Inspector Morse: The Wolvercote Tongue
09:10 am - 11:15 am, Thursday, January 8 on ITV3 (10)
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About this Broadcast
The Wolvercote Tongue
Season 2, Episode 1
An American tourist's body is discovered in her hotel room, apparently dead from a heart attack - but a valuable Anglo-Saxon jewel she intended to donate to the Ashmolean Museum is missing and several interested parties are acting strangely. John Thaw and Kevin Whately star, with Simon Callow, Roberta Taylor and Kenneth Cranham
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audio-description
Detective/Thriller
Movie/Drama
Mystery
Cast & Crew
John Thaw
(Actor)
.. Chief Inspector Morse
Kevin Whately
(Actor)
.. Det Sgt Lewis
Simon Callow
(Actor)
.. Theodore Kemp
Kenneth Cranham
(Actor)
.. Cedric Downes
Roberta Taylor
(Actor)
.. Sheila Williams
Peter Woodthorpe
(Actor)
.. Max
Robert Arden
(Actor)
.. Eddie Poindexter
Christine Norden
(Actor)
.. Laura Poindexter
Bill Reimbold
(Actor)
.. Howard Brown
Helena Stevens
(Actor)
.. Shirley Brown
John Bloomfield
(Actor)
.. Phil Aldrich
Mildred Shay
(Actor)
.. Janet Roscoe
Jane Bertish
(Actor)
.. Marion Kemp
Christine Kavanagh
(Actor)
.. Lucy Downes
Cherith Mellor
(Actor)
.. Fiona Hall
Nicholas Bell
(Actor)
.. Dr Swain
Tim Faulkner
(Actor)
.. Hotel manager
Iain Ormsby-Knox
(Actor)
.. Duty sergeant
Maureen Norris
(Actor)
.. Nurse
Sara Coward
(Actor)
.. Lynn
Ron Copsey
(Actor)
.. Waiter
Teddy Thompson
(Actor)
.. Waitress
Kenny McBain
(Producer)
Alastair Read
(Director)
Julian Mitchell
(Writer)
More Information
Did You Know..
John Thaw
(Actor)
.. Chief Inspector Morse
Born:
January 03, 1942
in
Manchester
Best Known For:
Inspector Morse.
Early-life:
John Edward Thaw was born on January 3, 1942, in Manchester. He had a younger brother, Ray, but theirs wasn't an easy childhood. The boys' mother, Dorothy, left home when John was seven, while their father, Jack, was often away working as a long-distance lorry driver. Despite being painfully shy, John began appearing in amateur dramatics productions and eventually won a place at RADA, where he studied alongside his friend, Tom Courteney.
Career:
Thaw's first professional job came at the Liverpool Playhouse. His film debut came in 1962's The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, which starred Courteney. Thaw worked extensively on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre, and early TV roles came in Z Cars and Redcap. But it was The Sweeney, alongside Dennis Waterman, that made him a household name thanks to its uncompromising style. He switched to comedy with Home to Roost, but it was playing Inspector Morse that made him a national treasure. Almost everything he touched then turned to gold; he starred in top-rated dramas such as Kavanagh QC, Goodnight Mister Tom and Buried Treasure. He died in 2002 following a battle with cancer of the oesophagus.
Quote:
"I was born looking fifty."
Trivia:
Divorced first wife Sally Alexander after four years and one daughter in 1968. Married Sheila Hancock in 1974. They had a daughter together, and Thaw adopted Hancock's daughter from her first marriage.
Kevin Whately
(Actor)
.. Det Sgt Lewis
Born:
February 06, 1951
in
Newcastle upon Tyne
Best Known For:
Playing John Thaw's right-hand man Lewis in Inspector Morse.
Early-life:
Kevin George Edward Whately was born on February 6, 1951, in Hexham, and grew up in the remote Northumberland countryside. His father was in the Navy, and Whately only saw him two or three times a year. He began acting at the age of four and it remained a passion throughout school, alongside a short-lived desire to be a doctor. When his careers teacher advised against acting, he went into accountancy for three years. He later trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama. His brother, Frank, is a drama lecturer.
Career:
Whately's TV debut came in a 1979 episode of Shoestring. Two years later he had a six-week stint on Coronation Street. His big break came in 1983, when he landed the role of Neville in Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. In 1987, he made his first appearance as Sgt Lewis in Morse, and has since appeared in Peak Practice, the TV dramas Trip Trap, Gobble, and The Broker's Man, as well as Oscar-winning drama The English Patient. Other projects include Paranoid, Silent Cry, Murder in Mind, Purely Belter, Promoted to Glory and The Children. He's now the star of hit Morse spin-off Lewis.
Quote:
On John Thaw: "John had a wonderful sense of humour which is belied sometimes by journalists' impression of him as irascible. He was a wonderful mimic, particularly of people on the set rather than famous people."
Trivia:
Married to actress Madeleine Newton, who appeared alongside him in both Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Inspector Morse. They have two children, Kieran and Kitty. His daughter is an acclaimed opera singer.
Simon Callow
(Actor)
.. Theodore Kemp
Born:
June 15, 1949
in
London
Best Known For:
Four Weddings and a Funeral.
Early-life:
Simon Phillip Hugh Callow was born on June 15, 1949, in London. His parents separated when he was two years old and he was raised by his mother and grandmother. He spent time at the London Oratory Grammar School, and also had a stint on the African continent, between the ages of nine and 12. His mother, who had once enjoyed an affluent lifestyle, attempted to cover up the family's poor economic status by making sure her son's diction was perfect.
Career:
Following spells at Belfast's Queen's University and London's Drama Centre, Callow worked in the Old Vic's box office after being recommended for the post by Laurence Olivier. Acclaimed stage roles followed, as did several small parts in such TV shows as The Sweeney and Carry On Laughing! He had the lead in 1984 sitcom Chance in a Million, and made his film debut the same year in Amadeus. Since then he's continued to appear regularly on stage and TV. His most notable movies include A Room with a View, Postcards from the Edge, Shakespeare in Love, Four Weddings and a Funeral, and The Phantom of the Opera. He was also a judge on the show Popstar to Operastar in 2011.
Quote:
"People expect me to be constantly merry, and I'm not. Sometimes I'm quite melancholy. I have an in-built sense of regret about things."
Trivia:
He has written biographies of Oscar Wilde, Charles Laughton and Orson Welles.
Kenneth Cranham
(Actor)
.. Cedric Downes
Born:
December 12, 1944
in
Dunfermline
Best Known For:
Being a star of stage, TV and film.
Early-life:
Kenneth was born in Dunfermline on December 12, 1944 to Margaret and Ronald. He trained to be an actor at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain and Rada. His breakthrough as an actor came in the 1960s when he starred in Joe Orton's Loot in the West End and on Broadway. He made his TV debut in an episode of City 68' in 1967.
Career:
Cranham's long career has seen him switch effortlessly between roles on TV, film and in the theatre. On the small screen, he is best known for playing the lead role in popular 1980s comedy drama Shine On, Harvey Moon! but he has numerous TV credits to his name. He has starred in Danger UXB, Brideshead Revisited, Inspector Morse, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, El C.I.D., Minder, Our Mutual Friend, Rome, and Doc Martin among many others. On the big screen, he has starred in Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988), Kevin & Perry Go Large (2000), Born Romantic (2000), Layer Cake (2004), A Good Year (2006), Hot Fuzz (2007), Valkyrie (2008), Made in Dagenham (2010), and Maleficent (2014). He continues to be heavily in demand. On the stage, he is best known for playing Inspector Goole in An Inspector Calls, a play he performed in the West End and on Broadway.
Quote:
On Shine on Harvey Moon: "It was very popular in Scotland. I always thought it was because it was very like The Broons."
Trivia:
On the stage, he has a long association with the work of Harold Pinter.
Roberta Taylor
(Actor)
.. Sheila Williams
Born:
February 26, 1948
in
London
Best Known For:
Playing Irene Raymond in EastEnders and Inspector Gina Gold in The Bill.
Early-life:
Born the illegitimate child of a bus conductor on 26 February, 1948, in London, Roberta was brought up by her mother, aunts and grandmother. She was always very close to her mum, and they lived in the same street in London before she died suddenly of bronchial pneumonia. Roberta documented her early years in the 2005 memoir Too Many Mothers. After attending drama school in London, she joined the highly acclaimed Glasgow Citizens' Company and worked for years in theatre.
Career:
Appeared in the projects Ladykillers, Inspector Morse, The Witches, Tom & Viv, Dangerfield and Silent Witness before being cast as Irene Raymond in EastEnders. She stayed with the hit soap for three years until 2000, then went on to appear in Doctors and Holby City. After four previous appearances in The Bill, she was finally cast as Gina Gold in 2002, and played the same character in spin-off series MIT: Murder Investigation Team. She also appeared in the BBC's 2005 critically acclaimed adaptation of Bleak House.
Quote:
"It's fantastic to play somebody like Gina (in The Bill). She is just so sarcastic with everybody. It takes people's breath away and she is not shocked by anything."
Trivia:
Away from acting, she is an active supporter of the Labour Party.
Peter Woodthorpe
(Actor)
.. Max
Robert Arden
(Actor)
.. Eddie Poindexter
Christine Norden
(Actor)
.. Laura Poindexter
Bill Reimbold
(Actor)
.. Howard Brown
Helena Stevens
(Actor)
.. Shirley Brown
John Bloomfield
(Actor)
.. Phil Aldrich
Mildred Shay
(Actor)
.. Janet Roscoe
Jane Bertish
(Actor)
.. Marion Kemp
Christine Kavanagh
(Actor)
.. Lucy Downes
Cherith Mellor
(Actor)
.. Fiona Hall
Nicholas Bell
(Actor)
.. Dr Swain
Tim Faulkner
(Actor)
.. Hotel manager
Iain Ormsby-Knox
(Actor)
.. Duty sergeant
Maureen Norris
(Actor)
.. Nurse
Sara Coward
(Actor)
.. Lynn
Ron Copsey
(Actor)
.. Waiter
Teddy Thompson
(Actor)
.. Waitress
Kenny McBain
(Producer)
Alastair Read
(Director)
Julian Mitchell
(Writer)
