Endeavour (TV series)

Endeavour
Endeavour Morse
Also known as	Detective Constable Morse
Format	Crime drama
Created by	Russell Lewis (as deviser)
Based on	Characters created by Colin Dexter
Starring	Shaun Evans Roger Allam
Composer(s)	Barrington Pheloung
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	5 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Michele Buck Damien Timmer (Mammoth Screen) Rebecca Eaton (Masterpiece)
Producer(s)	Dan McCulloch
Location(s)	Oxford, Oxfordshire, England
Cinematography	Gavin Struthers (pilot) Stephan Perhrsson Zac Nicholson
Running time	98 minutes (pilot) 89 minutes (Series 1)
Production company(s)	Mammoth Screen and Masterpiece co-production for ITV Studios
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV, STV, UTV
Picture format	1080i (HDTV)
Original run	2 January 2012 (2012-01-02) – present
Chronology
Preceded by	Inspector Morse
Related shows	Lewis

Endeavour is a television detective series which is a prequel to the long-running adaptation of Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse novels. Endeavour is produced by Mammoth Screen and Masterpiece for ITV Studios.

Production

ITV broadcast a pilot episode in the UK on 2 January 2012; in the United States, PBS showed it on 1 July 2012. It starred Shaun Evans as the eponymous police detective in his early career.^[1] Abigail Thaw, daughter of original Morse actor John Thaw, played the part of Dorothea Frazil in a scene at the Oxford Mail newspaper.

ITV commissioned four new episodes, filmed during summer 2012,^[2] and aired them from 14 April to 5 May 2013.^[3]

It was announced on 5 June 2013 that due to the success of Series 1, including consistently high ratings, ITV had commissioned a second series of four episodes of Endeavour.^[4] Filming commenced in Oxford in September 2013.^[5][6]

Plot

Set 1965-1966 in Oxfordshire, England (the city of Oxford in particular), the series centres on the early career of Endeavour Morse (Shaun Evans) after leaving his college without taking a degree, spending a short time in the Royal Corps of Signals as a cipher clerk, and then joining the police. In the pilot episode, having been transferred to CID after two years as a uniformed police constable, the young DC Morse soon becomes disillusioned with law enforcement and begins writing a resignation letter. However, before he can resign, Morse is sent with other detectives from the Carshall Newtown Police to the Oxford City Police's Cowley Police Station to assist in investigating the case of a missing fifteen-year-old schoolgirl.

Having studied at Oxford University gives Morse advantages and disadvantages when dealing with Oxford's 'town and gown' divide. During the pilot episode, he tenders his resignation but his superior Detective Inspector Fred Thursday (Roger Allam), the "gov" of the Cowley Police Station, sees in him an unblemished detective he can trust and takes him under his wing to be his new "bagman", replacing a corrupt Detective Sergeant.

Cast

Main Cast

Reception

Noting that the series received upwards of 6.5 million viewers, Mark Sweeny writing in The Guardian stated that any decision to commission a subsequent series should be easy.^[7] Upon its American premiere, Los Angeles Times critic Robert Lloyd called it a "suitably complicated and pictorially engaging work of period suburban mystery."^[8]

Episode guide

Pilot: 2012

Series 1: 2013

Links to Inspector Morse series

A number of references to the Inspector Morse series were included in the pilot episode of Endeavour, serving to introduce younger versions of characters who appeared in the original series or to place iconic series or character elements into the film. Among these are:

• In the first scene, Morse is seen listening to opera (specifically, "Un bel di" from Puccini's Madama Butterfly), and operatic themes were introduced into the score by Barrington Pheloung, who scored and conducted the music for both Inspector Morse and Lewis. Morse's taste in opera would later evolve into a preference for German composers, particularly Mozart and Wagner.

• Morse appears to use his forename, which is known by some of the people who work with him. The episode does not explore why his attitude to his name changes.

• The character Police Constable Jim Strange played by Sean Rigby in Endeavour appears as Chief Superintendent Strange played by James Grout in the Inspector Morse series.

• Max de Bryn, featured as the Home Office pathologist until his retirement in Inspector Morse is introduced when the body of the college student is found. In a later scene, Morse's horror at the sight of blood is shown and emphasised when he faints during a post mortem procedure.

• Early in the episode, Morse states that he abstains from alcohol. However, after he faints at the mortuary, Fred Thursday encourages him to drink a glass of real ale, after which Morse is shown drinking at several points before the close.

• The red Jaguar Mark 2 car with the registration 248 RPA is shown prominently at a car showroom, attracting interest from Morse; this is the car Morse drove in the original series.

• Christopher Brandon plays Alexander Reece, a college friend of Morse, later played by Barry Foster in the 1989 Inspector Morse episode, "The Last Enemy".

• In a flashback, we see a young woman with long blonde hair, draped only in a blanket and viewed from the back, staring out of a window. Later, Morse and Alex Reece have a discussion of their competition over "Wendy", as Reece refers to her, reminding Morse that she preferred Morse to himself. Morse corrects him, saying she prefers "Susan". This is a reference to Susan Fallon (married name), in Morse Episode 21, "Dead on Time". Morse says he lost her to a prior relationship, which would have been Henry Fallon, whose death is investigated in this Morse episode. Susan is played by Joanna David, a blonde woman of similar stature to the one shown in the flashback.

• In the closing moments, as Thursday asks Morse where he sees himself in twenty years, Endeavour looks in the rear view mirror and sees the face of John Thaw. At the same time, the original series music begins, and plays through the credits.

• Red letters are highlighted in names in the closing credits when the series is shown as part of Masterpiece Mystery! on PBS, but not the original ITV release. At the end of the pilot episode, the red letters spell out "Lonsdale", Morse's (fictional) college. As in the original series and Lewis, Brasenose College, near the Radcliffe Camera, serves as Lonsdale.

• As was traditional in the original series, writer Colin Dexter who created Morse, makes a cameo appearance, reading the newspaper in the pub where Thursday takes Morse.

In addition to the face-in-the-mirror scene, Endeavour includes another recognition of John Thaw. His daughter, Abigail, appears as the crossword editor for the Oxford Mail, whom Morse questions. At the end of the scene she pauses for a moment, then asks if she's met him before, eventually noting it may have been "in another life."

DVD

A region 2 DVD of this drama at 89 minutes long was released on 9 January 2012, but, as reviewers on Amazon.co.uk have noted, does not contain the full show and many scenes aired on ITV have been cut out.^[9] A complete edition running at 98 minutes was released on 26 January 2012.^[10] Series one was released on 6 May 2013.^[11]

References

External links

• Endeavour at Masterpiece
• Endeavour (pilot) at the Internet Movie Database
• Endeavour (TV series) at the Internet Movie Database