Review: Inspector Morse play - House of Ghosts | UK tour, Glasgow
- Lisa in the theatre
- 18 hours ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 58 minutes ago
TV star Tom Chambers plays another TV national treasure: Detective Inspector Morse in the first ever stage version of the iconic character. The UK tour of Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts is at Glasgow Theatre Royal from 31 March to 4 April 2026. Read my review below.
Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts ★★★☆☆
Review: 31 March 2026 | Theatre Royal Glasgow
As the curtain rose on the new Inspector Morse stage play 'House of Ghosts' in Glasgow, I was surprised to find myself watching a performance of Shakespear's Hamlet. But when the actress playing Ophelia coughed, spluttered and died on stage, the house lights in the auditorium of the Theatre Royal were lifted, and Detective Inspector Morse (Tom Chambers) walked up to the stage and took charge of the crime scene, the construct became clear: we, the actual theatre audience, were witness to a murder at the Oxford Playhouse in 1987. What an intriguing and creative way to start a murder mystery play!
What luck that the brilliant detective had been in the audience for Hamlet. It turns out that Morse was at Oxford University with the director Lawrence (Jason Done) and has more than a few ties to the production.
Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts written by Alma Cullen and based on the characters from Colin Dexter's novels, is the first ever stage adaption of an Inspector Morse story. The beloved double act of Morse and Lewis, famously played by John Thaw and Kevin Whately in the hit ITV series, are brought to life on stage for the UK theatre tour by Tom Chambers and Tachia Newell.
Holby City and Casualty star Tom Chambers is the same age now as John Thaw was when he portrayed Morse on TV in 1987. Not being too familiar with the TV Morse, I can't say whether Chambers matches Thaw's characterisations and performance. But his portrayal of an intelligent, complex policeman, who's very picky about his junior colleague's grammar, in this play is excellent.
The entirety of Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts takes place on the mock Oxford Playhouse stage. It's a dark, cavernous space with open wings. I enjoyed the meta-aspect of the play being set within a working theatre. However, the space is overwhelming dark at times and nothing like the Morse TV series that is known for its beautiful scenes of picturesque Oxfordshire. Colin Richmond's stage does easily transform into a church, the police station, one character's living room and the theatre dressing rooms by the addition of a few simple set pieces moved on and off by the ensemble cast, and Lizzie Powell's magnificent lighting design provides the essential changes in atmosphere.
House of Ghosts
What started as a gripping murder mystery with a creative premise unfortunately soon wanes. Director Anthony Banks' production is dialogue heavy; It relies on static exposition rather than dramatic action. We watch as the cast have conversations in a pub, conduct interviews in a police station, have a chat about the various happenings in a backstage dressing room. Most frustrating however is the abundance of talking about characters who are not on stage, or who don't appear in the play at all.
As Morse begins to investigate the curious murder, we learn that the key to the mystery may lie in his past, in 1962 (twenty-five years earlier) during his time at the Oxford University. There are no actual ghosts in this play, the title 'House of Ghosts' alludes to the ghosts of Morse and his peers' younger selves. But where a TV episode may include flashbacks and show, rather than tell, viewers what had happened and who did what then, this play tells us. Again and again, it tells us about people that we don't see and don't know. It's difficult to connect with these characters.
What is brilliant about the book for Morse: House of Ghosts is that the audience discovers the clues and facts of the case at the same time as the police. There is a good, well-structured crime fiction story here with some interesting dialogue and a few truly shocking twists. The audience around me audibly gasped at one reveal and that is so, so welcome. There have been a run of good murder mystery plays at Glasgow Theatre Royal recently but the books for those were so thinned out for the stage that I had worked out who the murderer was and why they had done it before the interval. That was not the case with this Morse story. I had no idea who had killed Rebecca (the actress playing Ophelia in the play within a play) and I very much appreciate that this mystery kept me guessing until the end.
However, the dramatic conflict does comes via a great deal of talking. There is a lack of - excuse the pun - theatre. I could've listened to this play as an audiobook or radio drama and almost had the same experience as I had in the theatre. Nothing beats the atmosphere and unpredictably of live theatre of course, and it's always a joy to see the excellent Tom Chambers on stage, but Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts would benefit from a little more action to truly bring it alive on stage. ★★★☆☆
Inspector Morse: House of Ghosts is at Glasgow Theatre Royal until 4 April 2026. Tickets via ATG tickets at
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