Endeavour 9th & final season starts 26 February 2023 at 8pm on ITV

[IwantToRetire]

2023’s final trilogy of films will find Endeavour and Thursday entering a new era of change both professionally and personally.

Set in the spring of 1972, the final season’s opening episode is directed by none other than Endeavour star Shaun Evans.

The synopsis for the story reads: “Two unexplained deaths turn up ties to the Oxford Concert Orchestra, while a body discovered in a derelict warehouse stokes fears that ‘London business’ has yet again found its way to Oxford.

“Thursday and Endeavour’s investigation unearths some unsettling connections to cases the duo believed were well and truly behind them.”

britishperioddramas.com/news/endeavour-season-9-release-date-itv-february-2023/

The thing is, if you've seen Morse...

Having watched last night it is so hard to reconcile the character of Endeavour with the Morse of the original series which in terms of his age etc., he has just about reached that it all jarred a bit with me.

Like they were playing to the crowd knowing what we liked.

Endeavour set 1972. Shaun Evans is 43. But he has a baby face

Morse started 1987, John thaw was only 44 but probably people think he was in his 50s as he always looked older than he was.

It ties is fine really.

Remember Colin Dexter coast Shaun Evans as Endeavour......

You're starting to get more of the reasons why Morse is a bitter old git. He never succeeds at much outside of his job: loses the girl including one to the man who ends up his boss, didn't finish Oxford, socially an outsider, doesn't really make it in music "scene". It all adds to his frustration and that comes out as the bitterness we see later.

I can't reconcile the 1972 version of Jim Strange (how old is he supposed to be? The actor is only 33) with the 1987 one at the beginning of Morse. A lot must have happened to him to age so much in only 15 years. I think Joan Thursday doesn't marry him.

Sean Rigby does look older than his 33!

If this is following the "timeline" of the series then the end of this & the beginning of Morse would be "the McNutt years"??

Both Endeavour & Strange have a lot to do with the Thursdays so why never mention them in later (Morse) years?
(Apart from the fact that they didn't exist!)

Funnily enough I can see Strange turning into the Strange of the original Morse. And why given these early years why he was so exasperated with Morse as he had played the game to get where he was as Morse boss, but also explains why he late the later Morse treat him in a fairly patronising way.

But the big weaknes now is the Joan storyline. As said up thread Morse has shown himself quite impulsive towards other women (as the later Morse) but with Joan its all Miss Thursday as though she is some sort of delicate flower, which the storylines have shown she isn't. And even allowing for the fact she is the bosses story its all a bit silly now.

And I thought that for Morse the big tradegy was the woman he was engaged to but her family thought he not good enough, class and work. Wasn't there an episode where they met up later in life?

But she is never referred to in Endeavour although this would be relatively recent in the early episodes.

And of course the huge inexplicable lack of reference to Thursday in the original Morse.

Maybe in the early Endeavour Thursday wasn't going to be there throughout but he became such a popular character they kept him in"

But maybe if the gap is 15 years there is time for him to become the boring intellectual snob and ungracious person of the original Morse.

Sorry for terrible typos, but got interrupted, and hit return before checking.

why he late the later Morse - why he let the later Morse

she is the bosses story - she is the bosses daughter

I expect I’m not alone in wishing for a happy ending for Endeavour as he’s so nice. Shame he has to become Morse, who isn’t nice.

The young male found was known as Andrew Lewis - a tenuous link to Robbie??

Susan is referred to in the 1st ep, where he returns to Oxford. What happened is dealt with then.

I think Morse tries to be the gentleman with girls of "marriage material" but is also equally happy to sow a few oats too, although I do wonder if a lot of it is seeking solace. The Italian wife story I found a bit more unbelievable. I don't think that tallied up at all, though the series was great.

You can start to see the short tempered and rather obtuse nature of morse more this series as he comes back and finds himself a fish out of water.

Andrew Lewis will be the boys home link to tie up those ends, I suspect. That storyline will be the one that runs to ep3 I think.

Of course the boys home - I couldn't work out why Endeavour was there.

Was the ex-police colleague now a private detective one of them?

Or was he the one who was working with a group of criminals.

Also

Thanks for the bit about Susan. Anything later than last week does sort of merge into a thick soup!

Thank you me either
i can’t remember what series is was, do sort of remember the Susan story her husband was murdered I think he was disabled if memory is correct & her daughter & grandchild were killed in a car accident can’t recall the rest of the details.
yy seeing strange morph into the ‘Morse’ version, especially as he calls Him Matey as he always did in Morse I can’t remember Stranges wife being referred to in Morse maybe that’s how they have got round him marrying Joan although as pp no mention of Thursday in the John Thaw Morse.

I'm not sure what happens but Thursday must go out in a big way for him to not be mentioned later.

Box was on the take as a bent copper and got Thursday involved. Ended up nearly losing his wife etc. Box obviously got thrown out the police.

Annoyingly though every tim I see his character all I can think of is the Andy's from Hot Fuzz 🤣

can’t remember what series is was, do sort of remember the Susan story her husband was murdered I think he was disabled if memory is correct & her daughter & grandchild were killed in a car accident can’t recall the rest of the details.

Susan killed her husband because he wanted to die but wasn't able to commit suicide,

They wanted to frame their SIL for it as he had been having an affair & I think that they blamed him for the crash.

Iirc Lewis found evidence but destroyed it & didn't tell Morse.

Joanna David played Susan.

She is Laurence Fox's Aunt.

Lewis was always so considerate of others.

And to begin with he had to put up with Morse's sneering and then Hathaway's smug superiority.

(re the ever present Fox family, I suppose we can only be glad that Emilia Fox didn't end up as the pathologist in Morse / Lewis!)

@IwantToRetire omg that would be torture and reason never to watch again. She's appallingly wooden and has very interesting dress sense. I did love her zigzag jumper though.

Talking of pathologists that's another example of how Endeavour's attitude towards women is too "modern" compared to Morse.

In one of the episodes of Morse the usual pathologist wasn't available and the standin pathologist was a woman.

Morse nearly had a heart attack and actually commented about it.

I think as usual it was left to Lewis to smooth things over.

They would never show Endearvour behaving like that.

Grayling something or other?

Doesn't he call her "my dear"?

Maybe Morse just gets more intolerant and belligerent as he gets older, as do a lot of folk!

Having watched last night it is so hard to reconcile the character of Endeavour with the Morse of the original series which in terms of his age etc., he has just about reached that it all jarred a bit with me.

I totally agree. I've watched it from the start and have never seen any connection between the two. I don't think Shaun Evans is particularly good and his bewildered expression reminds me of Frank Spencer. Now I've had that thought I just can't get it out of my head 😀

I will always think of Frank Spencer now - well observed, very funny

I watched the episode last night and thought that it was interesting how they made a big thing of composers only ever reaching their 9th symphony and that being unlucky as people died before completing their 10th .
As they like to make use of highbrow cryptic clues I wondered whether that was a subtle reference to this being the 9th series of Endeavour and although we know it wont be Morse that someone will be making their final bow ( Thisday most likely either Fred or perhaps Joan ! ?).
On the other hand it could all just be a coincidence and I am talking total rot !

I've started watching from Series 1 and I'd forgotten how nasty Bright was to Morse and how nice Strange was.

My Morse rematch continues and I've just seen a very, very young Roger Allam.