Three decades on TV with one character

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August 21st, 2016 at 10:10:42 PM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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Kevin Whately first played Sergeant Lewis on a pilot that aired a few weeks before his 36th birthday. He finished the final show with the character which aired last night on PBS at the age of 65.

Although Kelsey Grammar played Frasier for about 460 episodes over 21 years, Kevin Whately played Sergeant Lewis for 33 episodes as a sidekick to Inpsector Lewis. Then he starred in a sequel which also aired 33 episodes. The British almost never reach a hundred episodes with one of their series.
August 22nd, 2016 at 2:21:59 AM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
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What about the BBC cop show that ran for ten years and featured one much maligned cop who when the producers started talking about cutting his character he went berserk on the set and had to be forcibly medicated and removed to a shrink ward. I'm sure that went well beyond 100 episodes. The Blue something.

At least Kevin Whately got to drink a Guinness during each episode. And he got a free trip to Australia once I believe, I don't think they used solely location shots and filmed it in the UK.
August 22nd, 2016 at 3:30:25 AM permalink
odiousgambit
Member since: Oct 28, 2012
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I've seen most of the 66 episodes, I'm fairly sure. Better stuff than comes out this side of the Atlantic.

Lately I've noticed on these programs that the police don't announce themselves as "the police" when in plain clothes, but will just give their rank and name. For Chief Inspector, which I think Lewis attained, and it seems other ranks, they sometimes just give the initials. So when Lewis [never wearing a uniform it seems] approaches someone, he might say "C.I. Lewis, I have some questions". It really suggests that the Brits really know well the ranks of their police.

Wikipedia has a big article about the ranks, although for that matter there is a webpage for the US as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_ranks_of_the_United_Kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_ranks_of_the_United_States
I'm Still Standing, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah [it's an old guy chant for me]
August 22nd, 2016 at 4:54:40 AM permalink
Dalex64
Member since: Mar 8, 2014
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I wouldn't be surprised if they knew the ranks very well. Ranks and titles, and order in general, seems to be very important to them.
"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts." Daniel Patrick Moynihan
August 22nd, 2016 at 8:16:09 AM permalink
TheCesspit
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 23
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Quote: Fleastiff
What about the BBC cop show that ran for ten years and featured one much maligned cop who when the producers started talking about cutting his character he went berserk on the set and had to be forcibly medicated and removed to a shrink ward. I'm sure that went well beyond 100 episodes. The Blue something.


The Bill? More a soap than a drama, though the line is pretty thin. Plenty of actors have had entire careers in the UK soaps and done 1000s of episodes.

Quote:
At least Kevin Whately got to drink a Guinness during each episode. And he got a free trip to Australia once I believe, I don't think they used solely location shots and filmed it in the UK.


Not in the early Morse's, Morse would make him drink real ales... Which as I recall, Lewis didn't much like.

I'm disappointed that there's not going to be a Hathaway series to keep it going. Morse is one of my favourite TV detectives as the writing was always sharp and the plots never formulaic in the solutions.
It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die.... it's called Life
August 22nd, 2016 at 8:28:43 AM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
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Quote: Pacomartin
Although Kelsey Grammar


Do you ever think the spell checker is just being ironic? :)

Quote:
The British almost never reach a hundred episodes with one of their series.


As I understand, most never reach 30 episodes...
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
August 22nd, 2016 at 9:00:20 AM permalink
Fleastiff
Member since: Oct 27, 2012
Threads: 62
Posts: 7831
Morse drank Stout.
In the Australian episode, Morse as a British Beef Association expert drank during a pub stop, but Sergeant Lewis as the driver ordered orange juice thus arousing the suspicion of the local one-man police force.
August 22nd, 2016 at 10:19:08 AM permalink
Pacomartin
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569
Quote: TheCesspit
I'm disappointed that there's not going to be a Hathaway series to keep it going. Morse is one of my favourite TV detectives as the writing was always sharp and the plots never formulaic in the solutions.


Shaun Evans is still playing on the prequel to Morse, Endeavour . He has said that the BBC won't replace him, when he retires they will retire the character of Morse. AFAIK, they haven't specifically ruled out a Hathaway sequel. Whately specifically said he did not want to make more episodes of Inspector Lewis than there were of Inspector Morse.

Sarah Michelle Gellar (age 39) has joked that she will need a cane when she finally reprises Buffy Summers. She also points out that the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie starring Kristy Swanson and released summer 1992 (when SMG was age 15) sold only 4 million tickets and was ranked #74 that year. Of course. Joss Whedon, was an unknown writer in his 20's, and the budget was only $7 million.
August 22nd, 2016 at 11:58:26 AM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Never even heard of these shows till now.
Inspector Morse in on Nflix and gets a ton
of bad reviews. They say it's slow, has bad
acting and the main character is 'creepy.
They say that in a lot of reviews, creepy.

It does get a lot of good reviews, so I'll
give it a try. One review says it's the
opposite of Foyle's War in every way,
which is scary because Foyle is the
benchmark of Brit TV to me.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
August 22nd, 2016 at 12:12:10 PM permalink
odiousgambit
Member since: Oct 28, 2012
Threads: 154
Posts: 5055
If it's Americans writing those reviews, what they want in their police shows is a lot of mindless brandishing of weapons. If the police bust into a room and point pistols about police academy style, it thrills to no end, apparently.

I say these things as a pro-second amendment guy who has handled guns all his life. I don't get an erection when I see one on TV, however.
I'm Still Standing, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah [it's an old guy chant for me]
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