An Audience With: Colin Dexter

Colin Dexter, the genius behind celebrated fictional detective Inspector Morse was the very first event at the very first Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival (before it had even earnt that name). When writer Colin Dexter brought the idea of the gentleman detective into the modern day (well, 1970s) by pairing him with a younger working-class assistant, a crime fiction hero was born. Inspector Morse, who first made his appearance in 1975 novel Last Bus To Woodstock, and who was so beautifully portrayed on the small screen by the late John Thaw, became the star of 13 novels, 33 episodes of a TV serial of the same name and four radio plays, as well as a byword for quality detective stories. Morse made millions of viewers and readers happy and made Colin Dexter a household name – and familiar face as, Alfred Hitchcock-like, he made cameo appearances in nearly every Inspector Morse episode. Dexter joined us on stage to tell the behind-the-scenes tales of working on the TV series and books that made this one-time Classics teacher famous – it would be criminal to miss him.