In The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn (1988), one of Morse's first cases on MYSTERY!, Oxford's cranky-but-brilliant Chief Inspector confides to his loyal sidekick, Detective Sergeant Lewis, "My doctor says I should lose some weight, stop eating butter, start eating polyunsaturates, whatever they are. It's not quite the same, though, is it, Lewis?"

John Thaw is back–and things are not quite the same for Morse, or his health, as he spends most of his latest adventure, The Wench Is Dead, in hospital. But there's no keeping Morse down, as he directs from his hospital bed a murder investigation that just might prove to be his most challenging ever: The crime in question was committed 140 years ago.

A "Criminal Oxford" historical exhibit and American criminal expert Dr. Millie Van Buren (Lisa Eichhorn) draw Morse's attention to the Oxford Canal Murder of 1859 (recreated in period detail in the program). A young woman's corpse was found floating in the canal, the apparent victim of four roughneck boatmen who were transporting her to London. The subsequent trial of three of the men resulted in the execution, by hanging, of two.

At first it might seem that some of the more unsavory details of the crime cause a squeamish Morse to break out in a sweat–and collapse in the men's room. But his physician confirms that Morse's love of Guinness and less-than-healthy living have left him with, at best, a peptic ulcer. Admitted, ever-grumbling, to the hospital for tests, he is tended to by his "lady friend," Adele Cecil (Judy Loe; Death Is Now My Neighbor), and visited by Chief Superintendent Strange (James Grout), who proposes, much to Morse's horror, that Morse should consider early retirement.

When Dr. Van Buren pays Morse a get-well visit and leaves him with a copy of her latest book, a chronicle of the Oxford Canal murder, Morse can't help but get caught up in the details, and soon becomes convinced that the wrong men hanged for the crime. Confined to hospital while he waits for the results of his tests–and with D.S. Lewis away at a conference–Morse enlists the help of the Thames Valley Police Department's newest recruit, Adrian Kershaw (Matthew Finney).

"The basis of detection is to keep asking 'Why?,'" Morse bellows in the direction of his young assistant. Why did the dead woman, Joanna Franks (Juliet Cowan), take a canal boat to London when a train would have been faster and comparable in price? Why were her shoes left on board? Why were only three of the four men charged in her death? And who was the mysterious man on the canal bank seen leaving the scene shortly after the body was found?

As Strange grows impatient with Morse's (ab)use of Kershaw in a case long-closed, Morse and Kershaw continue to chase history: They dust off the physical evidence from the crime, stored in a nearby archive, and subject it to some very modern forensics tests. The results lead Morse to unearth a clever, duplicitous plot, the key to which lies in an abandoned grave in Ireland–and which would have spelled quite a different fate for the men who hanged in 1863.

And Morse's fate? Given a clean bill of health and some dire warnings to clean up his act, the Inspector surprises even himself when he opts for early retirement. "To make an end is to make a beginning–the end is where we start from," he tells his doctor, although one suspects that Morse is not quite so settled about leaving his long career as a detective.

Asked if The Wench Is Dead, a case steeped in history, is likely to make Morse history, MYSTERY! executive producer Rebecca Eaton responds: "[Novelist] Colin Dexter is at work on a new Morse adventure, actually. I think if history teaches us anything it is to never underestimate the power of Morse to find something new to grouse about–or a new case to crack."

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