say, the realm of mediocrity-in-all-things (or maybe just--guitars without surcease?) or maybe it just pleased me to believe that
Thaw (as well as Morse) were Maria Callas fans--and knew why they were (?)

Further (though you'd have to audition a few episodes) I thought that the colloquy with his assistant, Sergeant Lewis, was uniquely nuanced and illuminating
--the irascible Morse -"vs"- the un-'cultured' but also ept Lewis, as clearly, they grew to respect/love each other.
No soap opera that, but perhaps the evolution of the soap opera into unchartable Territory.

Manifestly I was not alone in these perceptions: the final episode (after Thaw's unanticipated death)--much as was the case with Jeremy Brett/The Sherlock Holmes
--was, I thought, a palpable social phenomenon, as I read some eloquent paeans of other affected 'fans' of quite more than, 'mysteries being solved'.

Was this phenom any different from/"deeper in the psyche"? say, than the unprecedented responses to Princess Di's denouement?
Damned if I know.

But then, Di's situation was unscriptable, whereas this demanded good writing and better acting, consistently.
Inspector Lewis ... the successor series, suggests that both these characters/portrayers possessed, je ne sais quoi ... durable impressions within psyches--across cultures (too.)
Nor was I immune.
(But then, I am likely operant from 'the emotional-part-of the-intellectual centre', a shorthand I doubt I could properly 'explain', quickly.)