Endeavour: British Magazine Articles About Series 4.

 

With the new series of Endeavour starting in the UK on Sunday many of the TV magazines contain articles about the new series. So, for those not in the UK and for those like me who don’t normally buy these types of magazine I decided to buy them this once and then scan the articles and post them here for all to read. For all those not in the UK the articles do not contain any spoilers regarding the episodes. Enjoy!

The first article is only available online. This article, as I previously mentioned on Facebook, contains a quote from me as the Times journalist had contacted me regarding this article.

The Times Newspaper. An article by Lucy Bannerman.

Morse sleuths detect end of era as creator cuts cameos.

In one episode, he’s the tramp rifling through a bin in the background. In another, he’s the patient in a hospital waiting room holding on to his crutches. Sometimes, he’s the man reading a newspaper on a bench, or simply a passer-by in the cloisters.

Watch any mystery involving Inspector Morse carefully enough, and you’re likely to spot the same stout little man somewhere in the Oxford landscape.

Dexter enjoyed cameos — he read The Times in an episode of Endeavour.

It’s the character’s creator, Colin Dexter, enjoying a cheeky cameo, and his appearances in almost every episode of Inspector Morse and its spin-off series have become such a tradition that for many fans the question of whodunnit now comes second to: Where’s Colin?

They are about to be disappointed. For after 30 years as one of television’s most dedicated extras, the crime writer will not appear in the new series of the Morse prequel, Endeavour. Russell Lewis, the screenwriter, has revealed that fans will not be able to spot the celebrated crime writer, who is 86 — at least, not physically.

“I think he’s allowed, after 30-odd years, to take tea in the pavilion,” Lewis told the Radio Times. “We haven’t got him in the flesh this year. But there’s a big part of the fandom that likes to spot Colin — like spotting Hitchcock. He’ll be there in spirit, not in flesh. He’ll be that little bit harder to find than usual.”

Alfred Hitchcock made cameo appearances in 39 of his 52 surviving major films, in one of them appearing as a newspaper photograph.

Dexter, a former classics teacher, created the irascible, Wagner-loving, ale-drinking detective in 1972, during a wet family holiday. The longest-serving detective on ITV celebrates his 30th anniversary this week.

John Thaw first played him on the small screen on January 6, 1987, racking up 33 episodes in 13 years. The original series was followed by nine series of the Kevin Whately sidekick spin-off Lewis, and now the 1960s prequel Endeavour, which starts its fourth series on Sunday.

Dexter has made brief cameos in almost all of the episodes. He is there in the first one of Endeavour, reading The Times. In older episodes, such as Driven to Distraction, he’s waiting in the launderette, or, as in Day of the Devil, having tea on the hotel lawn. In The Remorseful Day, he is a tourist in a wheelchair.

In The Wolvercote Tongue, he enjoys his longest cameo, photobombing a conversation between Morse and Lewis for a whole, scene-stealing minute and twenty five seconds, as they discuss a case in the pub. In Death is Now My Neighbour he is even awarded a speaking part — as a bishop, saying grace.

Dexter once described Morse as “melancholy, sensitive, vulnerable, independent, ungracious and mean-pocketed”. When the on-screen Morse died of a heart attack in 2000’s final episode, The Remorseful Day, nearly 14 million viewers tuned in.

The cast for the new series includes Thaw’s daughter, Abigail, whose character’s name is Dorothea Frazil. The dictionary definition of “Frazil” is a type of ice, in fast-moving water — so “D Frazil” could be read as “de-ice” — a deliberate reference to Thaw.

Ms Thaw said the new series was full of “clever, little things, little codes — all the crossword lovers will be satisfied”. The new run will also feature as guest stars James Laurenson, who was in the first episode of Inspector Morse, and Sheila Hancock, John Thaw’s widow.

Chris Sullivan, a Morse fan and blogger who has created YouTube videos, collating every Dexter cameo he can find, said it was “very disappointing and saddening” to hear that his favourite author will not be making his usual cameos.

“It is the end of an era as Colin not only made cameo appearances in the Endeavour series but he appeared in almost all 33 of the original Morse series and 33 episodes of the spin-off Lewis series. I am sure all Morse fans around the world wish him well.”

To view my videos on Colin Dexter Cameos click here. You will find Dexter’s appearances in Morse and the Lewis series. For all Colin’s cameos in the Endeavour series click on the ‘Endeavour’ link at the top of the page and there will find my 12 part post on the Endeavour connections to the Morse and Lewis series which contain where one can see Colin Dexter.

©times newspaper UK ©lucy bannerman.

Article from Radio Times by Neil Midgley

©Radio Times ©Neil Midgley

Article from Total TV Guide by Natalie Tambini.

©Total TV Guide ©Natalie Tambini

Article from TV Times by Caren Clark.

©TV Times ©Caren Clark

Article from What’s On TV by Hannah Davies, Sean Marland and Victoria Wilson.

©What’s on TV ©Hannah Davies ©Sean Marland ©Victoria Wilson

Article in TV Choice by Natalie Tambini.

©TV Choice ©Natalie Tambini

I hope you enjoyed the articles. Until my next post take care.