You wonder why they didn’;t think of it sooner… ITV is reported to be planning a prequel to Inspector Morse, the hugely-popular series based on books by Colin Dexter and superbly-led by the late John Thaw. If it comes off (and why wouldn’;t it?), the show would be based around the detective’;s early years studying classics at St John’;s College, Oxford.

Apparently, ITV got interested after Dexter wrote a short story along similar lines for the Daily Mail. In an interview with local newspaper The Witney Gazette, Dexter said: “ITV came to me and said it would be marvellous if we could do something with those stories. I was not terribly enthusiastic at first, but I thought it would be a nice story to tell.”

Although ITV has not yet given the project the go-ahead, Dexter went on to say: “Morse was in his 40s when we first met him, but I suspect he’;ll still have a lot of the same character traits. I don’;t have any actors in mind who could play him. I have never had much to do with the casting.”

Inspector Morse ran for 33 episodes on ITV between 1987 and 2000 and kick started the careers of many top writers and directors. It then spawned a spin-off series based around Morse’;s sidekick Lewis (Kevin Whately). If commissioned, the new drama would be a one-off, but could be developed as a series if it is able to attract a new, younger audience.