John Thaw

“Watch the mouth, it reveals what the eyes try to hide.”

“I think sadly that Morse thinks that he can exist on his own and he only realises at the end that he can't and never really has been able to. I feel sorry for him.”

“Parts like Morse don't grow on trees. He's a great character.”

“There is no more final end than death.”

“We were using a hand-held camera to film the scene when Morse collapses. The camera wouldn't start. Three times they said action and it still wouldn't work. To this day, they still don't know what was wrong.”

“I'm not an instinctive actor.”

“In the same way he's fascinated by crosswords, the puzzle of solving the murder is what drives him on.”

“I think Morse's thing about being a poor policeman but a good detective is a very good description of him.”

“I'm an introspective person. I'm not an extrovert.”

“I was involved in school plays, but when I left school I did a couple of odd jobs as a baker's apprentice and then as a fruit market porter in Manchester.”

“We all know that somebody did it, but how did they find the answer?”