Product Details

• Actors: John Thaw, Kevin Whately, Colin Dexter, James Grout, Peter Woodthorpe
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Bfs Entertainment
• VHS Release Date: November 11, 1998
• Run Time: 102 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6302719402
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #300,344 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars No the wonder church attendences are falling!, March 13, 2002

By 

Junglies (Morrisville, NC United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Inspector Morse: Service of the Dead [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Morse travels out of the city of Oxford into it's suburbs to try to track down the murderer of a church warden inside the church. During the course of his enquiries he becomes attached to the part-time cleaner, Ruth Rawlinson, not realising at the time of her key role in the mystery.

This is a curious perspective on Morse. At the church he seems smitten by Ruth at first glance and in a way the episode is about Morse persuing Ruth until he apparently succeeds only to be thwarted.

Service of all the Dead has all of the trappings of Colin Dexter's Oxford - the central role of ritual, social class, and the little details which make these shows so good - in this case the idea that there could be tramps in Oxford ( a recurring theme), the cycle riding middle classes, volunteerrism and carers. All good ingredients.

This particular drama is one of the most gruesome with six deaths all together. Also novel is the fact that the opening scene is found to be a set up. A lot of the death's seem to be red herrings too, to throw us off the scent.

There is a particulary sensitive scene which has some relevance to contemporary events in a different church where Morse perceives the vicar as a paedophile. Later on the child in question is found murdered although the exhumation of the body is not filmed.

Service of all the Dead is a gripping thriller replete with issues of blackmail, infidelity, revenge etc. Throughout it all Morse holds true to his feelings for Ruth and, despite the revelation that she loved someone else, he offers her a helping hand which, if discovered, could cost him his livelihood and his liberty.

As one of the characters puts it, an alpha.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is an excellent film that keeps you guessing all the way to the end, October 27, 2010

By 

Israel Drazin (Boca Raton, Florida) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Inspector Morse - Service of All the Dead (DVD)

Inspector Morse, as the forensic doctor exclaims, hits a record. There are six deaths in the film, all people who attended a religious service on what was allegedly St. Augustine's conversion date. Morse, for those who do not know, is the two pint of beer thinker who loves classical music and opera, who drives a beautiful red car, who is generally gruff, but very able to solve crimes in his city Oxford.

Two witnesses identify the first dead man - killed with an overdose of a drug and then stabbed - as the husband of a woman who early on in the film we see making out with the church organist. Morse suspects that the murderer is the priest of the church, who seems to be a pedophile. He finds out that unsubstantiated charges of being a pedophile were brought against the priest in the past. He tells the priest that he wants to talk to him. The priest has a brother who is a drunk. He has spent a lot of money. He seems to be blackmailed. The priest goes back into the church after being confronted by Morse to change his clothes, but jumps off the church roof, committing suicide. This would appear to be an admission of the murder, if the suicide was not followed by four more deaths.

Morse spends a lot of time thinking about the case and trying to date an attractive parishioner. She seems to be involved in the murder. We, but not Morse, see her lying in bed with an unidentified man.

The organist who was flirting with the wife of the first dead man is killed next, then his son, and the wife of the first dead man. The final death is the muderer.

This is a film that keeps its secret until the very end. Who committed the murders? Why? How will Morse deal with the woman he is trying to date? Is she involved? It is doubtful that anyone can guess the ending.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Empathetic Morse, August 28, 2007

By 

William J. Thor (Vero Beach) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Inspector Morse: Service of the Dead [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This entry opens at a high mass, offered at a country church, with thirteen in attendance - one of which is killed during the service. The Vicar informs Morse that this was not an ordinary mass, but rather a special saint's feast day, (Saint Augustine,) which accounts for the small attendance, as opposed to a normal daily mass. From Max's pathology report Morse discovers the victim was killed by several different means. And thus our story's setting is in place and the mystery ready for the solving. Five more bodies require Morse's attention as does the Vicar, church warden, organist, custodian, as well as the Vicar's brother. We learn that Morse does not belong in the bell tower as he suffers from acrophobia. Along the way we have a possible pedophile, blackmail, adultery, and revenge. Morse's attention to detail reveals a most important clue i.e. identifying two Saint Augustines and their not having feast days recently. There is much more including a romance between Morse and the custodian, as well as a surprising twist as we reach the end. The empathy of Morse also arrives at the end. Not much of Morse's idiosyncrasies but an excellent plot to carry the tale to five stars.