There are no spoilers here, it’s just my inconsequential ramblings.
Endeavour finished it’s nine year run on Sunday 12th March 2023 (in the U.K.). I must admit I was a little saddened to learn that this series of Endeavour was to be the last. It’s set in my favourite decades for a start (60’s and 70’s) and therefore it’s chock full of all that lovely 60’s equipment and of course, lovely motor cars – which makes it my favourite out of all the Morse series.
With those great decades come great characters. Aside from the titular character Endeavour Morse, there are a few outstanding characters that came with this iteration of Morse. Here’s my favourites:
DI Fred Thursday – played by the inimitable Roger Allam – probably the most important character of the series next to Morse himself. He is Morse’s boss and one of the “old-school” coppers, transferred from London to Oxford. With high moral values, DI Thursday is played to absolute perfection by Allam (it’s as if he was born to play the role!). For me, nothing surpasses the language of DI Thursday. An example – one of his lines when confronting a young chap who had been disabusing his daughter: “You come near her again, I’ll fit you up for a nonce and have you in chokey so fast you’ll wonder what’s hit you!”. My favourite character by a long way.
Chief Superintendent Reginald Bright – played by Anton Lesser – this is the type of character that Anton Lesser plays so well. Bright is a decorated war veteran, upper-class, University educated, well connected and very, very straight. Chief Superintendent Bright is in charge of the Police Stations where Morse and Thursday et al. work. Poor Reginald has more than his fair share of traumas to endure throughout Endeavour, both at home and at work. Some exceptional performances by Lesser make him one of my favourite actors and Reginald Bright is one of my favourite characters in Endeavour.
Joan Thursday – played by Sara Vickers – Joan Thursday is the daughter of DI Fred Thursday. Little bit of a spoiler here, but one of the many things I liked about this character was the ongoing will-they won’t-they teasing, that lasted all the way through the entire nine series right up until the last episode. Poor Joan gets herself into a few scrapes and suffers a few traumas, all acted out to perfection by Vickers. Incidentally, I’ve seen Sara Vickers in quite a few productions over the years (including the sublime Watchmen series) but I’ve never seen an interview with her (or heard her natural speaking voice) up until a few days ago. It was something of a pleasant surprise to discover that she is Scottish!
If you haven’t watched any of them, and you enjoy the odd detective drama or two, then I’d recommend you give all three series a go – Morse, Lewis and Endeavour. If you just want to sample some episodes, I’d recommend starting with Endeavour, just for the characters and the stories.
Of course, Morse and Endeavour are about the same person at different stages in their lives, so there are a few references written in from one series to the other (and vice-versa). Lewis however, is almost a standalone iteration, in that Morse’s Detective Sergeant (Lewis) stays at Cowley Police station and gets promoted to Detective Inspector to keep Oxford safe from miscreants.
But it is the end of an era. The first ever episode of Morse aired in 1987, so we’ve had 37 years to enjoy the grumpy old sod. More Morse? Probably not, but we do have at least two series to remind us of the great detective.
Long live Endeavour Morse.