Norway in the 10th century. Askur, son of the powerful Thorgeir marries Embla, daughter of one of the few remaining landowners in Norway, in a pagan ceremony. King Olav, a ruthless Christian, wants to remove all traces of non-Christian beliefs and captures the two of them during the ceremony. In order to free Embla, Askur must go to Iceland and convert the people there to Christianity.

该剧是英剧《摩斯探长》的续篇，于2006-2015年在ITV播出，共九季33集，每集约90分钟，其中从2013年的第七季开始每集在ITV1首播时被拆分为上下两部分连续两周播出，然而在重播时以及在美国PBS电视台播出时依旧作为整集播出。该剧将背景设置在学术气息浓郁的牛津，剧中很多含有隐喻的诙谐对白在外国文学爱好者看来会别有趣味，同时延续摩斯系列侧重通过案件展示各色人生和命运悲剧的特色，凶手被揭露后通常会有一幕对手戏将矛盾推至高潮，尘埃落定后缓和而带有希望的片尾曲又形成鲜明映衬，让人感叹命运无常及人的渺小，同时又看到光明的希望。该剧多位编剧也曾参与ITV版大侦探波洛和马普尔小姐系列剧的改编。

本系列纪录片是由BBC于2001年发行的纪录片 　　共5部分: 　　1.First Blood 　　2.Invasion 　　3.The Sea Road 　　4.Rulers 　　5.Last of the Vikings 　　Julian Richards investigates Viking Britain, from the first raids to their settlement of the British Isles and traces their legacy through a genetics survey 　　Journey back to 793 on the coast of Holy Island, home to the peaceful monks of Lindisfarne who were brutally murdered by raiders from the sea. The Norwegian countryside reveals Viking graves, littered with treasures that once belonged to the monks! 　　In Oseburg, Norway, uncover an entire Viking ship, preserved in a massive Pagan burial ground. On board, discover the bowels of the vessel bursting with treasure that archaeological evidence connects to a Scottish monastery, burned and pillaged hundreds of years before. 　　On the salty bluffs of northern Scotland, where the ancient Pictish people lived, explore a still-popular debate. Historians argue that the Vikings maintained peaceful relations with the Picts, trading with them freely. Now, hear others contend that the Vikings wiped these pre-Scotsmen off the map! Whichever the case, one thing seems certain: the Vikings took every available opportunity and life to make money. 　　The Survey 　　The UCL genetics survey set out to discover if any genetic traces of the Vikings remained in the British Isles - and what this might reveal about the Viking Age. We hoped to find out where Vikings settled and roughly how significant those settlements were. DNA samples were taken from men at a number of sites. In the main, small towns were chosen and the men tested were required to be able to trace their male line back two generations in the same rural area - within 20 miles of the town chosen. The aim was to reduce the effects of later population movements, assuming that in between the Norman invasion of 1066 and the 20th century movement would have been limited. 　　The tests looked at the Y chromosome, which is only carried by men. This chromosome is particularly useful for population genetics studies as it is passed directly from father to son with virtually no alteration. Other chromosomes exist in pairs, one member of which is passed on from the mother and the other from the father. But because women do not carry a Y chromosome, geneticists can always be sure that this part of a man's DNA has come from his father, and from his grandfather before him. This chromosome allows geneticists to begin to unravel the male ancestry of the British Isles. 　　First Blood 　　Loot found secreted in pagan graves in Norway provides some major clues that point to Viking perpetrators following the discovery of murder victims in Wales and a monastery razed to the ground in Scotland. 　　Invasion 　　In AD 856, a massive fleet of Viking ships appeared off the coast of East Anglia, heralding a change in Viking tactics - from raiding to invasion. Richards charts the years of attempted conquest that followed. 　　The Sea Road 　　Julian Richards investigates the impact of the Vikings in Britain. This edition focuses on the archaeological trail left by the Vikings as they travelled from Norway along the sea road to Dublin. Settlements, a boat burial and evidence of trading have been discovered on the Scottish isles, and silver hoards found in Ireland suggest that Dublin was not only wealthy and important, but also a centre for trade in slaves. 　　Rulers 　　Julian Richards recalls how, after years of raiding, England\'s resistance was so weakened that, in the early 11th century, the Vikings were finally able to seize the throne. In other parts of the British Isles however, they gained and maintained power by integration. 　　Last of the Vikings 　　In the last of the series, Julian Richards uncovers new information from the battle in 1066 between Viking warlord Harald Hardrada and King Harold of England that marked the end of the Viking age in Britain. Results from a nationwide genetic survey show where in Britain the Vikings left a measurable contribution.

Lewis returns to Oxford after several years absence and is reluctantly assigned by his new boss, DCS Innocent, to the murder of an Oxford mathematics student who was shot while participating in a sleep study. The key-code used to access the sleep lab was assigned to a fellow maths student, Daniel Griffin, but Daniel's math tutor has provided him with an alibi. Daniel is a maladjusted young man who will soon inherit his father's automotive empire. He is disruptive and has no respect for his uncle who now heads the company. The future of the company however rests on an impending deal with Japanese investors who insist that family unity is all important at this time. When two other murder occurs, Lewis must decipher a cryptic clue left in an old case file by his former boss, Chief Inspector Morse.

At first the murders of Reg Chapman, a handy man at the Bodleian Library and gambling addict, and Nell Buckley, a popular Art student, seem unrelated. However, it transpires that Chapmen stole parchment from the library upon which Nell and another student persuaded Philip, a brilliant, autistic young painter, to innocently forge letters by the poet Shelley for the international collectors' market. When both victims,for different reasons, threatened to expose the mastermind behind the scam, they were killed.

Lewis attends a book launch for a fantasy novel penned by prodigious young research fellow Dorian Crane, with whose adoptive mother, Ginny, Robbie's boss Jean is trying to match-make him. Later that night a Czech hotel worker Marina is found murdered. Professor Deering, the uncle of Dorian's fiancee and muse, Alice, confesses to having seen Marina on a foreign website and paid for her to come to Oxford, finding her work. However, as a supposed gay man, he is keen to hush up his sex life with her. Robbie believes that Marina was killed in mistake for Alice and then Dorian is also murdered, in order to preserve a secret well beyond Robbie's imagination.

Steven Mullan is found dead in his bathtub, the scalding water indicative of the white-hot rage that motivated the murder. Lewis recognizes Mullan as having been recently released from prison after having tried to kill celebrity atheist Tom Rattenbury while driving drunk. Mullan's sentence may be over, but have the scars healed for the Rattenburys, especially daughter Jessica who remains in a wheelchair from the incident?

Lewis is less than pleased when he and DS Hathaway are assigned to protect Nicky Turnbull, a former criminal turned successful author. Turnbull had actually cheated two Oxford colleges in his computer scam and had received death threats. Turnbull is everything Lewis dislikes but he grits his teeth does the job. Turnbull is in Oxford to make a speech at the request of the Students Union but things take a serious turn when Jo Gilchrist, a student and a member of Turnbull's reception committee, is found strangled. Gilchrist wrote for a student newspaper and was about to expose a professor's exam scam. When Turnbull is shot in the courtyard of his hotel, Lewis realizes that the man's wife was his first girlfriend. He also learns that they were on the verge of getting a divorce.

Faced with a crime that bridges the worlds of neurosurgery, blood sports and animal rights, Hathaway works his first case as DI with the help of his new partner, DS Lizzie Maddox. Lewis, struggling to adapt to retired life, jumps at the chance to rejoin the force when Chief Superintendent Innocent seeks his help.

Andrea De Ritter, founder of an organization that supports gifted children, is murdered after making a presentation to Zoe Suskin, only fifteen but an Oxford student. That night Andrea had resisted the advances of young student Elmo Woodeson as well as sending a copy of the autobiography of former spy mistress Dame Grace Orde to Zoe's publisher father Leon. She had added inside the book "Who Killed Mary? See Chapter 8." Both Leon and Elmo are killed shortly after and Zoe's tutor Donald Voss is poisoned though not fatally. Suskin had punched Liam Cullen, Andrea's lover, wrongly believing he was having an affair with his wife Judith following a text message to her and indeed sexual affairs, with Andrea at their hub, would seem to motivate the killings.