Endeavour
I watched the final episode of the British crime series Endeavour last night, As we have come to expect, it was a work of art, masterfully pulling together so many plot threads, brilliantly acted and directed. It had to be, since it was the culmination of more than 100 episodes over 36 years comprising three series.
Inspector Morse, which starts some time after Endeavour wrapped up, features the mature Morse, grumpy, brilliant, alcoholic, and is comprised of 33 episodes shown between 1987 and 2000. The final episode featured an ailing Morse taking on a complex case, and indeed, the actor who played him, John Thaw, was ailing and died in 2002. Then came the 42 episodes of Inspector Lewis, which aired between 2006 and 2015. Morse’s former sergeant has taken over his job, with an enigmatic new sergeant to spice matters. And then finally, we got the 26 episodes of Morse, which actually began airing in 2012 while Inspector Lewis was still running, featuring Shaun Evans as the younger, naive, not yet so cynical version of Morse,
In some ways I think Endeavour is the best of the three series. Roger Allam is remarkable as Endeavour’s superior officer, with whom he has a complex, sometimes tempestuous relationship. The production values reach a new peak, sumptuous, compelling, even sometimes amusing as frumpy Endeavour meets the Swinging ‘60s. The scripts manage to keep many balls in the air without making it look like hard work, and when the plot threads are finally all tied together, it makes perfect sense that Endeavour becomes Morse. (The one exception is that Evans is much more handsome than Thaw. I guess there was nothing to be done about that.)
Special mention must also be made of the stunning music in the series. I am not generally a fan of orchestral scores – the likes of John Williams make me want to head for the exit – but when I came across Morse and the Last Endeavour, a documentary about the making of the last episode, it explained that a special orchestra was formed which recorded the music for all three series, and it all made sense.
And now I have a new project. Sometime in the next few years I will start in again on Inspector Morse, and when I am done that, on to Inspector Lewis, and by then I will have forgotten Endeavour enough to watch it again. That’s a total of 111 episodes, so that should keep me busy for a while.
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imdb.com
imdb.com
imdb.com
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