Ironically I never was drawn to Inspector Morse, but I immediately became a big fan of Lewis. Having visited Oxford awhile ago, it was fascinating to see the Oxford University colleges being a backdrop to a series that's expertly scripted and with outstanding performances.Curiously, we don't see Lewis and Hathaway solving crimes around Oxford Brookes University (which is a bona fide university in Oxford by the way and offers accredited degrees) or along Cowley Road or around surrounding suburbs such as the Wood Farm estate (leading to Awgar Stone Road) or Blackbird Leys. Maybe that's way too gritty for TV audiences if you know what I mean.Maybe one day Inspector Lewis can be rebooted for maybe another season or two. It is very high caliber TV.

...you'll like Lewis. It has the same virtues: excellent writing and production values, good stories, engaging characters portrayed by first-rate actors--and Oxford.I should note that I've only got as far as Series 3 to this point, so it's possible I'll change my mind later on, if the show doesn't maintain its quality. But Morse did, through more than 30 episodes of 90+ minutes each--so why shouldn't Lewis? Indeed it's at least possible that when all is said and done I might decide I like it even better than Morse, which I certainly didn't expect when I started watching the first episode of the first series.I add finally that my only access to this series is on DVD and I've bought the first seven series. I'll buy more if there are more. So I'm putting my money where my mouth is.

British crime series are always worth watching - even if they are longer than usual, having the length of a real separate film. Vivid, but still realistic characters, picturesque landscapes-townships and short (or sometimes even not visible) evil deeds form a quality standard and widening the audience not keen on constant explosions-fights-killings. I used to watch "Inspector Morse" - and I liked it - and "Lewis" has the same high level, with one exception: now the supporting character (Hathaway, played by Laurence Fox) is more interesting to me than the main one. It is not the question of acting, but the lines imputed to the persons involved."Only" 9 points from me as I like the new modernized Sherlock Holmes even more :)

Lewis hits the spot for me. Great location shots of Oxford, typically unbelievably complicated plots where the destination seems less important than journey, and Kevin Whately's now rather world-weary Inspector Lewis trawling his way through police procedure to arrive at the right solution.I like Laurence Fox as Lewis' laconic and slightly acerbic assistant Hathaway. This is a working partnership not one of close camaraderie - and that works for me. At least in series one, the writers have refrained from throwing random romance in the way of Lewis - other series go a bit too far with distracting love interests - and this means our heroes can concentrate all their energies on cerebral outcomes rather than physical ones.All in all, a very competent and enjoyable series. 9/10