INSPECTOR Morse was a big fan of classical music — now his assistant Lewis is getting down to some serious rock ’n’ roll with the help of an Absolutely Fabulous sidekick.
On Sunday, fans of the show will get a chance to see the final film of the current Lewis series, which was filmed in Oxford.
And they will be treated to a cameo appearence from Joanna Lumley who stars as rock chick Esme Ford.
Inspector Lewis, played by Kevin Whately, is delighted to meet his former rock idol in the latest mystery.
Ms Lumley sings with fictitious group Midnight Addiction and the actress’s singing voice is dubbed by Glasgow-born singer Maggie Bell.
The group will play rock tracks written by Inspector Morse and Lewis composer Barrington Pheloung, who also plays lead guitar.
Ms Lumley said: “Once we realised what kind of music the group Midnight Addiction played – practically Black Sabbath – I guessed she (Esmé) was a slightly stoned, fairly wrecked Janis Joplin-type figure.
“But I thought this lot would have had a pretty fabulous look about them — they’d have all worn black leather with eye make-up.”
In this weekend’s episode, Counter Culture Blues, gunfire is heard near a village church bordering a rock star’s country estate outside Oxford and police are called.
Insp Lewis and Det Sgt Hathaway, played by Laurence Fox, drive to the mansion of rock legend Richie Maguire (David Hayman) to investigate.
But Lewis is startled when he meets Esmé, the band’s lead singer whose poster was on his bedroom wall more than 30 years ago. Scenes from the latest four episodes were shot in Broad Street, High Street, the King’s Arms pub, the Randolph Hotel and at University College.
Last month, Mr Whately questioned whether there would be another series of Lewis following cutbacks at ITV.
The pilot episode of the programme was shown in January 2006, winning 11.4m viewers and last year episodes gained audiences of about 8m per episode.
Inspector Morse ran from 1987 to 2000. There were 33 episodes, and the final three episodes were each seen by 18m.
l Counter Culture Blues,written by Guy Andrews from a story by Nick Dear, is on ITV1 at 8pm.
affrench@oxfordmail.co.uk
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