Before Inspector Morse, there was the rookie Constable Morse, fed up with police work and ready to nip his career in the bud by handing in his resignation. That is, until a murder turned up that only he could solve. Shaun Evans (The Take, The Virgin Queen) stars as the young Endeavour Morse, before his signature red Jaguar but with his deductive powers already running in high gear.
Endeavour turns back the clock to 1965 to tell the story of the making of the legendary detective, who was played by John Thaw in 33 episodes of Inspector Morse that aired on MYSTERY! from 1988 to 2001. Thaw died in 2002. But his daughter Abigail Thaw (Vanity Fair) makes regular appearances in Endeavour.
Novelist Colin Dexter authored the Morse plots and characters, including the thrilling back-story to Endeavour, which is scripted by Russell Lewis. Lewis also created the spinoff series Inspector Lewis, featuring the exploits of Morse's sergeant.
Endeavour co-stars Roger Allam (The Queen) as Inspector Thursday, Morse's mentor on the Oxfordshire Constabulary.
Evoking the conflict between tradition and the new youth culture of the '60s, Endeavour answers a lot of questions about the young Morse, who happens to prefer Puccini to the Beatles. Just how did this working-class, opera-loving, crossword-addicted, Oxford University dropout land on the Oxford police, develop a thirst for fine ale, fall into a problematic relationship with women, and manage to slip behind the wheel of a classic car as part of his low-paying job?
Producer: Helen Ziegler
Executive Producer: Russell Lewis, Tom Mullens, Damien Timmer, Rebecca Eaton
Production Company: Mammoth Screen, ITVS Studio
Production Year: 2017
Copyright Year: 2016
Rating: TV-14
Actors: Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Sara Vickers, Anton Lesser, James Bradshaw, Sean Rigby, Dakota Blue Richards, Caroline O'Neill, Abigail Thaw
Writers: Russell Lewis
Number of Discs: 2
Length: 355 minutes
Subtitled: Y
Subtitle Languages: English (SDH)
Language Track: English
Audio Format: 5.1 Surround
Aspect Ratio: 16x9 Widescreen