Australia, and who did all their "research" by watching 1930's newsreels about the country instead.