TELEVISION / Feedback

Detective Inspector Brian Jessop of Thames Valley Police, Oxford CID, on his fictional recreation, Inspector Morse: 'He's not really very close to real life. If I had the life he has, it would be a smashing job to have; for a start, you can never park your car in Oxford with the ease he has. And you won't be surprised to hear we don't have that many murders in Oxford.

'I enjoy watching it because I find it light relief and have a laugh every time he does something wrong. But obviously you've got to stretch the truth for the sake of entertainment: you don't solve murders with just two men; you don't solve it all in your head, we use computers; you don't treat colleagues in the contemptible manner Morse treats Sergeant Lewis; and the weather's not always nice here, it's not always summer here as it is on TV. The Bill comes closest to real life, but even there, they could take extracts to train policemen what not to do.

'As far as personal comparisons go, I like real ale, but if I drunk as much as him and was as grumpy as Morse, I would have been moved on ages ago. However, I will be sad when he goes at the end of this series.'

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