Endeavour (TV series)

Endeavour
Endeavour Morse
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	2
No. of episodes	9 (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) 90 minutes (Series 1-2)
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 British television detective drama series. It is a prequel to the long-running Inspector Morse and—like that series—is set primarily in Oxford. Shaun Evans portrays a young Endeavour Morse beginning his career as a Detective Constable with the Oxford City Police CID. The series is produced for ITV by Mammoth Screen and Masterpiece. Following a pilot episode in 2012, the first series was broadcast in 2013 and the second in 2014. A third series has been ordered by ITV; no broadcast date has been announced.^[1]

Production

ITV broadcast a pilot episode in the UK on 2 January 2012; in the United States, PBS aired it on 1 July 2012. It starred Shaun Evans as the eponymous police detective in his early career.^[2] 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 a first series of four new episodes, filmed during summer 2012,^[3] and aired them from 14 April to 5 May 2013.^[4]

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.^[5] Filming commenced in Oxford in September 2013.^[6][7]

Plot

Set in mid to late-1960s Oxford, England, the series centres on the early career of Endeavour Morse (Shaun Evans) after leaving Lonsdale College of Oxford University late in his third year without taking a degree, spending a short time in the Royal Corps of Signals as a cipher clerk, and then joining the Carshall-Newtown Police. In the pilot episode, having been transferred to CID after only 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 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, veteran Detective Inspector Fred Thursday (Roger Allam), the "gov" at the Oxford City Police's CID, sees in him an unblemished detective whom he can trust and takes him under his wing to be his new "bag man" meaning assistant, replacing a corrupt Detective Sergeant.

Series 1

Series 1 begins with Morse transferring to the Oxford City Police in 1965 following a double-murder investigation that took place during the pilot episode. Morse is taken under the wing of Inspector Thursday. Thursday names Morse his designated "bag man" and shows him the ropes as Morse begins to solve a string of complex multiple-murders, much to the envy and annoyance of some of his superiors, particularly Detective Sergeant Jakes and Chief Superintendent Bright. Morse displays his obvious genius in solving intricate murders, including several with opera connections. Thursday and fellow officer, Police Constable Strange, try to steer the young Endeavour into taking his Sergeant's exam, so that he may be relieved of "General Duties" and become Thursday's official "bag man" with the appropriate rank and title. In the Series 1 finale, Morse is shot while attempting to apprehend a murderer and is placed on light-duty. At the same time, Morse comes to terms with the death of his cold and unfeeling father in December 1965.

Series 2

Series 2 begins in 1966 with Morse returning to active duty at Cowley Police Station, after spending several months on light duty at Oxfordshire (County) Police's Witney Station, under the direction of D.I. Bart Church. Morse is received warmly by C.S. Bright and D.S. Jakes, as D.I. Thursday begins to keep a more watchful eye on the young Endeavour. As a result of the shooting, Morse begins to suffer from delayed stress and paranoia, as well as an increase in alcohol consumption. Upon return to active duty, Morse is confronted first by three cases, which he tries to tie in together. Morse makes several mistakes in the investigation, but despite his errors, he solves the cases, impressing his superiors. During the investigation of one case, he is beaten into a concussion and is cared for by his nurse neighbour, Monica Hicks, in whom he takes an interest. At the same time, P.C. Strange enters into Freemasonry with many of Oxford's elite, and D.I. Thursday's daughter, Joan, begins to take an interest in Endeavour. During the course of several cases, evidence goes missing.

In the final episode of Series 2, the looming merger of city and county police and misgivings about corruption lead Thursday to express interest in retirement, after strong hints from C.S. Bright about age and health. Morse speculates to Monica about leaving the police and going abroad with her. Assistant Chief Constable Clive Deare asks Thursday and Morse to covertly investigate corruption within the police and council. Morse is sent to a rendezvous where he is ambushed by corrupt officers and Thursday is lured to Blenheim Vale, a derelict former wayward boys home, where there was rampant sexual and physical abuse. Morse escapes the ambush and goes to support Thursday, who is ambushed and shot by Deare, who participated in the abuse at Blenheim Vale. Deare tells Morse he has framed him for the murder of Chief Constable Rupert Standish. Deare is about to kill Morse when he is shot dead by a girl who had also been abused at Blenheim Vale, who then kills herself. Bright and Strange show up with backup and an ambulance. As Thursday is being loaded into an ambulance, Morse is arrested by officers from another force for the murder of the Chief Constable, and the series ends with Thursday's fate unknown and Morse in a jail cell.

Cast

Actor	Character	Position
Shaun Evans	Endeavour Morse	Detective Constable (DC), Oxford City Police CID, Cowley Police Station
Roger Allam	Fred Thursday	Detective Inspector (DI), Oxford City Police CID, Cowley Police Station
Anton Lesser	Reginald Bright	Police Chief Superintendent (PCS), Oxford City Police, Cowley Police Station
Jack Laskey	Peter Jakes	Detective Sergeant (DS), Oxford City Police CID, Cowley Police Station
Sean Rigby	Jim Strange	Police Constable (PC), Oxford City Police, Cowley Police Station
James Bradshaw	Dr. Max DeBryn	Home Office Pathologist
Abigail Thaw	Dorothea Frazil	Editor, Oxford Mail newspaper
Caroline O'Neill	Win Thursday	Inspector Thursday's wife
Sara Vickers	Joan Thursday	Inspector Thursday's daughter
Jack Bannon	Sam Thursday	Inspector Thursday's son
Shvorne Marks	Monica Hicks	Morse's neighbour, a nurse with whom he slowly enters a relationship
Simon Kunz	Bart Church	Detective Inspector, Oxfordshire Police CID, Witney Police Station

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.^[8] Upon its American premiere, Los Angeles Times critic Robert Lloyd called it a "suitably complicated and pictorially engaging work of period suburban mystery."^[9]

Critics have been generally favourable,^[10] though even positive reviews have commented that the show's murder-mystery plots are occasionally unsatisfying convoluted puzzles^[11] or come to a "rushed, melodramatic and fairly preposterous conclusion."^[12]

Episode guide

Pilot: 2012

style="background: #ACE5EE;" text-align: center;"|No. overall	style="background: #ACE5EE;" text-align: center;"|No. for series	style="background: #ACE5EE;" text-align: center;"|Title	style="background: #ACE5EE;" text-align: center;"|Directed by	style="background: #ACE5EE;" text-align: center;"|Written by	style="background: #ACE5EE;" text-align: center;"|Original Airdate	text-align: center;" " style="background:#ace5ee; width:25%;"| Viewing Figures (millions) Sourced by BARB; includes ITV HD and ITV +1
1	1	"Endeavour"	Colm McCarthy	Russell Lewis	2 January 2012	8.21
The murder of a 15-year-old schoolgirl and the apparent suicide of her boyfriend lead an investigation by the Oxford City Police to the discovery of sex parties where under-age girls are procured for politicians, businessmen, Oxford dons and policemen, which in particular make the sifting of evidence very difficult. Endeavour's superior, Detective Inspector Fred Thursday, recognising the young constable is a detective he can trust, takes him under his wing and is determined to break the case and, with Morse's help, bring it to a successful conclusion.

References 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 several pints 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 Wendy Spencer, Morse's girlfriend at university, in the book "The Riddle of the Third Mile", and Susan Fallon (married name), her equivalent in the television series. In Morse Episode 21, "Dead on Time", Morse says he lost Susan 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.

• In Neverland, the young Morse is recommended by his boss to seek out 'Inspector McNutt' as a possible replacement for him when he retires. McNutt features in the Morse episode Masonic Mysteries, when he is murdered by dangerous conman Hugo de Vries.

• 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 cameo appearances in each episode, for example, reading a newspaper on a bench in one scene and in another, sitting on the upper deck of an Oxford bus.

• As Morse and the other officers from Carshall Newtown are being bussed in to Oxford at the beginning of the Pilot, "In Paradisum" from Faure's Requiem plays, the same piece of music used when Morse collapsed in "The Remorseful Day".

• In Episode 1 of Series 2 ("Trove"), Oxford Don Matthew Copley-Barnes appears, and references are made to his daughter Imogen and her friend Sylvie. These characters form the core of Morse Episode 1 of Series 4 ("The Infernal Serpent").

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."

Series 1: 2013

style="background:plum;" text-align: center;"|No. overall	style="background:plum;" text-align: center;"|No. for series	style="background:plum;" text-align: center;"|Title	style="background:plum;" text-align: center;"|Directed by	style="background:plum;" text-align: center;"|Written by	style="background:plum;" text-align: center;"|Original Airdate	text-align: center;" " style="background:plum; width:25%;"| Viewing Figures (millions) Sourced by BARB; includes ITV HD and ITV+1
2	1	"Girl"	Ed Bazalgette	Russell Lewis	14 April 2013	7.43
The sudden death of a secretarial student and the shooting of a doctor appear unconnected despite Morse's theories. Chief Superintendent Bright, the new commanding officer of the Oxford City Police, unimpressed with Morse's zeal, protests to Thursday that the bagman's position is a Detective Sergeant's job and the young constable is too inexperienced. Following the shooting of a vicar, Morse is reduced to general duties for dismissing a beautiful, but mentally unstable girl as a suspect and must continue his investigations alone despite warnings of termination from his superiors.
3	2	"Fugue"	Tom Vaughan	Russell Lewis	21 April 2013	7.00
The strangulation of a married woman and the brutal poisoning of an elderly lady botanist, backed with clues of an operatic connection, leads Thursday to have Morse taken off general duties for his specialist knowledge of opera to bring a serial killer to justice.
4	3	"Rocket"	Craig Viveiros	Russell Lewis	28 April 2013	7.07
An unpopular fitter is murdered during a royal visit at a family owned munitions factory. Thursday and Jakes lead the investigation while Morse is given routine tasks of inquiry. Due to the royal visit, Chief Superintendent Bright fears for his position unless the case is solved quickly.
5	4	"Home"	Colm McCarthy	Russell Lewis	5 May 2013	6.62
Morse, still on general duties and studying for his forthcoming sergeant's exam, investigates an apparent hit-and-run accident that has claimed the life of an Oxford don. The victim had been at odds with his peers over the sale of a piece of college-owned land to a development company in conjunction with the town council. The case is complicated by the appearance in Oxford of an East London gangster named Vic Kasper, an enemy from DI Thursday's past, which reignites a personal feud as Thursday thinks Kasper is somehow involved with the case. In the meantime, Morse makes a trip back home to Lincolnshire to visit his dying father.

Series 2: 2014

No. overall	No. for series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original Airdate	text-align: center;" " style="background-color: #008000; width:25%;"| Viewing Figures (millions) Sourced by BARB; includes ITV+1
6	1	"Trove"	Kristoffer Nyholm	Russell Lewis	30 March 2014	6.48
In the spring of 1966, after returning from sick leave for several months at County (Oxfordshire) Police's Witney Station under D.I. Church, Morse investigates a suspicious suicide during an Oxford parade, a missing girl from Oxfordshire, and the theft of a Trove (ancient artifacts) from a college. On the 900 year anniversary of the 1066 Battle of Hastings a beauty pageant and local by-election draw Morse into disagreement with Inspector Thursday and Superintendent Bright when he believes they are connected to the crimes despite the evidence. A missing notebook and a Freemasonry lodge hamper the investigation.
7	2	"Nocturne"	Giuseppe Capotondi	Russell Lewis	6 April 2014	6.19
In July 1966 at the almost empty Museum of Natural History, save for some schoolgirls, Adrian Weiss, a specialist in heraldry and genealogy, is murdered. The similar murder of a 12-year-old girl at her boarding school leads Morse to delve into a 100-year-old murder mystery involving a wealthy family with connections to India and an inheritance. A masonic ring connected to the case goes missing.
8	3	"Sway"	Andy Wilson	Russell Lewis	13 April 2014	5.93
In the period before Remembrance Sunday in November of 1966, a housewife found strangled with a silk stocking in her own home becomes the third such death in Oxford in a month. All the women were married, alone and their wedding rings missing. Tracing the stockings to the sole supplier, Burridges Department Store, a number of suspects surface, and for Inspector Thursday, a face from the past he thought was dead leading to complications in his family life and with Morse.
9	4	"Neverland"	Geoffrey Sax	Russell Lewis	20 April 2014	6.01
In December of 1966, a boy with a brutal father is reported missing from his home. The body of a journalist is found on a railway line and within days an escaped convict, with only a month of his sentence remaining, is found dead. The two men have connections with Blenheim Vale, a disused correctional facility for boys in Kidlington, soon to be redeveloped as a new police headquarters in a reorganisation of the local forces to form the Thames Valley Police. Thursday and Morse's investigation lead to a property developer and corruption in high places including missing police evidence in Morse's last three investigations.

Series 3: TBA

On 24 September 2014, ITV confirmed that a third series of Endeavour has been ordered. No date has yet been set to air the new episodes.^[1]

DVD

A region 2 DVD of the pilot 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.^[13] A complete edition running at 98 minutes was released on 26 January 2012.^[14]

Series One was released on DVD on 6 May 2013,^[15] and Series Two was released on 5 May 2014.

References

External links

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

Inspector Morse series by Colin Dexter Novels Last Bus to Woodstock (1975) Last Seen Wearing (1976) The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn (1977) Service of All the Dead (1979) The Dead of Jericho (1981) The Riddle of the Third Mile (1983) The Secret of Annexe 3 (1986) The Wench Is Dead (1989) The Jewel That Was Ours (1991) The Way Through the Woods (1992) The Daughters of Cain (1994) Death Is Now My Neighbour (1996) The Remorseful Day (1999) Short stories Morse's Greatest Mystery (1993) Characters Inspector Morse Sergeant Lewis Chief Superintendent Strange Sergeant Hathaway Diogenes Small TV series Inspector Morse (Episodes) Lewis (Episodes) Endeavour Radio plays Last Bus to Woodstock (1985) Last Seen Wearing (1994) The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn (1996) The Wench Is Dead (1992)