Inspector Morse - House of Ghosts

Alma Cullen, based on Colin Dexter's characters

Birmingham Rep and Melting Pot Productions

Grand Opera House, York

September 23-27, 2025; 2hrs

(also at Sheffield Lyceum, October 28-November 1; Liverpool Playhouse, January 13-17; Newcastle Theatre Royal, February 3-7, 2026; Lowry, Salford, April 7-11)

Tachia Newall as Lewis and Tom Chambers as Morse in Inspector Morse, House of Ghosts. All pics: Johan Persson

What’s going on? I thought I’d come to see a stage version of one of TV’s top detectives. Instead I'm witnessing a scene from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, performed in an Oxford theatre.

True, there is murder most foul as we, the audience, watch a jittery young actor on stage murder’ the "To Be Or Not To Be" soliloquy; putting the ham in Hamlet, you might say.

Things take an even darker turn when Ophelia enters, begins coughing up blood and falls to the ground, dead.

Enter Inspector Morse, who just happens to be in the audience and promptly jumps on stage and goes into full investigation mode.

Putting such a well-loved character on stage is no easy feat, especially when Morse is so identified with one actor, John Thaw. But Tom Chambers does a more than decent job as the stage Morse - perhaps a little bland at times, but a more than acceptable double act with sidekick Lewis (Tachia Newell).

What helps enormously is Alma Cullen’s script. She wrote four episodes of the TV series and in Inspector Morse - House of Ghosts, to give its full title, develops the same sort of format: short scenes, a shock reveal at regular intervals, all executed skilfully under Anthony Banks' direction on a versatile set (by Colin Richmond) that allows quick moves from location to location over two hours.

What makes House of Ghosts successful is having Morse personally connected to the suspects in the investigation. We learn about his past as the questioning of suspects continues. As an Oxford student he too was involved in a production of Hamet that didn’t go as it should; he has old scores to settle, particularly with the director, and ghosts from the past to exorcise.

Like the TV stories, House of Ghosts gets very, very complicated as the truth is revealed about who has been doing what, and to whom. Whodunnit has never been more complicated and perhaps a slightly slower denouement would help. I must confess there were times I thought I’d lost the plot.

Wisely, Tom Chambers doesn’t attempt to copy John Thaw’s performance. Morse ‘s trademark quirks (crosswords, real ale, opera) are present and correct, but are inserted naturally in his performance.

Tachia Newall is a fine foil as his police sidekick, making me wish we’d seen and heard more of the character.

More info and tickets here