Lewis is Back

<p> The television franchise surrounding British crime novelist Colin Dexter keeps growing. Last Sunday saw the U.S. premiere of “Endeavour,” a prequel to the long-running “Morse.” This Sunday comes the first in the latest four-episode series based on the late Inspector Morse's loveable Everyman sidekick, “Inspector Lewis.” </p> <p>Lewis (Kevin Whately) and his partner, Detective Sergeant Hathaway (Laurence Fox), continue to reprise the “Morse” concept of solving cases through common sense coupled with erudition. Knowledgeable in Latin and Greek as well as philosophy, theology and literature, Hathaway can play the academic games the detectives encounter on their highly unusual beat, the environs of Oxford University. He provides contrast to gumshoe methods of Lewis, still recovering from his wife's death, harboring fond thoughts for a comely medical examiner and, one suspects, counting the years till retirement. Still, no one can accuse him of slacking off on the job. Bodies are still being discovered at a rate that warrants Oxford as the Murder Capital of the European Union. </p> <p>The strength of “Inspector Lewis” was always its characters, literate screenwriting and settingand sometimes the plots. Happily, season five is also strong plotwise as Lewis and Hathaway confront sibling rivalry, pretentious pseudo-intellectuals, glibly amoral Internet entrepreneurs and grasping hedge fund tycoons amidst references to Lewis Carroll, William Shakespeare and William Blake. “Inspector Lewis&quot; is one of the smartest series on TV and here's hoping the inspector will postpone retirement for a few more seasons. </p> <p>“Inspector Lewis: Season V” runs on Masterpiece Mystery, 8 p.m., July 8-29, Channel 10.1, Milwaukee Public Television. </p>