I do think Death of the Self is one of the weaker episodes of series 6, though my least favourite while very good, was Cherubim and Seraphim. The episode benefits from some superb camera-work, and gorgeous Italian settings, I do think it is one of the more visually beautiful Morse episodes. Death of the Self tells of a woman who dies suddenly, and the hunt for a ruthless art dealer in Italy, and I will say the reason why I didn't like the episode as much as the others was because of the rather confusing final solution; then again it is an episode that requires more than one viewing. John Thaw and Kevin Whately are excellent, and I did like the performances of Frances Barber(who looked gorgeous), Georges Connaface and Michael Kitchen. The script as always is intelligent, particularly Morse's outbursts about Clark, who as a character is certainly loathsome, and the music featuring excerpts from Rigoletto and Turandot was a delight. Overall, visually stunning, with fine performances, but the plot construction sometimes lets it down. 9/10 Bethany Cox.
18 Reviews
A Bit Rambling but Quite Enjoyable
Hitchcoc5 March 2018
As this series progressed we got to see more of the humanness and impatience of Morse. At times he jumps to conclusions. Lewis usually is the one criticized for these things. Having been to that Colosseum in Verona as well as the city, I was immediately captivated. This is the story of an evil, smug shyster, who has killed someone but manages to recreate a career of crime. He is utterly despicable, presenting himself as a savior while controlling people who are vulnerable. This has led to large financial gain and the ability to carry on a lavish lifestyle. Morse is aware of his past crimes and the need to get serious evidence, but the guy is slick. There are some misleading plot elements, primarily the chief of police. Then there is Morse's first love, Opera. Italy is his paradise.
SIT BACK AND LET THE MUSIC FLOW OVER YOU
argy-342677 July 2021
Watching a classic such as this, decades after the critics have long retired, is possibly pointless.
I've only just skimmed this episode, yet the power of the drama and music engulfed me.
I just love the first reviews here, they saw so much more than I did in my Brief Encounter.
I WILL return to watch fully and luxuriate when time permits.
Episodes like these will possibly never be repeated now we have the Streaming TV Channels sucking the energy from mainstream TV.
But I have a bone to pick with all the purists who find fault in the details: SHAKESPEARE never bothered with facts, he simply told a story.
Richard.
I've only just skimmed this episode, yet the power of the drama and music engulfed me.
I just love the first reviews here, they saw so much more than I did in my Brief Encounter.
I WILL return to watch fully and luxuriate when time permits.
Episodes like these will possibly never be repeated now we have the Streaming TV Channels sucking the energy from mainstream TV.
But I have a bone to pick with all the purists who find fault in the details: SHAKESPEARE never bothered with facts, he simply told a story.
Richard.
One of the best
Sleepin_Dragon30 July 2015
I'm giving this a 10 in the ratings. It has it all, the setting is exquisite, Italy must rank as one of the most beautiful countries on Earth, the script is so clever, and the performances of Barber, Kitchen and of course the cast regulars are of the highest calibre. The music here is particularly magical, the finale features 'Signore Ascolta' sung beautifully by Janis Kelly. I have been a life long avid fan of Frances Barber, here she looks insanely beautiful and gives a tremendous performance of a fragile Opera singer, it's easy to see that John Thaw enjoyed working with her. Georges Connaface is very decent as the Italian inspector, a very handsome chap, his character, you can see is initially irritated by the arrival of Morse and Lewis, but soon begins to appreciate them,
Who did it?
wvmcl28 April 2022
Warning: Spoilers
I enjoyed this episode - very atmospheric and funny at times (poor Lewis doing his best Sancho Panza act) - but when it was over I realized that we never really learned how the victim, May Lawrence, died or who killed her. I have to assume that it really was an accident, although a very bizarre one, and that the intrigues of the plot resulted from her husband and others thinking that she had in fact been murdered. A bit contrived, but then most mysteries are.
The attack on Morse at Nicole's villa was never really adequately explained either. As I say, an entertaining episode, but the resolution could have been tightened up.
The attack on Morse at Nicole's villa was never really adequately explained either. As I say, an entertaining episode, but the resolution could have been tightened up.
Opera at the amphitheatre
aegoss23 October 2020
I am not an opera fan, when it comes on the radio I tend to turn off or put on a CD. But the makers of Morse always select pieces that almost make me chanage my mind. The Death of the Self, for the music lover, is a treat.
Set mostly in and around Vicenza and Verona, the sense is of a kind of exotic parallel Oxford, in which Morse is completely at home. Lewis, however, as a good family man, wants to wrap up what he sees as a pointless enquiry and get home for his son's sports day.
Morse's interest in the case is due to the name of Russell Clark, played with creepy intensity by Michael Kitchen, who Morse knows to be a ruthless manipulator and con artist. His interest is justified, but not in the way we initially presume.
The standout performance is from Frances Barber as opera singer Nicole Burgess, recovering from artistic exhaustion. Either Ms Barber has training in operatic singing, or she has studied opera singers very closely, but the director has taken the risk of using extended close-ups of her singing (actually miming, but so well as to convince me, at least), so I assume she has nailed it.
It was not clear to me if Morse has been here before, he speaks Italian with confidence. Possibly his time in the army brought him here. I think he also speaks fluent German when needed.
One of my favourite episodes.
Tale Laid In Fair Verona.
rmax30482327 February 2011
Warning: Spoilers
This is a pretty decent episode. One of the members of a British self-help group in Vicenza, Italy, is found impaled on a tree spike during one of the group's night time meetings. (Morse: "Ecologically unsound.") Was she murdered or did she accidentally fall? Morse and Lewis are sent to clear things up but they run into obstacles all along the way. The group is run by Russel Clark, whom Morse had convicted of fraud six years earlier, and there is some reason to believe that valuable artifacts are being smuggled out of the country.
The two detectives look into things, mostly opposed by the Italian police, but there are no more deaths and all is explained at the end, even if the explanation is a little tenuous.
But what does it matter? This is Italy. And when he's not busy with the case, Morse is in opera heaven. One of the members is a soprano who joined the group only to overcome the stage fright that brought her career to an abrupt halt. Morse gets to know her. The music is beautiful. Even the determinedly low-brow Lewis is swept up in it.
I've attended several operas myself and could always be relied upon to fall asleep after a few minutes. And once, wandering around backstage at the Baths of Caracalla, fondling a tack I'd found on the floor, I managed to leave it upright on Aida's throne. I'm not a big opera fan but, perhaps because of some emotional investment in the comeback performance of the diva with stage fright, I really enjoyed her performance, dubbed though it may have been.
And Italy is such a gorgeous country, especially the relatively small cities like Verona, that it's a thrill to visit them on screen. The crowding and the noise seem muted.
The two detectives look into things, mostly opposed by the Italian police, but there are no more deaths and all is explained at the end, even if the explanation is a little tenuous.
But what does it matter? This is Italy. And when he's not busy with the case, Morse is in opera heaven. One of the members is a soprano who joined the group only to overcome the stage fright that brought her career to an abrupt halt. Morse gets to know her. The music is beautiful. Even the determinedly low-brow Lewis is swept up in it.
I've attended several operas myself and could always be relied upon to fall asleep after a few minutes. And once, wandering around backstage at the Baths of Caracalla, fondling a tack I'd found on the floor, I managed to leave it upright on Aida's throne. I'm not a big opera fan but, perhaps because of some emotional investment in the comeback performance of the diva with stage fright, I really enjoyed her performance, dubbed though it may have been.
And Italy is such a gorgeous country, especially the relatively small cities like Verona, that it's a thrill to visit them on screen. The crowding and the noise seem muted.
Fun in the sun but mostly without the fun
Sir_Oblong_Fitzoblong29 July 2020
I remember watching this episode live on first broadcast (1992) and feeling deeply short-changed by the plot. On re-watching it I was still disappointed by the outcome of the main crime investigation but found the episode surprisingly refreshing compared to some of the recent dire episodes in the series (not that that is saying much) and there was just enough mystery in the subsidiary plot to make it tolerable.
Away from Oxford and the familiar props (in all senses of the word) of the Jag, beer, dons, and record collection, Morse needs some imaginative zing to fill the gaps and the maintenance of his nauseating habit of panting over the most attractive female suspect does not count.
DoTS is just about saved purely by the visual appeal and suggested atmosphere of the Italian locations, the exotic intrigue of the Italian police (plenty of arm-waving and are they up to no good or just engaged on some great and secret line of justice ?), and a few hints at a car chase around tiny mediaeval streets.
So as a detective's foreign-excursion episode it scores highly over Promised Land (simply that DoTS makes one want to go to Verona whereas Promised Land merely confirms one's bafflement that anyone would want to go to Australia). BUT this is supposed to be a major murder mystery series, not "Wish You Were Here" (no doubt he would try to get off with Judith Chalmers if it were). If you have to rely on scenery to make a major who-dunnit watchable then things have come to a sorry state.
And surely the great John Thaw could have been told to sit through the final pan-out shot without staring at the camera !!!
Away from Oxford and the familiar props (in all senses of the word) of the Jag, beer, dons, and record collection, Morse needs some imaginative zing to fill the gaps and the maintenance of his nauseating habit of panting over the most attractive female suspect does not count.
DoTS is just about saved purely by the visual appeal and suggested atmosphere of the Italian locations, the exotic intrigue of the Italian police (plenty of arm-waving and are they up to no good or just engaged on some great and secret line of justice ?), and a few hints at a car chase around tiny mediaeval streets.
So as a detective's foreign-excursion episode it scores highly over Promised Land (simply that DoTS makes one want to go to Verona whereas Promised Land merely confirms one's bafflement that anyone would want to go to Australia). BUT this is supposed to be a major murder mystery series, not "Wish You Were Here" (no doubt he would try to get off with Judith Chalmers if it were). If you have to rely on scenery to make a major who-dunnit watchable then things have come to a sorry state.
And surely the great John Thaw could have been told to sit through the final pan-out shot without staring at the camera !!!
Our Personal Favorite
iggypelman31 May 2022
My wife and I have watched the entire series countless times and this episode is our personal favorite. It's true. It's filmed in Italy. But that makes this episode even better as a result. Contrary to what a few reviewers have said, it has an interesting and fully developed plot that really isn't anymore difficult to grasp or any less complex or anymore contrived than any other episode.
Morse loses his perspective when it comes to the story's antagonist. He's sure that the person is guilty of something and then, without evidence and solely based on a hunch, he goes looking for the proof. In Driven to Distraction, for example, he was wrong. This time he was right. It's a typical Morse approach.
It's true that it feels like you don't quite know where things are going but such is the case in practically every Morse episode. And yes, the case doesn't come together until very late - something that happens practically every time!
Is it an implausible outcome? No. Is the story weak? No. It's quite good actually and just as hard to follow the first time you watch it as it is in practically every other episode. But in this episode you get great music and a good chemestry between Thaw and Whately, only it's set in Italy! That makes it a particularly great episode from an exceptional show.
Morse loses his perspective when it comes to the story's antagonist. He's sure that the person is guilty of something and then, without evidence and solely based on a hunch, he goes looking for the proof. In Driven to Distraction, for example, he was wrong. This time he was right. It's a typical Morse approach.
It's true that it feels like you don't quite know where things are going but such is the case in practically every Morse episode. And yes, the case doesn't come together until very late - something that happens practically every time!
Is it an implausible outcome? No. Is the story weak? No. It's quite good actually and just as hard to follow the first time you watch it as it is in practically every other episode. But in this episode you get great music and a good chemestry between Thaw and Whately, only it's set in Italy! That makes it a particularly great episode from an exceptional show.
An excuse for Morse to go on holiday
innperu10 May 2021
Sorry but in my opinion which isnt worth much !!! The filming and settings are beautiful and the British public must of lapped it up in 1992 but the story is all over the place and Morse has got more power than Interpol or Europol
Not sure I watched this back in 1992 but just watched it today and Morse and Lewis need to get back to Oxford sharpish and leaving the reservation for this story is just an excuse for a holiday .
Morse in Italy
grantss24 September 2022
The Morse series once again heads overseas for an episode. Episode 5 of Season 5 was filmed and set in Australia and now we are off to Italy, particularly Vicenza and Verona.
It's a fairly interesting case: a woman has died, seemingly by accident, but the fact that it was at a retreat organised by a fraudster Morse previously put away makes Morse suspicious. Throw in the Italian setting and it makes for good viewing.
It is interesting to note that the convicted fraudster, Russell Clarke, is played by Michael Kitchen, later of Foyle's War fame. He also played a villain in an episode of A Touch of Frost so did his time playing bad guys in crime dramas before landing a meaty role as the good guy in one.
It's a fairly interesting case: a woman has died, seemingly by accident, but the fact that it was at a retreat organised by a fraudster Morse previously put away makes Morse suspicious. Throw in the Italian setting and it makes for good viewing.
It is interesting to note that the convicted fraudster, Russell Clarke, is played by Michael Kitchen, later of Foyle's War fame. He also played a villain in an episode of A Touch of Frost so did his time playing bad guys in crime dramas before landing a meaty role as the good guy in one.
Not your average episode of Morse.
jhart-7129624 May 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Visually and in most other respects this was a standard Morse setup albeit in Italy rather than Oxford but the story itself did not follow the standard rules for a Morse or even a UK police drama. For example the opera singer Morse liked turned out to be neither a wrong 'un or a murder victim and the crime at the heart of the investigation was pretty pedestrian and more like something out of 'Spiral'.
Whether you see these things as good or bad is up to you. I like 'Spiral' but watch Morse for the way it is generally escapist nonsense and that the cases can be solved like a cryptic crossword.
Whether you see these things as good or bad is up to you. I like 'Spiral' but watch Morse for the way it is generally escapist nonsense and that the cases can be solved like a cryptic crossword.
Cosi So
salk201021 February 2015
Plot was all over the place, more so than usual, most annoying was the sound of screeching birds, absolutely constant through out, no variation in pitch, volume or species. I am so fond of the Inspector Morse stories, but don't understand, and totally put off by the annoying, supercilious "side stories". The total idiocy of the "tree spikes"(keep in mind, I am commenting on this point as an "American tree hugger" is beyond, no other way to put it, IDIOTIC! The sheer number and size of the spikes in combination with them never actually being used in their "therapeutic use" made them absurd. The actress playing "American, Patti" whether she was Yank or not, was just too over the top.
"Keep out of the Byways Morse"
ygwerin127 August 2020
Warning: Spoilers
An apparently accidental death of a Mrs May Lawrence occurs at an Self Help Seminar held in, luxurious surroundings in Italy by the Selfwood Trust.
This has all the appearances of being an open and shut 'Case' with the Italian Police carrying out what they considered as an exhaustive investigation.
The Italian Coroner and Police passed all of the Evidence to an Oxford Coroner, to what they assume will be effectively a Rubber Stamp of the Italian verdict.
The deceased woman Mrs Lawrence's husband has to speak at the Coroner's Court to provide his account, and seems very distressed giving his Evidence. Mr. Lawrence appears to have serious misgivings regarding his wife death.
Chief Superintendent Strange appraises both Chief Inspector Morse and Detective Lewis of the 'Case' and of its ramifications, regarding the Selfwood Trust that is run by an old advisory of Morse Russel Clark.
Strange sends Morse and Lewis to Italy to go through the Italian Police and Coroners Evidence, giving them a brief of what to look for and items to deal with.
The Italian Police Inspector Battisti meets Morse and Lewis on their arrival and promises to provide, all the 'Case' Evidence and Material to them and to provide all the assistance they will need.
The Italian Police consider that everything has been that could possibly be done and, that Morse and Lewis will discover that there is nothing for them to investigate.
Russel Clark has carved a nice little niche for himself in Italy he is considered a well respected and valued member of the community, even giving 'Seminars' for the Police.
The Italian Police Inspector tells Morse that Clark has come clean about his past, and that he considers Clark is above reproach.
Chief Inspector Morse firmly believes that he knows Russel Clark as good as anybody and distrusts him intently, appearing even to have a personal animosity toward him.
Chief Inspector Morse manages to make the Italian Police Inspector Battisi feel as if he mistrusted the Italian Police investigation, such that Battisti argues with Morse intimating that he had outstayed his welcome.
Morse tells Lewis that they may as well leave and return home, Lewis protests feeling there must be more they can do, but Morse says that they wern't going to find out anything else.
The deceased woman Mrs Lawrence's husband has to speak at the Coroner's Court to provide his account, and seems very distressed giving his Evidence. Mr. Lawrence appears to have serious misgivings regarding his wife death.
Chief Superintendent Strange appraises both Chief Inspector Morse and Detective Lewis of the 'Case' and of its ramifications, regarding the Selfwood Trust that is run by an old advisory of Morse Russel Clark.
Strange sends Morse and Lewis to Italy to go through the Italian Police and Coroners Evidence, giving them a brief of what to look for and items to deal with.
The Italian Police Inspector Battisti meets Morse and Lewis on their arrival and promises to provide, all the 'Case' Evidence and Material to them and to provide all the assistance they will need.
The Italian Police consider that everything has been that could possibly be done and, that Morse and Lewis will discover that there is nothing for them to investigate.
Russel Clark has carved a nice little niche for himself in Italy he is considered a well respected and valued member of the community, even giving 'Seminars' for the Police.
The Italian Police Inspector tells Morse that Clark has come clean about his past, and that he considers Clark is above reproach.
Chief Inspector Morse firmly believes that he knows Russel Clark as good as anybody and distrusts him intently, appearing even to have a personal animosity toward him.
Chief Inspector Morse manages to make the Italian Police Inspector Battisi feel as if he mistrusted the Italian Police investigation, such that Battisti argues with Morse intimating that he had outstayed his welcome.
Morse tells Lewis that they may as well leave and return home, Lewis protests feeling there must be more they can do, but Morse says that they wern't going to find out anything else.
Fair Verona, unfair to the audience
atrickyone5 September 2021
Remove the exotic Italian setting and you have a gallimaufry of a plot. The ultimate resolutions, such as they are, are crammed into the last couple of minutes of the action, a strategy typically used to paper over holes in the plotting, and boy were there some potholes in this one. Never mind, the weather was nice and the location scenic, so evidently little else matters.
Not on par with other episodes
luckyribka30 August 2021
I re watched Morse and honestly, I should not have.
Nicole Burgess, a great opera singer, apparently. Why to show so much cleavage to the old man? It's just nauseating pattern throughout the series to show that younger women could find such old men attractive.
Nicole Burgess, a great opera singer, apparently. Why to show so much cleavage to the old man? It's just nauseating pattern throughout the series to show that younger women could find such old men attractive.
Tried to impress the audience with poor wardrobe choices
grace-vaughn-628-11049418 September 2021
I saw this before and remembered why I didn't like this one. The wardrobe choices tried to show the culture where the story was located but failed as the cleavage shown was on a level of ridiculous, hoping the sweater does not slip any further down.
Ramblng, pointless mess
janellcole13 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
This rambling, pointless mess of a plot never comes together to tie up and explain how two murders have anything to do with the ending, which, after all that flotsam, only boils down to a piece of forged artwork. Most of the characters's involvements are mere distractions. Morse's constant skirt-chasing finally garners him two kisses, one of which is willing and passionate. The protests and outbursts of the insecure Italian detective add nothing to the episode and the coincidences of so many scenes all happening conveniently within walking distance of Morse and Lewis' hotel is really ridiculous. And what professional detective would travel with a witness to lollygag around her country hilltop mansion waiting for her to tell him, at her leisure, what she had to divulge about the night of the first murder. All in all, utter shambles.
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