Product Description

Inspector Robert Lewis (Kevin Whately), protégé of the legendary Inspector Morse (John Thaw), and his brilliant new partner, Detective Sergeant James Hathaway (Laurence Fox, Island At War) return to the streets of Cambridge and the halls of Oxford University with three brand new mysteries to unravel.

Whom the Gods Would Destroy: When Oxford graduate Dean Greely is found dead near his run-down house-boat, detectives Lewis and Hathaway are thrown into a delicate murder case which implicates one of the University s most prominent figures college Principal Sefton Linn.

But as Lewis and Hathaway soon discover, Linn was not always so respectable. As an undergraduate, he was a member of The Sons of the Twice Born, a hedonistic group that aspired to the principals of Dionysus, and who once killed in an attempt to experience the ultimate drug: Adrenochrome, found in the human adrenal gland. Dean Greely was also a member. But just a Lewis is preparing to make an arrest, his prime suspect Linn is also murdered, forcing the team to consider that Greely was not killed to keep past secrets buried, but to fulfill someone s clever and intricately planned revenge fantasy. Now Lewis and Hathaway are in a race to discover the identity of the group s victim twenty years ago before the remaining Sons are killed.

Old School Ties: When bright young Jo Gilchrist is found murdered in a hotel room, detectives Lewis and Hathaway are drawn into a case driven by celebrity, scheming and dangerous sexual politics that brings Lewis face to face with his past.

The murdered girl is one of three ambitious Oxford students who have invited Nicky Turnbull, a convicted computer hacker turned best-selling celebrity author, to give a lecture at the University Student s Union. But when Turnbull is also killed, Lewis and Hathaway believe Gilchrist s death may have been a mistake. Turning their attention away from the machinations of a loose alliance of driven students, they begin to look at the numerous enemies Turnbull made those he stole money from, those he stole information from, the fellow prisoners whose stories he stole in order to make his book a best seller, and perhaps even his wife Lewis old flame.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9044 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-08-05
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 255 minutes

Customer Reviews

Inspector Lewis gets his own team...
2008's "Inspector Lewis I" features Kevin Whately as Detective Inspector Robbie Lewis, formerly of the Inspector Morse series, now on his own with the Thames Valley police force in a highly enjoyable three part initial series.

Inspector Lewis is paired with young Detective Sergeant James Hathaway (Laurence Fox), working a series of murder cases in and around Oxford University. One case, "Whom The Gods Would Destroy", concerns an almost forgotten student secret society, whose members start dying in an unnatural fashion. As his logical suspects continue to die, Inspector Lewis must play off the surviving members against each other to find the path to a surprising killer. Another case, "Old School Ties", involves a convict turned author who is invited to speak at the Oxford Student Union and ends up murdered, along with one of the students. The suspects include a collection of rather selfish and heartless students, an ex-SAS soldier, and a former love interest of Inspector Lewis. A third case, "Expiation", presents Lewis with the equally unappetizing challenges of two suspicious suicides and a public speaking opportunity.

The cases are presented in a deliberately paced manner, as Inspector Lewis and Sergeant Hathaway get the clues at the same rate as the audience. Lewis and Hathaway methodically eliminate suspects; there are no magical solutions and sometimes the bad guys seem to get there first. Lewis is the crusty, intuitive, and old-fashioned cop; Sergeant Hathaway is the stoic and dutiful subordinate. Some of the fun comes when the cases involve some arcane piece of literature or theology, or the use of modern information technology, on which subjects the well-educated Hathaway is only too eager to help his boss. Lewis must also interact with a female chief inspector not wedded to the old boys network or ways of solving cases. The format nicely mixes suspense, humanity, and humor, and avoids insulting the audience with easy and obvious solutions to the mysteries.

"Inspector Lewis I" is highly recommended to fans of Masterpiece Mystery Theater as a fresh and interesting spinoff from an old favorite.

No Remorse!
I am so happy that the "Inspector Lewis" mysteries have been continued after the pilot. The mysteries represent a happy complement to the original series. Kevin Whately as Lewis may be older but he is also wiser, and, because of the untimely death of his wife, sadder. Nevertheless, he has stepped gamely into the role of his old mentor Inspector Morse, and he is ably assisted by Sergeant Hathaway (Laurence Fox), a Cambridge-educated student of theology. Thus the tables have been turned from the Morse mysteries. Lewis is now the curmudgeon with a pint of beer; and Hathaway, the voice of reason.

The Thames Valley police force is a very different institution than it was in Morse's day. A woman is now Superintendent (not Chief Inspector, I have been informed) and she is no pushover. The mysteries, nevertheless, remain intriguing and are laced with elegance, intelligence, and wit. And, there is always a reminder of our old friend Morse lurking somewhere in the background.

PBS has cut out 10 minutes from the UK version of each episode!
We fans in North America have been duped by PBS video! It was bad enough that we endure a lazy DVD production that is 2 years behind what's available in the UK and simply applies the "Masterpiece Mystery" broadcast version of the show onto video. That is to say, one must endure annoying PBS ads; a superficial intro by host Alan Cumming; an unacceptable preview that spoils some surprises for anyone hoping to enjoy the episode freshly; and a cruel removal of Barrington Pheloung's end credit theme music for the show, which I've therefore never heard.

HOWEVER, each of these episodes is missing about 10 minutes of story that has been edited out so that PBS can air the show in its 90 minute time slot. I found this out when I realized that my "Inspector Morse" DVDs released by Carleton Video always ran about 1 hour and 34 minutes, and asked PBS if "Lewis" should really be longer than the DVDs' 1 hour and 24 minutes. They had the courtesy to admit the truth. Why it's necessary for PBS (which has long publicized itself as commercial free) to edit out 10 instead of 3 minutes is beyond me, but we're missing out on details and texture in the story telling that is available to UK viewers and DVD buyers.

It is one thing if PBS decided to do this for its on-air version, but Shop PBS hasn't had the decency to restore the original footage back into the DVD release; even more supposedly commercial studios like Fox Home Video treat fans better than this! Yet, what's especially unacceptable about all this is that PBS has made it impossible for a more considerate and honest company like Carleton Video to do the program justice by releasing the full versions of the episodes. This is because, according to ITV America, PBS has acquired exclusive rights to manufacture and distribute the DVDs in North America. So, PBS hasn't just released a bad product for fans of the show, but has prevented other companies from doing a better job. What disgusting and monopolistic behavior for an entity officially dedicated to serving the public. When it comes to Inspector Lewis, it has carried out a willful public disservice!

I ask all "Inspector Lewis" fans to protest to WGBH PBS ([...]) and to write to ITV.