Inspector Morse hits the stage in first-ever stage adaptation

Inspector Morse – House of Ghosts is at Theatre Royal, Brighton from October 21-25; it will also be at Chichester Festival Theatre from January 6-10, based on characters by Colin Dexter and written by Alma Cullen.

A chilling mystery unfolds when a young actress suddenly dies on stage during a performance, and Detective Chief Inspector Morse embarks on a gripping investigation. What begins as a suspicious death takes a darker turn when the inspector, with DS Lewis, uncovers a connection to sinister events in his own past, 25 years before…

Stepping into those Morse shoes is Tom Chambers (Father Brown, Strictly Come Dancing): “In 1987 Morse was huge on TV and I would have been ten years old. It was part of the staple national diet to be watching Morse on TV. It was iconic. John Thaw was a national treasure.”

“This is a brand-new story for the production but it is written by an original writer, and it is written as if it were them talking. And you do get a real sense of Morse but it's just that it happens to be in front of a live audience watching you as this story unfolds rather than being on a TV screen. And the great thing is that it is a play within a play. You are watching a play and then something happens and it becomes a play within a play. Morse ends up on the stage.

“I think in truth there was a (stage) version (of Morse) in 2010 that was floated around for a little bit but didn't really get anywhere or do anything. I'd worked with the director before doing Dial M For Murder and he was so great that we were saying let’s work together again and let’s find another play. We were looking for five or six years for something suitable and then this came up.”

As for playing Morse on stage: “I think you've got to think what do your audiences want, what are they wanting to see, and they certainly don't want a Brad Pitt version of Morse! They want elements of John Thaw. He defined the character so well that anyone being Morse has to think about him, and the good thing for me is that he was a very unpoliceman-like policeman which is lovely. I'm definitely trying to be a member of the public at times. But it is just so fascinating. It is a role where I'm trying to relax as much as possible because John Thaw was so relaxed in the role. It is a little bit like trying to write Mozart. You don't want to end up writing The Greatest Showman! You've got to be true to it but the great thing is that is is so well written that there is Morse in the lines and you can hear Morse on every page and I think you can't help but sense John Thaw when you are saying those words. I'm trying to get an image of him and how he was, how he moved, how he spoke, and personally I think I am much more of a John Thaw Morse than I would be a Brad Pitt Morse anyway! My DNA is much closer to his.”

Plus of course there are all Tom’s appearances in Father Brown: “I'm very familiar with the detective world and there is something very quintessentially English about Morse.”