"The Way Through the Woods" is an episode of the British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 television detective mystery show Inspector Morse

Inspector Morse (TV series)

Inspector Morse is a detective drama based on Colin Dexter's series of Chief Inspector Morse novels. The series starred John Thaw as Chief Inspector Morse and Kevin Whately as Sergeant Lewis. Dexter makes a cameo appearance in all but three of the episodes....

  dramatized on ITV

ITV

ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

. It was first broadcast in 1995.

Set-up

Stephen Parnell (Gary Powell), who confessed to murdering five people, is killed in prison, but in his dying words he says that he did not kill the last victim, Karen Anderson. The murders were first investigated by DCI Martin Johnson (Malcolm Storry) and Detective Sergeant Lewis (Kevin Whately) the previous summer, but Karen Anderson's body was never found.

Inspector Morse is convinced that Johnson overlooked key evidence when a postcard intrigues him, The Woodman's Daughter painted in 1850/1851 by John Everett Millais

John Everett Millais

Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA was an English painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Early life:...

, with the words "look forward to seeing you here again. - M." on the reverse side. Morse is sure that Karen Anderson is in Wytham Woods, and not in Blenheim Lake, as Parnell had put in his confession.

Investigation

Morse questions George Daley (Christopher Fairbank) even though it isn't his case. Daley had found Karen Anderson's overnight bag about a week after she disappeared and turned it over to the police. The next day Daley is found shot to death in one of the gardens at Blenheim Palace and Morse is put in charge because Chief Superintendent Strange (James Grout) feels that Johnson may have cut corners and not told him everything.
Morse and Lewis then interview Dr. Alan Hardinge (Nicholas Le Prevost) the bursar of Lonsdale College (where Daley was also the gardener); Dave Michaels (Neil Dudgeon), the groundskeeper of Wytham Woods; Margaret Daley (Maggie Shevlin) and Philip Daley (James D. White), the wife and son of George Daley. When they question Mrs. Daley and her son they hand over some photographs from Karen Anderson's camera, and also the camera. This leads them to Alisdair McBryde (Robin Soans

Robin Soans

Robin Soans is an actor, and a playwright specialising in verbatim and documentary plays. These plays include Across the Divide ; A State Affair which looked at life on a Bradford estate, produced by Out of Joint theatre company; The Arab Israeli Cookbook ; Talking to Terrorists Robin Soans (born...

) an osteopath who lives in Park Town, Oxford

Park Town, Oxford

Park Town is a small residential area in central North Oxford, a suburb of Oxford, England. It was one of the earliest planned suburban developments in the area.-History and overview:...

, because of the distinctive curve in the roof-line, which leads them to Dr. James Myton, a man in two of the photographs, and also leads them back to Dr. Hardinge.

Hardinge, McBryde, and Myton had engaged Karen Anderson to take some nude photographs for them on the day before she went missing. Dr. Myton was from South Africa and although he had paid up for a full year, until the end of December, he left suddenly at the end of July. In Myton's flat is a print of The Woodman's Daughter. The background of the painting was done in Wytham Woods, and at Morse's urging Wytham Woods is searched, with Chief Superintendent Strange warning Morse that if he doesn't find anything the Chief Constable wants him off the case and DCI Johnson back in charge. The search turns up some skeletal remains, which Morse is sure is that of Karen Anderson, killed by Dr. Myton.

Conclusion

Cathie Michaels (Michelle Fairley

Michelle Fairley

Michelle Fairley is an Northern Irish actress of film, stage and television.-Life and career:Born in Coleraine, Northern Ireland to well known publicans Teresa and Brian Fairley, she grew up in Ballycastle, Northern Ireland she appeared in a range of British television shows including The Bill,...

), sexually abused

Sexual abuse

Sexual abuse, also referred to as molestation, is the forcing of undesired sexual behavior by one person upon another. When that force is immediate, of short duration, or infrequent, it is called sexual assault. The offender is referred to as a sexual abuser or molester...

by her father, is the missing Karen Anderson. She is the murderer and is shot and killed as Morse tries to wrestle a shotgun from her.