John Edward Thaw, was an English actor in television, stage and cinema, best known for his starring role in the television series Inspector Morse as Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse and The Sweeney as Detective Inspector Jack Regan.

Inspector Morse is a British detective drama television series based on a series of novels by Colin Dexter. It starred John Thaw as Detective Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis. The series comprises 33 two-hour episodes produced between 6 January 1987 and 15 November 2000. Dexter made uncredited cameo appearances in all but three of the episodes.