Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts

Morse Code

Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts

by Alma Cullen, based on characters by Colin Dexter

Production Solutions at Richmond Theatre, until 20^th September, then on tour until 11^th April 2026

Review by Eleanor Lewis

Perhaps it’s unfair to begin this review with a line such as An Inspector Makes Noises Off but it is tempting considering the start to this much anticipated play featuring the debut of a TV favourite onto the Richmond stage.  The opening scene involves a production of Hamlet, playing at a theatre in Oxford.  During a poignant interaction between Hamlet and Ophelia the actor playing Ophelia dies, bloodily, on stage.  An authoritative voice (Morse) calls out from the audience (the actual audience) to halt the action and Morse marches from his seat towards the stage waving his warrant card.  He is immediately followed by Hamlet’s director striding down from the back of the auditorium with equally authoritative protestations and then a short but loud section of the familiar Morse TV theme tune is played, presumably to let us know that things have now really begun.

Morse has been at the theatre with what we might call ‘a date’ but he would prefer to refer to as a friend.  He and Ellen, were at Oxford together.  Coincidentally the play’s director was also there with them, though a year or so ahead.  The plot, which will not be detailed here for fear of spoilers, then unfolds around both the contemporary relationships between cast members (it’s 1987) and the relationships between Morse and his fellow students 25 years previously, the “ghosts” of the title and an echo of Hamlet’s play within a play.

There are some stock characters on show here: the older actress Verity, who hasn’t quite made it and is propped up by alcohol; Justin, the sensitive young lead who is talented but fragile; the bullying, egotistical director, Laurence and his super-extrovert, moneyed, American wife Harriet.  This is not to say that there aren’t enjoyable performances.  Robert Mountford is clearly having a ball playing the nightmare director, and the developing double act between Charlotte Randle as Verity and Spin Glancy as Justin is endearing.

This is a production in which Anthony Banks’ direction seems strangely laboured though.  There are occasions when a significant point is being made and it’s underlined with a short burst of music.  Similarly the potential comedy-tragedy of Lewis’ (Tachia Newell) attempt to leave work on time in order to enjoy his wife’s steak and kidney pie plus whatever else may be on offer is almost hammered home, and what were meant to be casual references to things we now take for granted “portable telephones” and computer networks seem to wait for audience responses.  All of this is unnecessary, Morse, Lewis and their habits and foibles are well known to their audience and the audience itself sophisticated enough to be able to see a bit of nuance.

The late Alma Cullen was an accomplished writer for TV, having written four films for the Morse TV series alongside other screen work. The transfer to writing for the stage, however, can be tricky.  Locations, in particular are so much less of an issue on screen where there are people to source them for you.  On stage they have to be created and then removed and in this production there are actors dragging furniture and objects about quite a lot and whilst this in itself is not unusual the extent of dragging about and treading down of stage brakes is quite distracting and a fair few scene transfers are clunky.

Returning to the Noises Off etc reference, Morse is a much-loved and well known character, his audience/fans, probably go to the theatre and assuming they’re familiar with Noises Off is unlikely to be too much of a stretch.  With that in mind, they’re possibly also familiar with The Charles Paris Mysteries, a Radio 4 comedy starring Bill Nighy in which a jaded, working actor with a gift for sarcasm, encounters and solves murders in the course of his work on film sets and the stage.  There are some strong Charles Paris vibes about this production, particularly the Hamlet element of it and this creates a lack of balance and suggests the play doesn’t know what it wants to be, is it a parody or to be taken seriously?  The relationship between Morse and Ellen (Teresa Banham) for example is interesting and deserves exploration but it is the type of subtle and nuanced relationship which is easier to portray on screen.  Tom Chambers, though apparently not aiming for a John Thaw impersonation, has acquired the mannerisms and demeanour Thaw created for Morse and he plays the sensitive, clever, somewhat tortured detective with a skill that rather elevates him over the rest – it’s a great performance but it adds to the imbalance (it’s not that the other actors are less skilled only that their characters not so developed).

It may be that the Morse ‘brand’ as we might now have to call it, is strong enough to sustain this production, the audience at Richmond on Wednesday seemed willing to go with what they saw but at present the TV version stays favourite for this reviewer.

Eleanor Lewis, September 2025

Photography by Johan Persson