Episode 1
Death is Now My Neighbor

Morse (John Thaw) and Lewis (Kevin Whately) are called in to investigate the mysterious deaths of two Oxfordshire neighbors, murdered only twenty-four hours apart -- and with the same gun. The investigation begins to unearth links between the two crimes, but it also leads Morse and Lewis straight into the hot-house atmosphere of the election for Master of Lonsdale College. Bur murder isn't the only mystery solved in this compelling whodunit: Morse's first name is revealed.

Part 1
Originally aired Thursday, March 2, 2000 at 9pm

A young woman (Julia Dalkin) is fatally shot at 17 Bloxham Drive, one of a series of connected townhouses. With only a valentine from an unsigned lover to go on, Morse (John Thaw) talks to the neighbors in the adjoining homes, including Geoffrey Owens (Mark McGann), an aggressive journalist, and Adele Cecil (Judy Loe), a music teacher with whom Morse is immediately taken -- and secretly hopes is innocent. And then, at precisely the same time the next morning, Geoffrey Owens is shot and killed. . .

Part 2
Originally aired Thursday, March 9, 2000 at 9pm

Morse (John Thaw) and Lewis (Kevin Whately) learn that the Bloxham Drive murders are connected to a discreetly, but bitterly fought competition taking place at Oxford's Lonsdale College. The current Master of Lonsdale, the malicious Sir Clixby Breem (Richard Briers), is retiring, and two professors, Denis Cornford (Roger Allam) and Julian Storrs (John Shrapnel), are vying for the post, with their wives doing what they can to influence the election behind the scenes. And what's going on behind the scenes? Plenty: adultery, blackmail -- and murder.

Episode 2
The Daughters of Cain

Suspects and alibis abound following the murder of retired Oxford professor, Dr. Felix McClure (Bernard Brown). What starts as an apparently routine inquiry for Morse (John Thaw) and Lewis (Kevin Whately) turns out to be far more complex than either expected as they unravel a sordid story of suspicious undergraduate suicide, drugs, and the sudden resignation of a long-time college employee.

Part 1
Originally aired Thursday, March 16, 2000 at 9pm

Murder strikes at the heart of Oxford's academic world when Dr. Felix McClure (Bernard Brown), a retired university professor, is found stabbed to death. Morse (John Thaw) and Lewis (Kevin Whately) suspect the former custodian of McClure's dorm, Ted Brooks (Tony Haygarth), who left his job abruptly after one of McClure's students committed suicide. The case heats up when Morse discovers that McClure, the suicidal student, and the student's roommate, Ashley Davies (Jason Riddington), were all in love with the same woman -- who also happens to be Brooks's daughter. (The Daughters of Cain, Part 2, follows at 10PM .)

Part 2
Originally aired Thursday, March 16, 2000 at 10pm

Morse (John Thaw) and Lewis (Kevin Whately) add to their long list of suspects when they begin to question the unusually close relationship between Ted Brooks's (Tony Haygarth) wife Brenda (Gabrielle Lloyd) and the woman for whom she cleans house, schoolteacher Julia Stevens (Phyllis Logan). Julia seems to be protecting Brenda from her husband's abusive behavior -- but when Ted is found dead, could she also be protecting another kind of secret? In one of Morse's most challenging cases, the trail of drugs, spousal abuse, and secret alliances leads to an unexpected -- and for Morse, less-than-satisfying -- conclusion.

Introduction | Episode Descriptions | Cast and Production Credits