Inspector Morse, selected episodes

We’re not sure why PBS has let Mystery! go to hell, and if their idea of customer service is another Hetty Wainthrop sequel, we’d rather have another hole in our head. Time was, they ran the good stuff, like Morse—a virtual institution on the other side of the Atlantic. Granted, the series has been uneven over the years—as is readily evident on cable’s BBC America. In fact, most of these particular episodes are in saturation rotation on the American Beeb. But they’re the good ones, and a worthy keepsake by which to remember John Thaw—whose death last year brought Morse to an irredeemable and permanent end. (Hetty: The bell tolls for thee, too!)