Last Bus to Woodstock

My second favourite episode of this wonderful series - made so by the magnificent appearances of Ian Sears (so good in BBC's Johnny Jarvis; Autumn 1983); Perry Fenwick (the latter memorably addressing the former as a "tosser") and, best of all, the luminous, gorgeous and underused Jenny Jay. Almost inevitably, Morse takes out a crush on a witness - not knowing she is sexually involved with another witness; thus Morse is further established as a man of continuing romantic disappointment: in this case where his nemesis and his icon are inextricably linked. As with virtually all Morse actors, Anthony Bate couldn't turn in a duff performance to save his life; and he's ably abetted here by Peter Woodthorpe in his final appearance as pathologist Max, and the scrumptious Holly Aird with skirts billowing as she balletically swans around college; also on display is the marvellous Fabia Drake looking not a day older than she did in the opening episode of The Prisoner 20 years earlier; and the ever reliable Terrence Hardiman as a company executive doing obtuse as only he can. All told then 10/10 Mark James Burden

Loved this one. Apart from a very silly plot point involving a coded letter found on the victim Last Bus To Woodstock is classic Morse. At this point it felt like the muder rate in Oxford was topping Los Angeles, but the scene where Morse visits the three female housemates is wonderful. He really should stop trying to get off with murder suspects, though!

Shame this was Peter Woodthorpe's last episode. As the gravelly but darkly humorous Max he was always a delight, Almost as fruity as he was in Evil of Frankenstein!

Definitely one of the best early episodes of Morse. I find pacing can be a slight issue with the earliest episodes, but that remark is not applicable here, this moves along very nicely, it asks the viewer a load of questions, and definitely tests your powers of observation. Complex relationships and a string sub plots that are all resolved in a very satisfying conclusion.

The scene where the girl is witnessed getting into an unknown car by Mrs Jarman is so strong, it's very clever, as a viewer you know something bad is going to happen, and an observer Mrs Jarman catches a glimpse, but it's staged in such a way that she only gets a glimpse. It's very very clever.

Beautifully acted, Morse and Lewis are up to the usual standard, but Anthony Bate and Fabia Drake are both excellent, two mature actors with lots of presence.

Very satisfying 9/10

"You're going to like this one. Quite a puzzle", says Max in this adaptation of Colin Dexter's first novel. Quite right: A girl is dead, and in her purse is a mysterious envelope, empty but for a coded letter, reading "Take this, please."

One of the best Morse episodes, Last Bus to Woodstock has a plot that twists and turns, keeping both Morse and the viewer stumped until the last moment, when the dreadful truth sinks in.

Gender roles and loneliness are the recurring themes that serve as the foundation for this visit to Oxford: Among the dozens of characters introduced, all but two live hauntingly lonely lives, coping as they may -- through drinking, gambling, sex and adultery.

The first exception is an old miss Marple type. She has learned to deal with the loneliness, or even appreciate it. The second exception is Angie, a young and amiable English literature student, who has yet to face the harsh facts of life. Of course, her innocence can't last, and eventually she gets her unpleasant rite of passage into adulthood.

As often with Morse, the conclusion is only half satisfying: Although the case is closed, there's no sense of justice being fulfilled, only lives ruined, a little more misery in an already miserable world. The Inspector Morse series never drew the nicest picture of society, but in this episode, it seems particularly grim.

Last Bus to Woodstock is one of the best Morse episodes,, certainly my favorite episode of season two. It gets the balance just right. Morse is at his most courteous - there's plenty of Lewis and Max (unfortunately, this is Max's last episode) - there's talk about religion, literature, sex, love, all the stuff we love about the show. It also manages to be reasonably coherent; I could keep up with the characters; the conclusion only had one out-of-place coincidence.

There are a few men, but the focus is really on the splendid female characters, from Fabia Drake, above, as the lovely, lovely Mrs. Jarman (this terrific sequence is exactly what would happen if Marple met Morse - and come to think of it, that's a series crossover that really should happen) to Holly Aird as Angie Hartmann, a young woman who shares Morse's love of literature.

Morse has lots of good conversations with interesting women, but doesn't date any of them, interestingly. (I understand this was not the case in the book.) Relationships (as noted in this review) tend to be shown in a very poor light - and Morse is about the only positive male character. The theme is most blatant in a scene in which Morse lectures Lewis for adopting a proprietorial tone towards Valerie: "I don't want to own anyone." Could a relationship based not on possession but on love be the answer? Is that even possible? The question is left hanging.

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