In the novels Lewis is Welsh; in the TV series he speaks with a very strong Geordie accent.. His background and personality – a working class, easygoing family man – is frequently contrasted with that of Morse – Oxford educated, RP-accented, and a life-long bachelor.

In the pilot episode, Lewis returns to Oxford from a two-year stint training police in the British Virgin Islands, following the death of his wife Valerie in a hit-and-run collision in London.

In the new series, Lewis gains his own junior, Detective Sergeant James Hathaway (played by Laurence Fox), a Cambridge-educated man who joined the police after giving up training for the priesthood.

After Robbie retires (and before he returns to work at the request of their superior, Chief Superintendent Jean Innocent, played by Rebecca Front), Hathaway gains his own assistant, Detective Sergeant Elizabeth (Lizzie) Maddox (played by Angela Griffin).

Maddox is black, married, smart, and usually very matter of fact, and occasionally shows a sense of humour in her work with James (and Robbie).

In the latest series, Lewis had retired from the police force, but is brought back as a consultant to work with Hathaway, who is now a detective inspector himself.