Product Details

• Actors: Kevin Whately, John Thaw, Laurence Fox
• Directors: Rebecca Eaton (Co-Executive Producer), Michele Buck (Co-Executive Producer), Ted Childs (Co-Executive Producer), Damien Timmer (Co-Executive Producer)
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: PBS
• DVD Release Date: October 13, 2009
• Run Time: 602 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B002G3DTSE
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,994 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Oxford's Inspector Robert Lewis (Kevin Whately), protégé of the legendary Inspector Morse (John Thaw), and his brilliant, brooding partner, Detective Sergeant James Hathaway (Laurence Fox) are back with four twisting new thrillers, and this time their personal connections to their work threaten to expose more than a killer.

Inspired by the Inspector Morse novels of Colin Dexter

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

178 of 180 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Inspector Lewis is a Fine Successor to Inspector Morse in the Murder Capital of Europe, Oxford, England, September 15, 2009

By 

Steven Schafersman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inspector Lewis: Series 2 (DVD)

The Inspector Morse mysteries were perhaps the finest television mysteries ever developed. I loved Morse and enjoyed every episode and ultimately purchased them all in the complete DVD edition. The Inspector Lewis mysteries are equally excellent television. They are a fine successor to the Morse series and deserving of five stars and my firm recommendation. I would like to buy a complete set of these, too, and I may, but from Amazon UK. Then I'll have to buy an all-region DVD player.

So why did I rate this DVD set only two stars? As the other reviewer discovered and wrote about, PBS is cutting about ten minutes from each episode to leave time for the extra introduction and to keep the entire length at 86 minutes, leaving time for PBS commercials. Each Inspector Lewis episode in the British DVD sets (Region 2) is 93 minutes. Each episode in the PBS version is 86 minutes which includes the extra introduction by PBS host Alan Cumming. The PBS Series 2 run time is listed as 602 minutes because this includes seven episodes, the four in British Series 2 and the first three in British Series 3. The last episode of Series 3, Counter Culture Blues, is omitted.

But that's not all. Again, as the reviewer said, these Inspector Lewis sets are one or more years behind schedule for U.S. patrons. The complete Inspector Lewis Series 1-3 DVD set has been available in the UK since April 2009. Here's a complete list of what's actually completed and available:

Pilot
Inspector Lewis

Series 1
Whom The Gods Would Destroy
Old School Ties
Expiation

Series 2
And The Moonbeams Kiss The Sea
Music To Die For
Life Born Of Fire
The Great And The Good

Series 3
Allegory Of Love
Quality Of Mercy
The Point Of Vanishing
Counter Culture Blues

The pilot episode is available by itself (in full length of 95 minutes) or as part of Series 1 with four DVDs in box. The other two series have four episodes/DVDs each. All three sets are available for less than $17 each on Amazon.co.uk, quite a bit less than the PBS price.

I strongly urge PBS to issue FULL-LENGTH episodes when they get around to selling the complete series box set.

Update (2009 October 8): I did purchase Series 1-3 of Inspector Lewis plus an all-region DVD player from Amazon UK. The process was painless, no different from ordering from the U.S. Amazon.com. I give these Lewis DVDs 5 stars. While the original Morse episodes were better due to the outstanding acting skills and persona of John Thaw, both Kevin Whately, who plays Inspector Lewis, and especially Laurence Fox, who plays Detective Sergeant James Hathaway, are excellent actors whose character relationship works well. There is no reason to rate these full-length episodes less than 5 stars.

Update (2010 April 28): Today I pre-ordered Series 4 from Amazon UK; it will ship in May. Needless to say, this DVD set is not available from PBS at all and the episodes haven't even been shown on PBS yet (but will be this summer as revealed by previews). A synopsis of each episode is available on the Amazon UK site. Here are the titles:

Series 4
The Dead Of Winter
Dark Matter
Your Sudden Death Question
Falling Darkness

132 of 134 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars How to get around the problem, September 19, 2009

By 

Irreverent "irreverent" (La Crosse, Wisconsin, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inspector Lewis: Series 2 (DVD)

1. Get a region-free upconverting DVD player from Amazon.com (USA). A 5-star-reviewed Pioneer DV610av is a bit more than $100. My discontinued Pioneer DV383 (not upconverting), also from Amazon.com, has been totally trouble-free. It has done well with UK, German, and US DVD's in both NTSC and PAL encoding. In fact, I plan to stay with it, because it delivers such superb image quality.

2. Buy ALL Lewis series released so far (1, 2, 3) UNCUT from Amazon.co.uk for about what ONE butchered series costs from the jerks in Bahstn. That's right, you get series 3 already. 6 - 10 day air shipment for about $5 is included in the price. The savings on the three series will almost pay for the region-free DVD player.
UPDATE: Shipment arrived just now, five business days after ordering.

3. Repeat for lots of other stuff butchered in Bahstn. Often it will be, as with the Lewis series, not only uncut and unaccompanied by gratuitous PBS twaddle, but MUCH cheaper. Your next order after the three Lewis series will complete paying for your region-free DVD player. All savings after that are gravy.

4. Then email PBS and tell them [use your imagination].

If you are new to amazon.ca, amazon.co.uk, amazon.de, amazon.fr etc., the process is almost completely transparent, astonishingly easy, working just like amazon.com:

Links to them are at the bottom of most Amazon pages.

They already know all your shipping and billing addresses, have all your credit card info, and are set up to email order confirmations and notification of special deals.

Currency conversion is painless, automatic, and at a fair rate. Amazon bills your credit card in US$ so your card issuer can't rip you off.

Ordering Lewis 1, 2, & 3 from amazon.co.uk took far less than five minutes, just as with my first amazon.de (site is in German) order a few years ago.

You can use foreign Amazon sites to send gifts to loved ones and associates in other countries without worrying with customs declarations and postage from the USA. I have done it many times, often getting next-day delivery at no extra charge. European countries are, after all, about the size of US states and have more efficient transport networks than ours.

And PBS can [use your imagination].

UPDATE (30 Sep 09): Playback of the UK DVDs with the region-free Pioneer DV383 on a Sony Bravia LCD screen with 5.1 surround thru an Integra receiver with Infinity speakers and subwoofer, a 3.5 year-old system, was as close to flawless as my ancient eyes and ears can detect. The improvement in image quality from an upconverting region-free DVD player would probably be so minor that I will not replace the Pioneer DV383, which also automatically detected the UK recording mode without help. It was just as effortless as playing the best US DVDs on the same system.

Another bit of info that put PBS even nearer the top of my fetid list: The UK DVDs are a co-production with WGBH Bahstn, in the clutches of the ubiquitous Rebecca Eaton. This completes proof that PBS KNEW OF AND EVEN HELPED PLAN THE BUTCHERY, GROTESQUE OVERPRICING, AND TWO-YEAR DELAY IN AVAILABILITY FROM THE BEGINNING. The hundreds of dollars I used to contribute to PBS each year will now go toward buying better DVDs of their stuff at far lower prices on much better delivery schedules from the UK.

BTW, I do not plan to email PBS about this. Their reaction would probably not be to clean up their act, but to try to block sales of UK DVDs of their co-productions to US customers, possibly via protectionist legislation.

NOTE (added 15 Nov 09): UK set 3's final episode, "Counter Culture Blues," omitted from PBS Set 2, is superb. Joanna Lumley, 62ish but still captivating and screen-filling, especially in a more complex role than usual for the most mistakenly rejected of all RADA applicants, not so much steals the show as she enhances the usual fine performances of the regulars, as do other guest stars, such as Simon Callow (nude-swimming vicar in "Room With a View") and Perdita Weeks, 20ish sister of Honeysuckle Weeks from "Foyle's War." According to a Guardian article, this episode, originally broadcast on an Easter Sunday, garnered top UK TV ratings, doubling most of the competition, as usual for recent Lewis episodes.

HOWEVER . . .

This last, and perhaps best, Lewis episode is MISSING FROM PBS SERIES TWO! Much, much worse: According to Kevin Whately (source: "Oxford Mail"), ITV may end the series in spite of its popularity in the UK, US and elsewhere. PBS may someday release this episode -- long-delayed, crudely butchered, and grossly overpriced, as usual. Owners of region-free players who buy DVDs from foreign Amazon entities already watched it -- uncut, cheaper, and sooner.

UPDATE (2 April 2010): HOORAY!! Not cancelled yet!! I just pre-ordered Series 4 from amazon.uk for £16.64 ($25ish), including international air postage. Release date 24 May; anticipated arrival date 1 June. Meanwhile, has PBS ever supplied the final episode of Series 3?

178 of 189 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars PBS has cut down the running time by 10 minutes for each episode!, August 22, 2009

By 

Iqbal Faizer "Muldfeld" (Montreal to Toronto, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inspector Lewis: Series 2 (DVD)

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!

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