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Exclusive Profile with Colin Dexter
“I was advised to retain the rights to the character, which was shrewd — I didn’t want 101 different interpretations of Morse as happened with Miss Marple...”
This love of literature compelled Colin to study at Cambridge’s Christ’s College — not Oxford, as one might have thought, given Morse’s provenance — but not before an 18 month period of National Service in 1948 working in the Royal Corps of Signals reading messages from the Russians and Germans sent in morse code. There’s a common misconception that this is the origin of the name of Colin’s anti-hero. Upon graduating from Cambridge with an honours degree in the Classics, Colin began a teaching career that took him throughout Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, most notably Wyggeston School in Leicester and Loughborough and Corby’s grammar schools. With hearing problems eventually leading him to take up a position in 1966, Colin eventually settled in Oxford, working for the University of Oxford’s Delegacy of Local Examinations.
The detective was named after Sir Jeremy Morse, a fellow crossword compiler and champion, who Colin describes as “The cleverest man I’ve ever met!” The detective’s forename, closely guarded until later episodes, was derived from an amalgamation of his mother’s Quaker belief, his father’s interest in Captain James Cook and from the sticker in the rear window of Sir Jeremy’s car, which read Endeavour Garage. Lewis, the detective’s long-suffering assistant, incidentally is also named after a crossword champion; Antony Lewis. Initially, turned down by Collins, the first Morse novel, Last Bus to Woodstock, was published by Macmillan in 1975 and cannily, Colin has retained the copyright to the character ever since. “I always said I would not allow what they did with Miss Marple, where they had 101 people trying to put their interpretation on the part.” says Colin.
It was there he enjoyed a comfortable career before a rainy family holiday in the 1970s would change the author’s life forever. “I said, ‘We’re not going to have that Though Colin has written several for the simple reason that I don’t novellas before — published by think anybody is going to match “As soon as Robert Maxwell — he has never John Thaw.’ But people I saw John Thaw experienced literary success misunderstood that, and took I recognised him as before Morse was first born it that I was never going to do Morse. Myself, John on a kitchen table in Wales. anything with Morse.”
and Kevin remained great friends long after.”
“My wife Dorothy is from South Wales. We have been married for around 55 years, and bought a small cottage there for around £1,000 where we would enjoy family holidays.”
“The children would ask why we didn’t find somewhere warm and sunny to holiday. One afternoon in particular they were complaining, and having read several crime novels that were in the cottage that week, I thought ‘I could do better than that’ — I just shut myself in the kitchen and began to write.”
Main: The Mk II Jaguar is one of the most recognisable cars on TV. However, in the original books Morse drove an old Lancia. The production crew couldn’t find one, so the Jag was actually a last minute substitution.
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Colin says he has a poor visual imagination, and had little idea of what Morse would look like. Many of his traits are from Dexter himself though; Morse’s Oxford life, and ostensibly Colin’s penchant for single malt whiskies or real ale. The author has diabetes and, like Morse, and has since given up alcohol completely. Colin, like Morse, is also a fan of the music of Wagner, and crosswords — a passion for which is the real origin of Morse’s identity.
Next month sees the start of filming for a new four part series Endeavour, charting Morse’s early years in the force, after leaving Cambridge.
The author still has power of veto over interpretation of the character, so Morse should always be true to the way Colin intended him to be. Certain aspects of Morse’s personality, are pure fiction. Colin himself is by no means curmudgeonly but gentle and a pleasure to talk to... not the intellectual snob that Morse is often shown to be! A real pleasure to speak to, one of the area’s most famous authors has created one of the most compelling characters and one of the best TV series in recent years. With cunning plots that have ensured viewers remain hooked for years, it is, however, the paradox of how a grumpy anti-hero could come from the pen of such a gentleman, that remains the biggest unsolved mystery yet. n