No remorse over Aussie Morse

Australian fans have already seen Morse's demise

The makers of Inspector Morse have defended their decision to allow the final episode of the television series to be shown in Australia before the UK.

Australian viewers saw The Remorseful Day - the last programme featuring John Thaw's grumpy Oxford-based detective - on Sunday.

But the Carlton Television-made show will not be screened on ITV until Wednesday evening.

We know that Morse dies, so it's not letting the cat out of the bag

Carlton spokesman

Inspector Morse's creator Colin Dexter was reportedly "extremely surprised" that the programme was not shown first in the UK.

"I know nothing about it being shown in Australia," he told the Daily Mail.

"I can offer no comment other than to say everyone here felt Wednesday was the first showing."

Carlton Television spokesman Peter Mares told BBC News Online he did not think the Australian preview would affect the enjoyment of British viewers, particularly in the light of the widespread press coverage already given to the episode.

"We know that Morse dies, so it's not letting the cat out of the bag," he said.

Author Colin Dexter "extremely surprised" at Australian preview

"It's not unusual for a programme to be shown in a foreign territory first. The same thing happened earlier this year with Monsignor Renard, another series featuring John Thaw.

"These things are generally agreed with countries which are far enough removed from the UK that the signal will not be picked up here."

Colin Dexter agreed that the decision to preview the programme in Australia would probably not spoil it for UK viewers.

"But I don't know if any amount of distance can justify letting another country show it first," he added.