There's an old saw in the TV biz that says all good things must come to an end, and thus it is with PBS' beloved Inspector Lewis.
Season 8 of the Masterpiece Mystery! drama kicks off at 8 p.m. today on AETN. It will be the final season and contain three new cases of two episodes each.
Why quit now? Let's blame burnout. Or getting out while the getting is good once you've accomplished everything with a character that you can do.
Series star Kevin Whately, who portrays Detective Inspector Robbie Lewis, told the BBC that he had been playing the character for 30 years, first as the sidekick in Inspector Morse, then on his own series since 2006 following the death of Morse actor John Thaw.
Inspector Lewis co-star Laurence Fox has also announced his intention to retire from his character, James Hathaway, making it unlikely there will be another spinoff titled Inspector Hathaway.
Another old saw: Never say never.
According to the Daily Mail, the 65-year-old Whately said, "I feel incredibly fortunate to have shared a decade of fantastic worldwide success with Laurence and with the most brilliant crew, cast and production team anyone could wish for, and all that time with the loyal support of so many fans.
"Everything has a life span and I think it's gone on long enough. It's a long time to play one character, but sometimes it only feels like yesterday that we started."
For those unfamiliar with the highly regarded series, here's a brief overview.
Inspector Lewis is a spinoff of the equally renowned British detective series Inspector Morse, which was based on the novels by Colin Dexter and starred Thaw as Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse. Whately co-starred as Lewis (then a detective sergeant).
Inspector Morse, set in the university town of Oxford, ran for seven seasons between 1987 and 1993, then produced five specials between 1995 and 2000. All in all, there were 33 two-hour episodes.
Lewis is an easygoing, working-class fellow who, in most ways, is the complete opposite of the Oxford-educated lifetime bachelor Morse. That frequently made Lewis the victim of Morse's playful insults.
Inspector Lewis begins with the widowed Lewis (his wife had been killed in a hit-and-run car accident) promoted to detective inspector and returning to Oxford after a two-year stint training police in the British Virgin Islands.
Lewis' sidekick Hathaway is a very private, erudite, Cambridge-educated man who joined the police after leaving training for the priesthood.
Hathaway is later promoted to detective inspector. In this final season, Lewis has retired from the police force, but returns to work the final investigations under Hathaway's leadership.
Others in the series include:
• Clare Holman as forensic pathologist Dr. Laura Hobson. There was plenty of romantic tension between the witty and cynical Hobson and Lewis as the seasons passed and the two became a couple during the sixth season.
• Rebecca Front portrayed Chief Superintendent Jean Innocent. In the final season it is revealed she has gone to work for Suffolk Constabulary.
• Angela Griffin plays Lizzie Maddox, who became Hathaway's detective sergeant after he was promoted to inspector.
• Steve Toussaint joins the series in the final season as Chief Superintendent Joseph Moody, replacing Innocent. Naturally, he and Lewis soon butt heads.
Tonight's episode, "One for Sorrow: Part 1," finds Lewis and Hathaway struggling to identify a body discovered in a well. Meanwhile, the death of a young artist is beginning to look suspiciously like a murder. Are the two crimes connected?
In next week's Part 2, the team dabbles in the worlds of social media, drugs, taxidermy, alternative art and the homeless East European community.
The final two cases are "Magnum Opus" (Parts 1 and 2) and the two parts of "What Lies Tangled."
In the former, a college dean is found in the woods bludgeoned to death with a rock and Lewis and Hathaway are on the case.
In the latter, a particularly gruesome package bomb disrupts an otherwise idyllic Oxford summer's day. The victim is an eminent mathematician who is known as a man "of carnal appetites."
And, in the series' final episode, "With his six-month trip to New Zealand with Hobson on the horizon, Lewis is in a race against time to save both his career and relationship."
Style on 08/07/2016