Inspector Lewis (Kevin Whately) and Sergeant Hathaway (Laurence Fox) are back! Yes tonight, your local PBS station will be airing The Dead of Winter, the second installment of the third season of the Inspector Lewis mystery shows.

While the Inspector Morse mystery shows were based on the mystery novels by Colin Dexter, the Inspector Lewis shows are inspired by Dexter’s mysteries. I have to admit that I miss Inspector Morse, but perhaps, after as many years of having Inspector Lewis as the main focus, I will miss him as much. Time will tell…

Right now, however, we are able to enjoy the same Oxford-ish atmosphere that the earlier (Morse) series provided. And, The Dead of Winter will give us a little more information about Sergeant Hathaway’s past. So far we know that Hathaway is a Cambridge graduate, who started training for the priesthood…

Some of you will probably recognize Nathaniel Parker (from Elizabeth George‘s Inspector Lynley mystery shows) who will be guest starring… not as a Scotland Yard inspector!

Masterpiece Mystery! will start airing Season 3 of Inspector Lewis – beginning this Sunday (tomorrow) night on your local PBS station. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Inspector Lewis, he used to be Inspector Morse’s side-kick. The Inspector Lewis 90-minute episodes are inspired by Colin Dexter’s Inspector Morse mystery books. Counter Culture Blues is a 2008 ITV production. (This is its first airing in the USA.)

With the passing of John Thaw (Inspector Morse), we would have understood if the production of these wonderful television movie episodes had stopped. I am so glad ITV decided to continue making these really good episodes based on Colin Dexter‘s Inspector Morse mystery books. 

Instead of having Inspector Morse at the helm of the investigations, Morse’s sergeant has been promoted, and given a side-kick of his own. Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox are very convincing as Inspector Lewis and Detective Sergeant Hathaway. Lewis is a working-class bloke while Hathaway is a Cambridge graduate, and very much like Lewis’s previous partner, Inspector Morse.

This particular episode boasts the truly versatile Joanna Lumley. Lumley has such a diverse repertoire >>> She was terrific as one of Roald Dahl’s terrible aunts in James and the Giant Peach, fabulous as the aging drug and alcohol laden hippie in Absolutely Fabulous, and touchingly desperate in A Rather English Marriage. All in all, I cannot wait to see what she does portraying a dead rock star who, perhaps wasn’t that dead…