Endeavour

Love this drama. Like the whole idea of a young Morse. Endeavour certainly has his detractors which have the scope to needle him because he is so junior. I suppose this is why he is so grumpy when he is older - getting his own back as it were. So plenty here to allow viewers to hark back to the original drama but also a huge amount of good coming from the new actors. From the use of typewriters to seeing lots of letters. A lack of overt violence, sex and swearing plus excellent story lines. What more can we ask?

It's quite possible to marry the indelible Sixties period to that charming music. Roger Allam is excellent at Fred Thursday and Shaun Evans puts a lot of effort into the young Morse. Anton Lesser as chief superintendent Bright is a prig

Well I have just watched the second episode in the new series and was captivated again. As soon as I had finished watching I watched it again taking in all the things I had missed the first time, I have my dictionary/computer on hand to research some of the phrases and words which adds to the enjoyment. I do not listen to opera or classical music but yearn to know what the wonderful soundtrack comprises of. The characters and relationship of Morse and Thursday is captivating. This is British TV drama at its very best. I just hope it is kept real and Oxford does not become more infamous than 'Denton Woods'! The props and vehicles used during the show are amazing and really create a super feeling for the time.

While it is enjoyable in its own right, this series has not yet turned out to be a relative of Morse except in name. No stunning secrets are revealed for the fans of Morse. There are the little clues for the over-involved, but to be honest it's best enjoyed for its own sake. The most interesting character in it is Fred Thursday, and his fatherly care for young Morse is quite touching. The last episode of season 1, "Home" illustrates this quite nicely. Roger Allam steals the show every time! Otherwise it's pleasant to see that television is beginning to feel some nostalgia for the sixties, which are more realistically represented here than in "Heartbeat".

Not just a more than worthy prequel series to one of my favourite detective dramas of all time and goes very well with it, but it is a great series on its own as well, one that got off to a good start, though some of the pilot and the first episode had a still-finding-its-feet-feel (understandably), and just keeps getting stronger. It maintains everything that makes Inspector Morse so good, while also containing enough to make it its own.

Endeavour looks great, the series throughout is exquisitely photographed and there is something very nostalgic and charming about the atmospherically evoked 1960s period detail. It was also a genius move to keep Barrington Pheloung on board, with his hauntingly beautiful scoring and immortal Inspector Morse theme, while the classical music and operatic excerpts are delightful to hear and fit perfectly (a notable example would be in the Fugue episode, the music having a beautiful and frightfully ominous effect).

The series is also every bit as intelligently written as Inspector Morse, it's every bit as entertaining and also every bit as tense. Not all the story lines are very original, but they are always incredibly gripping with the mysteries not being too complicated or the identities being too improbable or obvious, Morse and Thursday's father/son relationship has a lot of warmth, is so well written within the stories and is a large part of the series' appeal and there is some good suspense (chilling in fact in the case of Fugue). Pacing is restrained, but that allows the atmosphere to come through, and pretty much all the same it excels in that aspect. The characters are interesting, and are evolving more and more with every episode, Morse's familiar characteristics are becoming more obvious as the writing develops and Morse and Thursday's relationship more entertaining and heartfelt.

Shaun Evans does some powerful, charismatic work as younger Morse, and is getting more and more confident with every episode, showing enough loyalty to John Thaw's iconic Morse while making the character his own too. Roger Allam is also superb, his rapport with Evans always compels and entertains but Thursday is quite a sympathetic character, as well as loyal and firm, and Allam does a lot special with a role that could have been less interesting possibly in lesser hands. All the acting is very good, as is the controlled direction, but it's the performances of Evans and Allam that will always be remembered most vividly.

All in all, a more than worthy (if not quite as good, only because I love Inspector Morse with a passion) prequel series and also a great series on its own that keeps getting stronger. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I deeply love Morse's series, and I deeply love Lewis sequel, each in its own different way. They are two extraordinary detective shows, which I strongly recommend.

So I gave Endeavour a try, both with curiosity and with fear that the experience would ruin my memories of the two shows I liked so much.

Also, Shaun Evans is physically very different from John Thaw, so this made me cringe even before the start.

Having said this, I fell for it from the very first episode.

I was surprised to find out that Shaun Evans is a terrific actor, who plays an entirely credible Morse, if not physically, in a seamless psychological continuity which makes you feel the smooth way in which this young Morse would become the older Morse 20 years later, the incipient causticity, the noticeable anger, the budding low-key self-confidence--- This is very skillfully done in the prequel.

Both Thaw and Evans play the magic of giving a sexy twist to an unsexy character, without flashing the sexy card or even circumventing all attempts to look hot.

Allum plays a marvelous D.C. Thursday and the interaction between them, mentor-pupil, is instrumental to explain how this young Morse ends up being that later Morse.

The 60's atmosphere is a plus in the show, very well portrayed and recreated. I'd say that the linking common trait between Morse, Endeavour and Lewis is, yes, their tremendous atmospheric virtue which sets you right on «in that particular place in that particular time».

If you like detective stories, you will not be disappointed at all, and even if you are not a Morse or Lewis fan, you will find this show entertaining, alluring and deeply satisfactory by its own right.