"Lew watched ["Trapped in the Sky"] and at the end he jumped up shouting, 'Fantastic, absolutely fantastic! This isn't a television series – this is a feature film! You've got to make this as an hour!' ... I'm glad we did it, because it made the series much bigger and much more important. But it was still a very, very difficult job."

"Since we always tried to minimise walking, we'd show the puppets taking one step only, then promptly cut. Through interspersing the programmes with "meanwhile" scenes – that is, showing what else was going on in the story at the same time – we would then cut back to the puppet who was now already in his craft."

"I started to think that there really ought to be dumps around the world with rescue gear standing by, so that when a disaster happened, all these items of rescue equipment could be rushed to the disaster zone and used to help to get people out of trouble ... I was thinking, 'Rescue, yes, rescue, but how to make it science fiction? What about an international rescue organisation?"

"Morse: Go home, Lewis. Kiss your children. See your wife"

"Lewis: Was it from 'Cats'?"

"Morse: Get an ambulance to Hanbury House as fast as you can! Some fool in a sports car just drove into a tree!"

"Morse: Let's get out of here. I hate the smell of hospitals"

"Morse: Cat got your tongue, Lewis? Getting all too much for you, is it? A coded letter; stolen money; violence."

"Max: You can have a good relationship with a corpse"

"Morse: Beer is food"

"Lewis: What about Mr. Craven?"

"Chief Supt. Strange: I'm the Superintendent. If one of my officers orders a constable to bring him whisky in a coffee-mug, I get to hear about it. It's my job!"

"Mr. Craven: It's time to get your shoes dirty!"

"Max: Think of it like losing your finest recording of the 'Ring Cycle'"

"Morse: No, ...we are NOT having a depression!"

"Morse: Have you ever thought about the person who designed the sports skirt? Somebody sat down and drew a fantasy and made it compulsory uniform. I can never watch Wimbledon without thanking that man."

"Lewis: I think I'll just pop down and see Aunt Cissy."

"Morse: People's lives, Lewis. People's lives. And loves. It was love's old sweet song all along!"

"Lewis: (commenting on Mrs Downs): Fine woman, that! Full of life!"

"Sandra Harrison: John was supposed to come 'round to my flat, but he phoned to say he was working late. I could tell he was lying, so I dialed 1-4-7-1. It was my parents' house. He was a man you had to... share, if you wanted him at all. And I wanted him, ever since he did some work at the house."

"Lewis: Goodbye, sir."

"Serving Wench: (making a grand gesture) A messenger attends without, My Lord!"

"Morse: And the rich do so hate answering questions!"

"The House of The Lord should be daily swept and garnished"

"Morse: Oh, grow up, Morse!"

"Morse: No, that's not 'Morse's Law'. 'Morse's Law' is there's always time for one more pint ... except there isn't."

"Morse: I've gone and arrested the WRONG man!"

"Morse: No-one would put up with me - I play my records too loud"

"Morse: I do hope that this isn't one of our sordid cases, Lewis"

"Lewis: Hello, my name's 'Lewis', Mr Richards, we've never met..."

"Morse: Lewis, Sophocles died two and a half thousand years ago."

"Morse: Thank...Lewis...for me."

"Chief Supt. Strange: [referring to Morse's letter to Yvonne Harrison] He's always been an independent sod, Lewis. If he had told you about it, he would have felt that he was letting himself down in your eyes. And he didn't want that, Lewis. He didn't want that."

"Morse: Isn't it your round?"

"Woman: What's your first name?"