This is the first of thirteen posts (there being thirteen episodes of Endeavour) on the connections, people, places etc, between the Endeavour series and both the Morse and Lewis series.
I had first intended to make one large post about all thirteen episodes and their connections with Morse and Lewis but soon realised that not only would that be a huge undertaking for me (having to watch all 26 hours of Endeavour over a few days being one of the huge undertakings) but also a big undertaking for you the reader.
So, as we can see I have decided to break it down into manageable chunks, i.e. a post per episode.
So, I hope you all enjoy and that you find something of interest in the post. If there is anything that I have missed then please let me know and I will add it to the post.
I suppose the first connection to be mentioned should be the writer, Russell Lewis who wrote and devised the Endeavour series.
He has also written the following Lewis episodes;
Lewis (TV Series) (screenplay – 4 episodes, 2010 – 2012) (story – 1 episode, 2006)
– Fearful Symmetry (2012) … (screenplay)
– Old, Unhappy, Far Off Things (2011) … (screenplay)
– Falling Darkness (2010) … (screenplay)
– The Dead of Winter (2010) … (screenplay)
– Reputation (2006) … (story)
He also wrote the Morse episode, ‘The Way Through the Woods’.
CHARACTERS
Let’s start with the characters who connect Endeavour with the Morse and Lewis series.
First we have the character of Max de Bryn the pathologist. The character of Max has appeared in all 13 episodes of Endeavour and appeared in seven episodes of Morse;
The Dead of Jericho (6 January 1987) For my review of this episode click here.
The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn (13 January 1987) For my review of this episode click here.
Service of All the Dead (20 January 1987) For my review of this episode click here.
The Wolvercote Tongue (25 December 1987) For my review of this episode click here.
Last Seen Wearing (8 March 1988) For my review of this episode click here.
The Settling of the Sun (15 March 1988) For my review of this episode click here.
Last Bus to Woodstock (22 March 1988) For my review of this episode click here.
In the Endeavour series he is played by James Bradshaw (born on March 20, 1976) and the original Morse series he was played by indomitable Peter Woodthorpe (Born: September 25, 1931 – Died: August 12, 2004)
Peter Woodthorpe as Max in Morse
James Bradshaw as Max in Endeavour
Our final character to appear is Alexander Reece. This character first appeared in the Morse episode ‘The Last Enemy’ (first aired in 11th January 1989) For my review of this episode click here. Alexander Reece was played by Barry Foster (Born: August 21, 1927 – Died: February 11, 2002) in the Morse episode. In the Endeavour series he was played by Christopher Brandon (Born: March 3, 1981).
Christopher Brandon as Alexander Reece in Endeavour.
Barry Foster as Alexander Reece in the Morse episode, ‘The Last Enemy’.
Another character does appear in both the Endeavour pilot and the original Morse series the great love of Morse’s life and the woman who all other woman were compared against is Wendy/Susan. In Colin Dexter’s novel ‘The Riddle of the Third Mile’ (Originally published: October 27, 1983 and filmed under the title of ‘The Last Enemy’ for the Morse series) she is known as Wendy Spencer (this is what Alexander Reece calls her in Endeavour. Endeavour corrects him by saying that she preferred to be known as Susan, as she is called in the Morse episode, ‘Dead on Time’ (first aired 26th February 1992). In the Morse episode her full name is Susan Fallon. Wendy/Susan only appears in a daydream of Endeavours but it is never stated but only implied that she is Wendy/Susan. Fans of Morse will know who she is but those new to the world of Morse will be none the wiser.
Wendy/Susan as seen in the Endeavour episode when Endeavour is daydreaming after moving into his new abode. The actress is unknown.
Susan Fallon as played by Joanna David (born on January 17, 1947) in the Morse episode ‘Dead on Time’.
Actors who appeared in the Endeavour Pilot Episode and/or Morse or Lewis.
Firstly, of course, we have the brilliant Roger Allam (Born: October 26, 1953) who plays DI Fred Thurday. Roger appeared in the Inspector Morse episode ‘Death is now my Neighbour’ (first aired on the 19th November 1997) as Denis Cornford.
Roger Allam as Denis Cornford in ‘Death is now my Neighbour’.
Roger Allam as DI Fred Thursday in the Endeavour series.
Next we have the actor who appears in the Endeavour pilot episode and also in Lewis, Danny Webb (Born: June 6, 1958). Danny Webb has the distinction of not only appearing the pilot episode of Endeavour but also the pilot episode of the Lewis series (29th january 2006). In the Endeavour series he plays the disagreeable DS Arthur Lott. In the Lewis pilot episode he played Tom Pollock.
Danny Webb as DS Arthur Lott in Endeavour.
Danny Webb as Tom Pollock in the Lewis pilot episode
The excellent Patrick Malahide plays the nasty, slimy Richard Lovell. Patrick also appeared in the Morse episode ‘Driven to Distraction’ (first aired in 17th January 1990. My review for that episode can be found by clicking here.) again playing a rather nasty character Jeremy Boynton.
Patrick Malahide as Jeremy Boynton
Patrick Malahide as Richard Lovell.
Penultimately, is the handsome Richard Lintern who played Dr. Rowan Stromming in the Endeavour post while in the Lewis episode he played Sefton Linn in ‘Whom the Gods would Destroy, (Series 1, Episode 1).
A big thank you to Patricia Clegg who pointed out my omission. How I missed this I don’t know. Senior moment I think. 🙂
Richard Lintern as Dr. Rowan Stromming in the Endeavour pilot.
Richard Lintern as Sefton Linn in the Lewis episode, ‘Whom the Gods would Destroy’.
Lastly, is John Light who played Dempsey in this episode and Felix Garwood in the Lewis episode, ‘The Lions of Nemea’ (Series 8, Episode 2).
John Light as Dempsey in Endeavour pilot episode.
John Light as Felix Garwood in the Lewis episode, ‘The Lions of Nemea’ (Series 8, Episode 2).
A big thank you to one of my readers for spotting this. Thanks Nan, well spotted.
MUSIC
Music of course played a big part in the Morse and Lewis series and Endeavour is no different. But in the Endeavour series much of the music is a connection to the Morse and Lewis series.
Let’s start with the music playing while the police officers and Morse are being transported from Carshall New Town to Oxford. The music being played is from Faure’s Requiem, ‘In Paradisum’ which was used when Morse collapses to the ground in the episode ‘The Remorseful Day’.
A woman who turns up in many episodes of Morse and the pilot episode of Endeavour is one Janis Kelly. Who is she? She is the wondeful opera singer who not only sings many of the soprano pieces used in many of the Morse, Lewis and Endeavour series but also provides the voice for those actors playing singers.
Janis Kelly
The Glasgow born actor and singer is the voice of Rosalind Stromming in the Endeavour episode. She is the voice in Endeavour singing from Puccini’s Madame Butterfly, ‘Un bel de’ (One Beautiful Day).
In the Endeavour episode she is also the soprano voice at 27m42s singing ‘Signora, Ascolta’ from Puccini’s Turandot. (This piece can be found on the CD Inspector Morse Volume 2 also sung by Janis Kelly and used in the Morse episode ‘The Death of the Self’ first aired 25th march 1992. Yes guys, THAT episode 😉 ).
Also from the Endeavour episode the soprano is Janis Kelly singing ‘Terzettino ‘Soave Sia Il Vento’ by Mozart. (This piece can be found on the CD Inspector Morse Volume 2 also sung by Janis and used in the Morse Episode ‘Happy Families’ first aired 11th march 1992)
Janis Kelly’s voice is also heard in the following episodes of Morse:
- ‘The Day of the Devil’ first aired 13th January 1993. She was the soprano voice singing ‘Adieu Notre Petite Table’ from Manon by Jules Massenet. This piece can be found on the CD Inspector Morse Volume 3).
- ‘The Death of the Self’ first aired 25th March 1992. Janis is the voice of Francis Barber’s character Nicole Burgess.
- ‘Cherubim and Seraphim’ first aired 15th April 1992. Janis is the soprano singing ‘Che Faro Senza Eurydice’ by Von Gluck. This piece can be found on the CD Inspector Morse Volume 2.
- ‘Absolute Conviction’ first aired on the 8th April 1992. Janis sings ‘Mitradi Quell’ Alma Ingrata by Mozart. This piece can be found on the CD Inspector Morse Volume 2.
- ‘Masonic Mysteries’ first aired on the 24th January 1990. Janis sings ‘Bei Mannern’ – Welche Liebe Fuhlen’ by Mozart from The Magic Flute. This piece can be found on the CD Inspector Morse Volume 3.
- ‘Promised Land’ first aired on the 27th march 1991. Janis sings ‘Hab’mir’s Gelobt’ from Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier. This piece can be found on the CD Inspector Morse Volume 3.
- ‘Fat Chance’ first aired on the 27th February 1991. Janis sings ‘Laudate Dominum’ from Verperae Solennes de Confessore K339 by Mozart. This piece can be found on the CD Inspector Morse Volume 1.
- ‘Second Time Around’ first aired 20th February 1991. Janis Kelly sings ‘Senza Mamma’ from Suor Angelica by Puccini. This piece can be found on the CD Inspector Morse Volume 1.
- On a very personal note I used the above piece of beautiful music for a short film I made simply showing the beautiful sights of the city of Edinburgh.
MISCELLANEOUS
Colin Dexter appears briefly at 36m18s sitting on a bench.
The famous Morse jag makes several appearances in the Endeavour pilot episode on Edward Samuels garage forecourt.
A connection with the older Morse is his drinking especially real beers. In the Endeavour episode he is teetotal and is introduced to beer by Fred Thursday. However, I believe this is a mistake on the part of the writer Russell Lewis as I believe that Morse was a drinker while at Lonsdale. My reason for believing this is tied to the Morse episode ‘Deceived by Flight’ first aired 18th Jabuary 1989. In that episode Morse relates to Lewis that he knew the character Roland Marshall (at 25m00s) while at college and then Roland Marshall later in the episode mentions that ‘Pagan’ Morse, as he calls him, was a drinker back then (at 20m40s) and Roland didn’t know him as a Policeman. Below are the two clips from ‘Deceived by Flight’ that I am referring to. What do you think?
(Postscript: It has been pointed out to me, quite rightly, that in the episode ‘Home’ there is a conversation between Morse and Joyce that proves that he was drinking at college but had abstained from alcohol a short time after leaving college.
In ‘Home’ when Endeavour goes with Joyce to a pub and has a pint there’s a brief snatch of conversation that supports this:
Joyce says “I thought you’d taken the pledge.”
Endeavour – “Fell amongst thieves.”
J – “Comes with the job, I suppose.”
E – “Probably.”
Thanks to Rob Herod from the Facebook page, Endeavour: The Inspector Morse Appreciation Society for the above paragraph).
Another connection and a rather poignant one is Abigail Thaw, John’s daughter, appearing as Dorothea Frazil. Her and the young Morse have a very emotive, at least for the audience if not Abigail herself, dialogue when they first meet at the offices of the Oxford Mail:
Dorothea: “What did you say your name was?”
Endeavour: “Morse. Why?”.
Dorothea: “Have we meet?”
Endeavour: “I don’t think so”.
Dorothea: “Another life then”.
Before I finish this post there are many other rather tenuous links to the Morse series. But they are links of a sort and I thought I would add them anyway and let you decide how tenuous they are. The reason I say tenuous that it is possible the writer put them in as links and a nod to the Morse series but with Oxford and its surrounding areas being relatively small the Endeavour series was and is bound to mention locations used in the Morse series. For example, the bus that appears near the beginning of the episode has Woodstock marked as its destination. A connection to the Morse episode,’Last Bus to Woodstock’.? The character Miles Percival in the Endeavour pilot lived in Jericho, a reference to the first Morse episode, ‘The Dead of Jericho’? Tenuous? You decide.
Well I hope you enjoyed my latest post.
Thank you for the post. I think I am going to enjoy those new posts of yours !
You’re welcome Françoise and I do hope you enjoy the rest of my posts.
Chris, I know this comment isn’t joining into the intended spirit here, but since this is about technical connections ; I think it is very important indeed to establish the absolute non connections, between the books of Colin Dexter and for the sake of simplicity, the tv dramatization of ‘Inspector Morse ‘ : and the essentially unconnected, ‘Lewis’ and ‘Endeavour’ purely tv entertainments.
I’m sure Russell Lewis will forgive me for saying that his writing is entertaining enough,as far as it goes….
But where C.D. portrayed the hypocrisy of the ‘ learned’ elite and the narrowness of mannered ‘education ‘ in general : R.Lewis elevates it !
Where C.D. portrays Morse as gradually learning from and being enriched by Lewis’s sharp natural scepticism : R. Lewis portrays only the opposite .
These are examples of the reasons, that while the t.v. series ‘Lewis and Endeavour’ are ok ..ish in themselves and well acted productions :
As viewed as having any connection whatsoever to C.D.; Morse books and series they are positively offensive .
Well Done, as always…such a great eye for detail…next segment please..!
Thanks Sue. Hopefully, I will get the next part posted before the end of the week.
My personal theory is that, after Susan left him, Morse sank into drinking and depression. After he dropped out of college, he weaned himself off of it, and had succeeded completely by the time he ran into Thursday. This would square with Joyce’s surprise in Home when she notices Morse drinking: “I thought you’d taken the pledge.”
That does make sense and I had forgotten about Joyce’s remarks to Morse. Thanks for the comment.
I love all three series but I don’t catch the details like you do. I forget to look for Colin Dexter, too. I always mean to but I get interested in the story. You do a great job. Thank you!
Hi Beth and thank you for your kind comment. As for ‘catching the details’ that only happens because I watch each episode about four times. 😉
Thanks Chris, really enjoyed your post and look forward to future ones.
You’re welcome Kathryn. Glad you enjoyed it.
Great research – thanks. One thing to note is that whoever guards the Morse/Endeavour/Lewis canon does it with great care and it’s great to see; names and indeed characters span all 3 series, and while the average viewer will miss them all, those who love all 3 won’t.
I loved the reference to ‘Pagan’ in the recent Endeavour series, for example. I missed totally the Alexander Reece point, I have to say. It might be very interesting to see historic cases referred to by Morse picked up on: The Way Through the Woods and Second Time Around both have quite a back story that could be conceivably be picked up by ‘Endeavour’, and I’m sure they’re others.
Thanks for your work here – it’s appreciated!
Thank you John for your kind comment. I think you make a great point about historic cases in particular the Morse episode, ‘Second Time Around’. The murder of Mary Lapsley in that episode happened 18 years before the events of the ‘Second Time Around’ episode so that would put that murder at about 1972 as the the Morse episode was filmed in 1990 and aired in 1991. That could very well be something the writer of the Endeavour series will cover as series three was set in 1967.
Interesting that it seems the Endeavour series, using your timeline above, ends before the murder of Mary Lapsley. I can’t recall if the 1968 conference with Dawson is referred to in the Endeavour series. Did Russell Lewis develop Hillian? In one interview he suggests he might.
http://dmbarcroft.com/the-endeavour-interviews-russell-lewis-part-ii/
DAMIAN: There is a reference to Charlie Hillian (played by Maurice Bush in Inspector Morse) in Girl – might we hear more of him in the future?
RUSS: I think it very unlikely that we will not hear, and see, more of Mister Hillian.
I would have liked the McNutt and Hillian development but I think Endeavour had run its course and ended wonderfully. Indeed it made me appreciate the series as a whole. It wandered a little as you pointed out (the threats to Endeavours life and it became like a jigsaw) and I agreed with your views on that.
Second Time Around is a favourite episode.
BTW Thanks for your site, where would be without it! Alone and driven mad by connections without anyone to help.
It is a shame that Russell didn’t develop the Hillian character and particularly the McNutt character somewhere in the series. Hillian was mentioned in an early Endeavour episode, Passengers, I think.
I too love Second Time Around. Thank you for your lovely comment about my website.
Oh¡ Well what can I say?? You have done an remarkable job, almost if it were for a PHD’s Oxford Literature Thesis; ja ja ja, but seriously; remarkable, outstanding, with such many details. I agree with you about Endeavour/beer relationship; it must have come early; and of course if you read Mr. Dexter’s novels, Morse is an smoker also; so perhaps Hathaway carácter…????
Well, for healthy meanings, It’s fine for me to watch Endeavour/Morse/Lewis as non smoker; Me is one of them either¡¡¡ Congrats¡¡¡
Thanks Maria for your lovely comments. I’m glad they didn’t make John Thaw’s character a smoker. Not because i’m a non-smoker myself but I just don’t believe the TV incarnation of Morse would have suited being a smoker. As for Hathaway, I do believe smoking suited his character as he was more of a rebel fighting against his past life as a theology student.
Thanks Chris, I really enjoy these posts. I just caught the Lewis episode “Whom the Gods would Destroy” and spotted Richard Lintern playing a character named Sefton Linn. Richard played Dr Rowan Stromming in the Endeavour pilot episode.
Hi and thank you for the lovely comment. And a big thank you for pointing out my omission. I have updated the post with Richard’s information. Don’t know how I missed out Richard.
Thank you so very much for all your work. This blog is truly a college course. I love it beyond words. You are doing a terrific job.
Just watching the pilot for the second time, and I saw that DCI McLeash is played by the same actor who is the minister in Call The Midwife.
I realized that I should have said ‘vicar.’ Minister is more an American term, I think.
I just saw another actor connection. Dempsey in the Endeavour pilot looked very familiar so I went to IMDB and the actor, John Light plays Felix Garwood in the Lewis episode The Lions of Nemea.
Thanks Nan, well spotted. I have updated my post with John Light’s details.
Chris: Yesterday afternoon I watched again Pilot Episode First Season Endeavour and for my surprise; there I found several scenes that were not included in the original reléase to TV. One of them it is when Endeavour goes to say goog bye to Mrs Sttrooming, ( after his dissapointment with his role as a police) there she asks him if she had been in love ever, and Endeavoir give her the full explanation about what happened to this girl he loved so much and whom was engaged to get married; sadly this secen was cut oof when they reléase the episode to the viewers, so I’ll try to catch it from my DVD PBS MasterPiece Full UK and send it you ,if you do not have it, so we can share with the rest of Morse/Endedavour/Lewis Fans.¡¡¡
Greetings
Very interesting Maria. Just to clarify your point. Your DVD version has the scene but the version shown on USA TV had the scene cut? The scene is included on the UK TV version which I recorded and kept on my TIVO. A friend has borrowed my DVD so I can’t check that. However there is a DVD version online at YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxtUqXnE_s0 and the scene is missing.
Yeahhh I know . Chris I’ve tried to catch the scenes from my DVD, I’m not an experte sadly, but if it is not available; I can write you the dialogues…I may atach you the scene at your e mail, I’ve tried here but it is not possible to up load a photo… let me think what to do…
I just came upon a lovely piece about Abigail Thaw from 2013: http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-previews/abigail-thaw-being-dads-show-1822843
Regarding opera in _Endeavour_, there’s a pernickety anachronism. By the third episode of Series 1 (‘Rocket’), we are in the year 1965 (a murder took place twelve years earlier, on Coronation Day 1953), but in the second episode of the same series (‘Fugue’) we see Morse reading from the booklet of an LP of the Decca recording of Delibes’ _Lakmé_ which was made in 1967 and released in 1968 (was it difficult to trace a copy of the 1952 Decca recording?). Abagaille’s aria from Verdi’s _Nabucco_ in ‘Girl’ isn’t acknowledged in the final credits: anyone know if it (like the extract from the Mozart Mass identified in the credits) is sung by Sarah-Jane Brandon?
Thanks for this blog! I think the ‘First bus to Woodstock’ component is rather more concrete than tenuous in the first Endeavour episode.
‘The Last bus to Woodstock’ was Colin Dexter’s first Morse novel, and its plot points reflect the Endeavour episode fairly extensively, As much if not more than the Morse episode of the same name. Thursday quotes ‘The first bus’ at around 57 minutes and Shaun Evans was given a signed first edition copy of the novel as a present on his first day of filming. ‘First bus to Woodstock’ was probably the working title of the
episode.
I’m pretty sure that Colin Dexter’s love of anagrams and word reflections was alluded too: .
From ‘The Way Through the Woods’ By Colin Dexter:
I refer to A. E. Housman. How else do we explain line 3 of the printed verses (‘Dry the azured skylit water’)? Let me quote Norman Marlow in his critical commentary, A. E. Housman, page 145: Two of the most beautiful lines in Housman’s work are surely these:
And like a skylit water stood
The bluebells in the azured wood.
Here again is a reflection in water, and this time the magic effect is produced by repeating the syllable “like” inside the word “skylit” but inverted as a reflection in water is inverted…..”
The Way Through the Woods was Russell Lewis’ first screenplay and he must have read the source novel fairly closely in adapting it.
Just found blog and I am enjoying very much. One thing about Endeavour pilot (apologies if written in a post I haven’t read yet) — when Danny Webb’s Sgt. is assigning rooms to the rookies off the bus, the names are mostly producers, writers & directors from Morse.
Hi Joe and welcome to my blog and thank you for your kind comment. Well spotted regarding the names. Russell Lewis the writer of Endeavour loves to place references of the people who work on the series throughout the show in one way or another.
Thank you so much for this blog! I’m a huge fan of all the series , I am delighted reading all you have written! You have done a remarkable job,well done indeed!
Thank you Teresa for your very kind comment.
Nice summary Chris. I watched this brilliant opener again today and noticed that Fred’s Jag had a sunroof. I did some research and sunroifs were rare for Hagd and I wondered your thoughts. A bit ostentatious for Fred? Or perhaps it was ” for the missus”!
Hi Marie. The jag is actually a place car and is not owned by Fred.
One thing I spotted in rewatching Morse after having seen all of Endeavour was in The Sins of the Father; when Morse is talking to Farmer in his brewery he mentions the ‘society for the promotion of traditional real ale’ that ‘we ran at Oxford, or you ran I should say’. I don’t believe that those writing Endeavour wouldn’t have trawled through all the Morses, so I wondered how this would/could be explained? (This happens about 20:20 mins into the episode).
Hi Rebecca. The society was formed while Morse and George Linacre were at university in Oxford.
I just wondered about the real ale society vs Endeavour being introduced to beer by Thursday….just me nit picking I think!
Thursday didn’t introduce beer to Morse. Morse had been drinking heavily at and after university due to his break up with Susan. He then realised the drink was having an adverse affect and became teetotal. Thursday was simply telling Morse to have a drink as they had had a hard day.
Ah! I’ve always totally misunderstood that bit then. Thank you!
Thank you for adding so much more to the narrative.
As a French fan of Endeavour and Inspector Lewis I wish to thank you for the posts here. It ( and they, when I’m through reading the other ones) help me comprehend the relationship between the series; I had wondered about it for a while since the French title for Endeavour is Inspecteur Morse starring Shaun Evans and Roger Allam and reading posts on FB pages left me confused about who was who. I must postpone further reading if I want to get my beauty sleep but I’ll get back to them soon ; have a great day
Greetings from Provence
Chris, I am just wondering if the character McLeish, with whom Endeavour comes to Oxford in the pilot, is mentioned in any of the Morse episodes. As soon as I heard that name, it rang a bell and I’ve tried to find that connection but couldn’t.
You may be right Kathleen but I can’t think of it being mentioned in any of the Morse episodes. There was a few officers names mentioned who we never actually ‘met’ like Neville Batten in the episode ‘Driven to Distraction’. He was the officer who got a prisoner to take the blame for the Phillipa Lau attack. I will have a think about it Kathleen.
Per your question, Chris, about Woodstock and Jericho, I’d bet that since they appear in the pilot, they were intentional references.
I love reading these “series-connectedness” posts – I began with a late one through a link on FB, and now will work my way through all 13.
This may come a bit late, but can you take a bit of English pedantry? “Her and the young Morse have a very emotive … dialogue when they first meet at the offices of the Oxford Mail” That should be: “She and the young Morse …”
There was a few officers names mentioned … — There were a few officers’ names mentioned …
I won’t mention a “who” that should be “whom” (once or twice), because “whom” is used so rarely these days.
Hi. In watching the pilot episode again, the landlady showing him round tells him there’s only 2 gentlemen here just now, mr McCann and mr Goldberg. A nod to Pinter’s ‘Birthday Party’
Hi Deb. I have added your observation in the review under the Literary section. Thank you.
Hi Chris, I have a question about The Last Bus to Woodstock episode. It is one of my favorites. Something has always been niggling me, a small thing but still it sticks in my mind so I just rewatched it and I am still not sure who made the sexual advances between Sylvia and Bernard Crowther in the car at the parking lot. I tend to think he did but then Sylvia had a rather promiscuous reputation. But then why did he pick her up to begin with? And he does talk about lust in his lecture. He does tell a different story to his wife but he would, wouldn’t he. What is your opinion?
In attempting to answer the most recent comment posted above by Kathleen, Sylvia Kaye and her unknown friend were attempting to catch a bus. However, Sylvia became impatient due to the lateness of the bus, she therefore decided to hitchhike a lift from a passing car, and she also persuaded her reluctant friend to come with her. Lo and behold, but who should come passing, driving his wife’s car, if memory serves me right, but Bernard Crowther. He offers a lift to the hitchhiker Sylvia, who happily accepts this invitation, but her friend, recognizing the vehicle, declines, and hurries back to catch the bus. I do not believe that Crowther even noticed the second lady. The key to the mystery of the episode resolves of course, around finding out who was Sylvia’s friend? As we know, it turns out to be the nurse, Mary Widdowson, and she was having an affair with the aforementioned married Professor Bernard Crowther.
In the novel of the same name as this episode, Sylvia is described as a promiscuous young woman, so I am pretty sure she was the one making the sexual advances, and unfortunately for Crowther, he gave in to temptation, the feeling of lust you could say, while stationed in the car park of the pub with Sylvia. As DS Lewis would put it, they had some form of “rumpy pumpy”, before Bernard realized he was getting out of his depth, with a much younger woman he hardly knew, and he brought their sexual shenanigans to a close. They have some sort of tiff or physical argument, where they perhaps exchanged blows, which led to Sylvia angrily leaving the car, sporting some injuries, including scratch marks. I’m sure Kathleen, you know what happened next, that then led to the death of Sylvia Kaye. All I will say is, that the combination of a jealous Mary Widdowson and Bernard Crowther rapidly reversing his car to try to get out of the car park as quickly as he could, caused the untimely demise of Sylvia.
Thank you James for giving me a clearer picture of what happened. It does make more sense that both were culpable rather than one or the other, Bernard giving into temptation and Sylvia feeling rejected when he realized it was going too far.
Possibly copley-barnes in Trove is the same character played in Morse, Infernal Serpent when he turns out to be a child abuser
Hello Glenn. I mentioned the connection in my review of the episode Trove. https://morseandlewisandendeavour.com/2019/05/16/endeavour-s2e1-trove-review-locations-literary-references-music-etc-spoilers/
Did Thursdays daughter Joan ever appear as a character in morse
No never Paul. Like the whole Thursday family they are an invention of the creator of the Endeavour series Russell Lewis.
As is Frazil and Bright too. Chris in the recent ITV release re: the 8 th series of Endeavour it lists John Hollingsworth as one of its guest stars – I am sure he was also in the pilot episode. I love your connections with actors between the franchise – not sure how many actors have appeared as different characters within the same series?
John Hollingsworth appeared in the Home episode of Endeavour.
For a while I wondered about the sentence “based on characters created by Colin Dexter.” Characters? Plural? Then I remembered that Jim Strange appears in both ‘Inspector Morse’ and ‘Endeavour’. So ‘Endeavour’ is based on just TWO characters created by Colin Dexter. And I don’t recall Strange having more than a couple of lines in any episode of ‘Inspector Morse’. Am I wrong? Is there another character who appears in both? There has been speculation that Hugo de Vries appears in ‘Endeavour’ with different names, but it’s only speculation.
What about Alexander Reece and Anthony Donn? I remember both of them in Morse and Endeavour. Oh and the gay character in Greeks Bearing Gifts. Can’t remember his name.
All mentioned in my reviews of the episodes. I mentioned Alexander Reece in the post you are commenting on. Anthony Donn didn’t appear until Ride. The ‘gay character’ didn’t appear until Coda.
And Copley-Barnes – was he not in Endeavour and then later in Inspector Morse ? Bert I think that Strange had some episodes where he had more than a few lines – certainly the last few episodes before Morse died. Also of course De Bryn – of course, unlike Strange who went right through the Inspector Morse series, De Bryn was written out (I think in series 2?) for Grayling as the new pathologist.
Of course, Maximilian Theodore Siegfried de Bryn! I’ve just spent about an hour trying to establish his surname from all the varieties that appear here and there. I searched in several Morse books (The Dead of Jericho, The Daughters of Cain, The Wench is Dead, etc) with Google and was assured that the name did not appear in those books. I finally found it (in full) in “The Way Through the Woods”. I must apologise – I am not actually familiar with the books or with the Inspector Morse series. I prefer to watch ‘Endeavour’. There’s something about John Thaw that grates on me.
Copley Barnes is in the Endeavour episode, Trove and in the Morse episode Infernal Serpent.
I’ll get my coat!
So, having watched Life on Mars which I really liked, I started watching Ashes to Ashes, a sequel. Both are laugh-at-loud funny with Philip Glenister, vulgar but so funny, and lo and behold, to my surprise, on Series 2, ep 1, there’s Roger Allam and Shawn Evens. Roger as a DCI Macintosh, and Shawn as Kevin Hales. And so many other actors I’ve seen in the Morse Universe. Probably mentioned sometime in the chats but it occurred to me that Glenister might make a very good McNutt. He is so good in both these series. I do love these British shows!
If anyone thought beer mattered more to Morse than women I think they missed the most important clue of all.
Endeavor bored me. Finger crossed CD is still making money. Otherwise there’s really no excuse for the series.
Is EP American? Can I ask all Americans who contribute to these pages to remember that ‘Endeavour’ is named ‘Endeavour’, not ‘Endeavor’.
Having finished a marathon journey through all episodes of Endeavour I am now obsessed. I love all the connections and want to add a few of my own. So many actors in Endeavour appeared on the stage of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London around 2012-2016:
DCI Fred Thursday Roger Allam (Falstaff in Henry IV parts one and two, and Prospero in The Tempest)
Sgt Peter Jakes Jack Laskey (Orlando in As you Like it)
Ronnie Box Simon Harrison (Antipholus of Ephesus in Comedy of Errors)
and from series 2 episode 1 Trove Jamie Parker (Hal to Falstaff in Henry IV), Jessie Buckley (Miranda to Prospero in The Tempest), and Will Mannering (Sebastian in The Tempest and other Globe productions).
I have been a fan of Morse and Lewis for many years (and I have watched all the episodes several times) but until this week I had never watched any of the episodes of “Endeavour”. This week I bought the box set and I have started watching. So far I have watched the pilot episode once (typical Morse with lots of suspects and red herrings) and s1e1 “Girl” twice. I am impressed by the as-ever very high standard of quality of the episodes so far. I am looking forward to seeing if the new CSI Bright is going to be as prickly and acerbic throughout as he is in the first episode. Nice to see younger Max and Strange.
As a fan not only of Morse, but also The Kinks, it was great to see in the Endeavour episode Canticle, the fact they couldn’t tour in the US used as a vital clue to dis-establish (is that the correct term?) an alibi! The LSD sub-plot also seemed to mirror Pink Floyd/Syd Barratt (although of course they were Cambridge rather than Oxford…!)