As this episode opens the '70s have just begun and a woman is killed as she walks along a canal towpath. DI Thursday suspects her boyfriend but doesn't have the evidence to charge him. Morse is away having a romantic holiday in Venice. When he gets back he looks at the case and believes Thursday was mistaken. He finds a potential link to a university department investigating the possibility of ESP. One of the people there says one of their test subjects 'witnessed' the crime... is this possible and if so will the police believe her? Away from the case Morse attends a music event where a man befriends him.
This was a solid opening to the latest series. The central story was classic Morse with its connections to academics. This provides some interesting backbiting as male academics are sniffy about the one woman in their group being given an opportunity to present a science programme on television... some of their attitudes make Gene Hunt, of 'Life on Mars' fame, look like a women's-libber. The investigation provides a good number of suspects and further deaths to keep the viewer interested. In the background to the main story the man who befriends Morse is intriguing and hints at what might be a series long plot line. As expected the cast is on fine form; most obviously Shaun Evans, as Morse and as Roger Allam as Thursday but also from Anton Lesser as CS Bright and Sean Rigby as DS Strange. Overall a fine episode.