Morrissey returned to television in 2002 playing Franny Rothwell, a factory canteen worker who wants to adopt his dead sister's son, in an episode of Paul Abbott's "Clocking Off". His performance was described as characteristically powerful in "The Independent". He also played tabloid journalist Dave Dewston in the four-part BBC serial "Murder", and prison officer Mike in the part-improvised single drama "Out of Control". He researched the latter part by shadowing prison officers in a young offenders' institution for a week. At the beginning of 2003, he played the role of Richie MacGregor in "This Little Life", a television drama about a mother who has to cope with her 16-week-premature baby. Morrissey researched premature births by speaking to paediatricians at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead.