Product: Inspector Morse [VHS] (1988)
Rating: 5.0
No the wonder church attendences are falling!
Morse travels out of the city of Oxford into it's suburbs to try to track down the murderer of a church warden inside the church. During the course of his enquiries he becomes attached to the part-time cleaner, Ruth Rawlinson, not realising at the time of her key role in the mystery.This is a curious perspective on Morse. At the church he seems smitten by Ruth at first glance and in a way the episode is about Morse persuing Ruth until he apparently succeeds only to be thwarted.Service of all the Dead has all of the trappings of Colin Dexter's Oxford - the central role of ritual, social class, and the little details which make these shows so good - in this case the idea that there could be tramps in Oxford ( a recurring theme), the cycle riding middle classes, volunteerrism and carers. All good ingredients.This particular drama is one of the most gruesome with six deaths all together. Also novel is the fact that the opening scene is found to be a set up. A lot of the death's seem to be red herrings too, to throw us off the scent.There is a particulary sensitive scene which has some relevance to contemporary events in a different church where Morse perceives the vicar as a paedophile. Later on the child in question is found murdered although the exhumation of the body is not filmed.Service of all the Dead is a gripping thriller replete with issues of blackmail, infidelity, revenge etc. Throughout it all Morse holds true to his feelings for Ruth and, despite the revelation that she loved someone else, he offers her a helping hand which, if discovered, could cost him his livelihood and his liberty.As one of the characters puts it, an alpha.