Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Roger Allam, Shaun Evans, Anton Lesser, James Bradshaw, Jack Laskey, Sean Rigby, Jonathan Hyde, Mark Bazeley, Luke Allen-Gale, Sarah Crowder, John Flanagan, Billy Geraghty, Olivia Grant, Jonathan Guy Lewis, Alan Morrissey, Will Richards, Fiona Ryan, Sophie Stuckey.
When I.T.V. commissioned a pilot episode revolving around the early days of Morse, Oxfordshire Police Force’s redoubtable opera loving detective, it may have split the loyal fan’s opinions right down the middle. Between those that want to see how the much loved policeman started out on his long journey to solving crime in the county and those that wanted to keep the memory of John Thaw’s time as Morse sacred. Thankfully I.T.V. handled the Morse prequel, Endeavour, with great and tremendous care and reverence, so much so that the first episode of the debut series, Girl, was a true nod to the legend that had grown around the police officer.
Watching Morse in his younger, less self-assured days as a Detective Constable takes some getting used to but in Liverpool’s Shaun Evans, the makers of the programme hit upon acting gold as the young actor’s mannerisms, his way of handling himself and the acute sense of right and wrong are captured with excellent good grace by Mr. Evans. This is further enhanced by the addition of the silver tongued Roger Allam as his superior Detective Inspector Thursday and the wonderful nods to the future as Sean Rigby creates the man who stood alongside Morse as his boss in later life, P.C. Jim Strange.
Girl sees Morse promoted because of the kind and nurturing heart of D.I. Thursday. This makes Morse a lot of enemies within the force but it is for his brain, the analytical and unique way in which he sees answers, that Thursday takes kindly to him and it is that brain that solves the murder as others chase down and hunt wrong shadows.
Perhaps though above all else is the way the producers of the show have changed Oxford, away from the later dying days of the 20th century, the Oxford of the 1960s is even more tranquil, more dreaming spires than most people would remember. Far from being a haven to visitors from foreign shores and an latter day advertisement showing off Oxford to its impassioned best, it is now the city that was a true seat of learning, unhindered by the crowds but still full of the bleakness and foul play that dogged Morse throughout his career.
It might not have the majesty of John Thaw at the helm but Endeavour with Shaun Evans is a welcome addition to the weekly television viewing.
Ian D. Hall