ITV has confirmed that Inspector Morse spin-off Lewis will come to a final end with next week’s episode.
The series stars Kevin Whately as Lewis and Laurence Fox as sidekick James Hathaway and will bow out after 33 episodes and ten years.
Whately first played Lewis opposite John Thaw’s Morse until the show came to an end in November 2000 with The Remorseful Day, itself the 33rd episode of th series.
He later reprised the character in 2006 in Lewis which was set five years after the death of Morse and the death of Lewis’s wife and saw him partner with the young Hathaway and reporting to a new boss in the figure of Chief Supt Jean Innocent (Rebecca Front).
The character retired from Oxfordshire police in the seventh series, a move many fans feared would spell an end the duo’s crime fighting. However he returned at Innocent’s request to help Hathaway make the transition to DI and remained back at the force ever since.
This time the character looks set to walk off into the sunset forever after Whately and Fox decided to “retire from the drama”.
Announcing their decision Whately said: “I feel incredibly fortunate to have shared a decade of fantastic worldwide success with Laurence and with the most brilliant crew, cast and production team anyone could wish for, and all that time with the loyal support of so many fans and of our backers ITV and WGBH Boston. Thanks everybody. What a ride it has been!”
Fox added: “What an extraordinary ten years. I feel so lucky to have worked with absolutely the best crew in the business on Lewis. I will really miss hanging out with Kev for half the year.
“I am however fairly confident that he will not miss my flawless Geordie accent between takes. Thank you so much for watching and supporting us. “
Written by Nick Hicks-Beach, their final case airs on Tuesday 3 and Tuesday 10 November at 9pm on ITV and opens as an idyllic Oxford summer’s day is torn asunder by a gruesome parcel bomb.
The victim of the attack is eminent mathematician Adam Capstone, a genius in the field of ‘Knot Theory’ and notoriously known as a man of carnal appetites, Lewis and Hathaway are called in to investigate.
ITV’s Director of Drama Steve November commented: “It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Robbie Lewis, one of ITV’s most loved and enduring characters.
“We owe Kevin a huge debt of gratitude for nearly 30 fantastic years of Morse and Lewis, and, of course, many thanks too to Laurence Fox who has been by Kevin’s side for the last 10 years.
“We respect their decision not to continue into a further series and wish them the very best for whatever comes next.”