Inspector Lewis

Every time a new series of 'Lewis' appeared, my better half and I watched the lot from the beginning. A lovely way to get very acquainted with the actors, the humor, the stories and the music. From the pilot ('I used to row a bit') tot the end (with the LEWIS card just as in the pilot) it is a delight to watch. I never will understand people who think that on first viewing of a detective they saw it all. It's so multi-layered: first the crime, and when you digested that you can just enjoy the way it is made, the beautiful surroundings, the music, the humor, and last bus not least: the friendship. My god, how wonderful this is. When we watched the last episode my wife told me that she saw a tear in my eye. She was right.

When I want to see an action film or a thriller, no one, in my opinion, beats stuff made in North America. That being said, no one makes better mysteries than the British, and the "Inspector Lewis" series is proof positive of that. Kevin Whately is a stand-out as the eponymous character, a diligent yet sympathetic policeman who wears his middle-class background as proudly as he does his badge. It's nice to see Whately taking the helm in this series as it's lead after playing the wingman in the "Inspector Morse" shows for so long. He doesn't try to assume the John Thaw role but instead keeps this character all his own. James Fox is the perfect fit as his younger, book-smart partner Hathaway, a dude who can quote just about anything from anywhere, thanks in part to his scholarly background in Theology. These two guys have a very believable chemistry as police partners who work with each other's strengths (Lewis has the hunches it seems and Hathaway has his logic) to solve the multiple mysteries that crop up in the college town in Oxfordshire where they toil. The mysteries presented in the show are never too easy to figure out, giving you just enough clues to try to follow along. Often times it's a really cool surprise when the who-dun-it is solved at the end. I also want to add that, in addition to a great cast, great writing and so forth, they don't flog you with loud obvious music throughout that gives too much away (though yes, there is SOME music and it's quite nice actually). I'm a fan of this show and I hope they keep this series with it's fantastic cast going for a long time to come.

This is a review of Series One to Seven of LEWIS (also known as INSPECTOR LEWIS). I never imagined that a sequel series could surpass the original (INSPECTOR MORSE), but this is what has happened. The stories, writing and direction remain of the same excellent quality, but it is the performances which really put the series over the top. John Thaw as Inspector Morse often overdid the querulousness and could be a bit irritating sometimes, which was meant to be part of his character. But now that he has the top job, Kevin Whateley as Lewis has really come into his own as a heavyweight actor of true stature. He has made Lewis into such a rounded and convincing character that he is more compelling than Morse ever was. (Perhaps this solidity of character is due to Whateley being a direct descendant of one of the three notorious Thompson Brothers, all of them Parliamentary colonels, of the 1640s and 1650s.) But even Whateley's superb acting cannot match the eerie and uncanny brilliance of Laurence Fox's performances as Detective Sergeant Hathaway. Rarely in a TV series has any actor created such massive complexity of character with such understatement and minimalism. Fox's work is sheer genius. One is tempted to compare Fox with John Hamm in MAD MEN (see my review), where we hang on Hamm's every silence, expecting him to speak, but when he does not, we accept the profundity of his silence as part of his secretive character and sympathise with him. This is very much the case with Fox, whose brooding internal life makes us concerned for him. The strong performances of Clare Holman as the pathologist and Rebecca Front as the Chief Superintendent are equally important in giving the essential fibre to the series to ensure its success. Holman's perpetual cheeriness is rather infectious, and all the more fascinating in that she shows it when inspecting corpses. This series (which will have a Season 8 before long) is a magnificent success in every respect. Dom Perignon all round! However, one does have a certain sympathy with the population of Oxford, which has been diminished by so many murders after all of these years that one wonders that there is anyone left alive in either town or gown. I noticed that there appear to be heavy filming restrictions in place, for in none of the episodes do we see the commercial district or the roads with the most traffic. I only recall seeing Oxford Market used once. We never see the High Street except for the small area at the end by Magdalen Bridge. Oxford comes across all glamorous and antique, and you would never suspect there were other parts of the town which are glum rather than glam. The Sheldonian appears to be everywhere, and every angle of that has been covered many times. Some of the colleges appear to have said no. I have never seen the quaint battlements of New College in an episode, for instance. We never see Magdalen's deer park, we never see the endless walks along the river, which are inaccessible to filming vans. In a sense, a mythical Oxford provides the backdrop for this series. But then, that strangely adds to the effect, for by creating the illusion of an Oxford that goes on forever but is really often the same locations shot from new angles, the illusion of endless murders seems only a natural part of the equation D = ME, where D is drama, M is murder, and E is episodes. It is clear according to this equation that the drama can increase linearly if either the murders increase, the episodes increase, or both increase together. No analysis has yet been made formulating an equation expressing the rates of increase, whether two murders per episode cause an acceleration of the heartbeat, and whether nonlinear phenomena occur, such as particularly shocking murders leading to quantum jumps, i.e. hearts skipping beats. I go to Oxford so rarely these days, but on one visit what did my wife and I see but Kevin Whateley getting in and out of his police car near Merton College as the cameras rolled, on the same side of the street as Anthony a Wood's house. Long may he go on doing so. And let us hope that some future edition of Athenae Oxoniensis includes John Thaw, Kevin Whateley, and Laurence Fox as worthies, which they clearly deserve.

Call me an Anglophile, I don't care--it's probably true. This is a program for dedicated Anglophiles and those aspiring to be one. (LOL) The continuing adventures of Detective Inspector Lewis and his trusted sidekick Detective Sergeant Hathaway stand out for the strength of production values, acting, writing, and direction that are credits to the Masterpiece: Mystery! series tradition here in the States and television anywhere. Unlike most reviewers, I've never seen the Inspector Morse series which gave this one its genesis, but be assured I will be checking those discs out on Netflix shortly. Just know that this series stands completely on its own and is without peer, at least in my experience. The principals all acquit themselves with increasing wit and flair as the series progresses, creating a palpable matrix of living relationships which provide the sort of ongoing back story that insists you return, like that finish at the end of a wee dram of single malt, for more.

The cinematography (this is shot on film, not video), score (it is far too high quality to call it simply "music"), sharp pace of direction, and of course the acting, by both regulars and guests, is more than first-rate--it is better than we have any right to expect. Oxford is a very photogenic backdrop for the stories which manage rather niftily to send up the upper class snobbery of England at the same time that it celebrates the hallowed tradition of academia and culture with which it is inextricably entwined. The squarely middle-class education and perspective of the older Lewis is also projected against the Cambridge-educated Hathaway, a lapsed theologian who is at once intellectually on par with these Oxford denizens while yet at the same time apart, due to the inter-school rivalry as well as his own lineage, which we learn more of as the series progresses. The subtle windups Lewis and Hathaway deliver each other are to be savored, for they are the real mark of affection and respect each develops over time for the other.

That each episode fills in certain intriguing details of our regulars' back stories at the same time it guides us, with red herrings aplenty, through the solution of some very puzzling cases is also part of the magic of Inspector Lewis. I find myself at moments ignoring the developments of certain cases, not because they are dull, but because I am so consumed by disclosure of personal details and the repercussions amongst series regulars. Their lives matter to us, greatly, and their relationships are not completely static.

Never dull, frequently witty, and almost always a step ahead of us, Inspector Lewis is a series that entertains at all times, often plumbs surprising emotional depths, and occasionally achieves the elusive grace of art.

British crime series are always worth watching - even if they are longer than usual, having the length of a real separate film. Vivid, but still realistic characters, picturesque landscapes-townships and short (or sometimes even not visible) evil deeds form a quality standard and widening the audience not keen on constant explosions-fights-killings. I used to watch "Inspector Morse" - and I liked it - and "Lewis" has the same high level, with one exception: now the supporting character (Hathaway, played by Laurence Fox) is more interesting to me than the main one. It is not the question of acting, but the lines imputed to the persons involved.

"Only" 9 points from me as I like the new modernized Sherlock Holmes even more :)