Five years after the death of his long-time police partner and a while later the death of Valerie, his wife, by a hit-and-run driver in London, Lewis returns to Oxford after a couple of years in the Bahamas where he was a detective.

Lewis and the much younger Detective Sergeant James Hathaway investigate the death of an American college student, Regan Peverill. The trail leads to another student, Danny Griffon, a man with a family secret whose previous brush with the law was investigated by a certain Inspector Morse. Cryptic doodlings by Morse on a crossword left in the original case file yield important clues: Morse already knew the truth!

Meanwhile, Lewis new boss, Chief Superintendent Jean Innocent, has plans to move him off the front lines to a training assignment, which he is determined to resist.

This episod also starred Clare Holman, reprising her role as pathologist Laura Hobson; Jemma Redgrave, Lizzie McInnerny, Michael Maloney and Jack Ellis. Morse creator Colin Dexter makes a Hitchcockian appearance as a college scout.

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Lewis and Hathaway investigate a murder involving a group called the “Sons of the Twice Born”, named after an epithet of Dionysus relating to his birth, whose activities are shrouded in Greek codes, quotes from Nietzsche and a Dionysian fondness for drugs. The title is part of a quotation from Euripides, the full quotation is “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad”.

When an ambitious Oxford student is found dead in her hotel room after inviting a reformed computer hacker to speak at the Union, Lewis and Hathaway are called in to investigate. The pair are soon drawn into a case driven by celebrity, ambition and dangerous sexual politics, which strikes alarming chords with Lewis.

Lewis and Hathaway investigate the apparent suicide of a housewife living in Summertown.

Lewis and Hathaway investigate the death of a maintenance engineer found shot in the head in the basement of the Bodleian Library. A search of the dead man’s house reveals a stash of valuable volumes and a connection to the local gamblers anonymous group, with further probing exposing a scam involving two Oxford academics.

Neil Pearson and Haydn Gwynne guest star with Darren Clarke, Sam Alexander, Emily Beecham, Tom Riley, Ian Burfield, Clare Holman, James Weaver, Felix Scott, Jack Gordon, Jeany Spark, Caleb Rowe and Rebecca Front. University College is featured prominently in this episode, with scenes shot in Radcliffe Quad and at the Shelley Memorial.

Lewis and Hathaway are called in to investigate a boxing scam, a close link to Lewis’ old boss, Inspector Morse, and a love triangle linked to the Stasi. Written By Dusty Hughes. Directed by Bill Anderson.

Lewis investigates when a devout young Christian desecrates a church by committing suicide on its altar, claiming in a call to the police that it was murder. Hathaway recognises him as Will McEwan, an old school friend. As the detectives delve deeper, a series of gruesome murders occur, all involving members of “The Garden”, a modern Christian club, and Hathaway, who once trained for the priesthood, appears to know a lot more than he is willing to tell his boss. Ian McNeice, Matthew Marsh, and Rachael Stirling guest star.

Following the rape of a teenage girl, Lewis and Hathaway stumble across the curious private dinner parties of high school computer technician Oswald Cooper, who ends up being brutally murdered and castrated after entertaining several highly respected societal figures.