The Low Culture Essay: Jennifer Lucy Allan on Inspector Morse's Rave Episode

In this month's Low Culture essay, Jennifer Lucy Allan rewatches the infamous rave episode of 90s TV detective drama Inspector Morse, and discovers that while he might have preferred lunchtime ale to nocturnal pingers, the Oxford detective knew all about a comedown. We're now sending out all our subscriber content via email as well as putting it on Steady and the subscriber area of tQ – we hope this makes it easier for you to find. If you're enjoying our exclusive perks, please tell your friends – these are difficult times for independent media and ourselves and we need to boost the subs all we can. Thank you for reading & your continued support.

"Just what are these things Lewis?" demands Inspector Morse. "Fractals, they're called," Lewis replies. "New geometry, computer generated, to do with chaos – why, if a butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazon jungle, you have a hurricane in the Himalayas." Morse looks on, incredulous. They pull down the fractals poster in teenager Vicky Lewis's bedroom and find the wall behind plastered with rave flyers. Morse puts on her headphones and presses play on the stereo. "There's something in here, play that bit again!" he yells over an earful of acid house. "That's the 'Hallelujah' chorus... conducted by Sir Adrian Boult!"