Hello and welcome to my overview of the first episode of the first series of Endeavour. I’m sorry I have taken so long to post this but I have been kept busy by other aspects of the life.
And speaking of those aspects I am off on holiday again next week and I will be visiting Oxford. I am hoping to do some filming and in particular I am hoping to film the route of the Morse pub crawl I wrote about in this post, Inspector Morse Pub Crawl.
This post will contain SPOILERS. I hope you enjoy this post.
Endeavour Series One, Episode One; ‘Girl’.
Chronologically this is episode 2.
First broadcast 14 April 2013
Where’s Colin?
Colin Dexter makes his appearance at 42 minutes and 40 seconds in the dining hall.
Directed by Edward Bazalgette.
Written by Colin Dexter (characters), Russell Lewis (written and devised by). Russell has written all the Endeavour episodes. He also directed;
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’.
SYNOPSIS
Not only is the viewer confronted with three murders but is also introduced to three new characters who will play a big part in the forthcoming four series, one of whom is familiar to fans of the original Morse series, PC Jim Strange.
Secretarial student, twenty-year old Margaret Bell, is found dead in her flat. It appears at first to be a heart attack but further investigation leads to a different conclusion. Shortly after this death a Dr Cartwright, a partner of Margaret Bell’s G.P. Bill Prentice, is found dead in a public convenience. Is there a connection?
Thrown into this mix of new characters and murders Morse has to contend with a spate of Post Office robberies and a phoney gas meter reader who is stealing the contents of the afore-mentioned meters.
However, Morse’s biggest problem maybe his new boss Chief Superintendent Bright who has taken a dislike to the young Morse and seems determined to not only undermine him but remove him as Thursday’s bagman.
REVIEW.
(warning, this review may contain some spoilers)
When the original Morse was first aired there was in the UK only five channels. Nowadays with so many channels and subsequently so much choice any new show has to engage a viewer very quickly. With so much choice and so many good shows competing for our attention the viewer has to be willing to invest their time and effort into a new show.
It is a huge commitment on the viewer’s part to be willing to make room in their life for a television show. The fear is that the show one has committed to and invested in will be cancelled. Television companies have become ruthless when it comes to cancelling shows after a first series or even a pilot. Gone are the days when a show would be allowed to grow and mature to eventually find a wide audience.
After watching the excellent pilot episode and then the first episode of the first series I was willing to commit my time to watching Endeavour. I was willing to invest my time safe in the knowledge that this show would be able to continue the Morse legacy.
The pilot episode had already shown what an excellent and delightful choice it was to employ Shaun Evans and Roger Allam as the two main protagonists. When it came to choosing a new actor to play the newly assigned Chief Superintendent the producers once again proved how astute they are in their choices. Anton Lesser is a great actor with a tremendous CV; ‘Game of Thrones’, ‘Wolf Hall’ and ‘The Hollow Crown’ to name but a few.
The introduction of Sean Ribgy as Jim Strange and Jack Laskey as DI Jakes to the series was again another great piece of casting. I hope that in the fifth series of Endeavour that Sean Rigby is given a bigger part to play as I believe he was under used in the fourth series. I want to see Jim Strange’s character grow beyond a catchphrase.
The Endeavour character already shows signs of what he will become and embody when he is older and a Chief Inspector; a dislike of authority, quietly seething and a passion for the underdog especially when it is a woman. For the older and higher ranked Morse he can at least vent his anger on Lewis but for the moment the young Endeavour has to control his anger when dealing with Thursday, Bright and Jakes.
When Thursday confronts Endeavour outside Pamela Walters house, Morse can be seen teetering on the edge of anger his fists opening and closing as if getting ready to enter a boxing match. Morse keeps his hands behind his back not only out of respect for a fellow and higher ranked officer but it also appears as a way of containing his overpowering need to get angry.
One feels that Shaun Evans’s Endeavour is still considering if the police force is a good fit for him. Though we know that he does remain in the police force Shaun Evans can still convince us that he could resign at any moment.
There are many threads running through this episode and they are all untangled satisfactorily by the end of the episode. The post office raids are never solved but this element was there as not only a red herring or a MacGuffin but to allow the killer to remain unknown to the audience for a little while longer.
The denouement regarding Endeavour’s explanation of who the killer was and also the Reverend’s elaborate code to name the killer was a little theatrical but the actors made it work. However, can someone tell me what a blackboard was doing near the altar. Did the Reverend not only foresee his own death but also Endeavour’s need for a visual aid.
(UPDATE 16/12/2018) A subscriber to my website, Kathy, kindly commented on why the blackboard would be situated in the church;
“One thing I found in visiting very old churches in rural England and Wales, and from watching a very good BBC series called “Churches: How to Read Them” that did the same though for different reasons, is how many of these places have no additional space, like a parish hall, for such activities as meetings or Sunday school classes. Instead, people simply pull up a pew, so to speak, or commandeer a side chapel or some other similar space. Which means you can easily find things like blackboards tucked away in corners for easy accessibility when they’re needed. (In more than one episode of “Churches: How to Read Them,” you can see a colorful felt board in the background while the host discussed things like medieval carvings, and in one case there was a list of rules the kindergarten Sunday school class had created for itself, full of things like “No shouting” and “”Be kind” hanging from the wall in a church tower room the host explained had once been used as a parish courtroom and jail!) So I really had no problem with the fact of a blackboard in the church. It’s position? I could explain that away easily enough, since the priest was trying to send Morse a message with it and wanted to make it as prominent as he could.”
Thank you Kathy.
I think what helped make the above mentioned scene that little bit more pleasurable was Sean Rigby as Jim Strange and his reaction to Endeavour telling Thursday and Bright it was thanks to Strange that he was able to decipher the code.
The slight smile by Endeavour is delicious as he watches Strange trying to work out what he said or did that helped solve the code.
There are times when Endeavour embodies the ‘Lewis’ role and that embodiment will rise to the surface every so often during the episodes and series to follow. However for those of us who have watched the original series we know that Morse has forgotten what it was like to be a low ranking officer.
Another great episode that set the bar very high for the forthcoming episodes.
Episode Jag Rating – out of 10.
Music.
At the start of the episode we hear Mozart’s Great Mass No. 18 in C Minor K427 Kyrie sung by Sarah-Jane Brandon.
I couldn’t find a version with Sarah-Jane Brandon singing but here is another wonderful rendition.
The above piece is reprised near the end of the episode at 1 hour and 21 minutes.
At 18 minutes and 42 seconds we hear a piece familiar to those who watched the pilot episode of Endeavour. It is Janis Kelly singing Hab’mir’s gelobt from Der Rosenkavalier. This piece was played in the pilot episode supposedly sung by one of Endeavour’s favourite singers, Rosalind Calloway (Stromming was her married name) who went on to sign one of his albums which we also see in the pilot episode.
This piece of music was also heard in the Morse episode, ‘Promised land‘.
Literary References.
00h03m41s
Endeavour is seen reading Moriarty’s Police Law. It’s full title is ‘Moriarty’s Police Law: An Arrangement of Law and Regulations for the Use of Police Officers’.
Cecil Charles Hudson Moriarty, CBE, OBE, CStJ (1877–1958) served as Chief Constable of Birmingham from 1935 to 1941, and his manuals and books on police procedures became essential guidebooks for police in the United Kingdom.
00h05m13s
When we are introduced to Chief Superintendent Bright he makes a speech to his officers on how things will change. During that speech he says, “but when there are breaches of procedure or Spanish practices…” The term Spanish Practices is a United Kingdom expression that refer to irregular or restrictive practices in workers’ interests. Typically, these are arrangements that have been negotiated in the past between employers and unions.
00h05m22s
During the same speech Bright says, “I want you to regard my appointment as a tabula rasa“. ‘Tabula rasa’ is a Latin phrase often translated as “blank slate” in English.
00h08m41s
While Max, Morse and Strange are in Margaret Bell’s bedroom investigating her death Max DeBryn quotes two lines from an Alexander Pope poem, ‘An Essay on Man’. “Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never is, but always to be blessed.”
Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never is, but always to be blessed:
The soul, uneasy and confined from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.
– Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man
00h25m36s
Morse asks Dr. Prentice if all was well at home regarding the Sloan family. Dr. Prentice replies, “Only the wearer knows when the shoe pinches.” This idiom means that no one except he or she who is experiencing it knows the cause of a trouble or difficulty. His or her behaviour is not understood by others because they are unaware of the motive behind it.
00h31m46s
Morse is interviewing Sir Edmund Sloan and in particular he is asking about Sir Edmund’s daughter Pamela. Sir Edmund says that they used to call her “La Gazza Ladra.” La gazza ladra opera semiseria in two acts by Gioachino Rossini, with a libretto by Giovanni Gherardin. Translated La Gazza Ladra means thieving magpie.
00h39m47.
While intervewing Rev Monkford about his whereabouts, the Reverend says that he was writing a sermon based on Matthew chapter seven, verse seven. This relates to the Bible verse that is “”Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you..”
00h41m56s
Morse meets Sir Edmund in the college quad and asks him about Margaret Bell’s possible boyfriend Brian Powell. Brian was typing up Sir Edmund’s memoirs. When Morse mentions that Margaret Bell was dead Sir Edmund says that explains the errors Brain had made, “Well the latest pages he turned in were awash with typographical lacunae.” Lacunae means an empty space or a missing part; a gap. In the context of typographical, lacanae (lacuna is the singular) the phrase means a typographical error. A mistake made in the typing process (such as a spelling mistake).
00h51m03s
Morse is reading to Pamela who is in bed, “She saw the helmet and the plume. She looked down to Camelot. Up flew the web and floated wide, the mirror cracked from side to side. ‘The curse has come upon me’ cried the Lady of Shalot.” These lines are from The Lady of Shalott (1832) by Alfred Lord Tennyson. The full verse that the quote above comes from is;
She left the web, she left the loom
She made three paces thro’ the room
She saw the water-flower bloom,
She saw the helmet and the plume,
She look’d down to Camelot.
Out flew the web and floated wide;
The mirror crack’d from side to side;
‘The curse is come upon me,’ cried
The Lady of Shalott.
01h12m40s
DI Jakes says to Morse, “It’s not Gideon’s way I know but its what gets them up the steps.” I am not completely certain what this references. I am assuming it’s a reference to the Bible and ‘The Gideon’ is where God takes weak, humble, sometimes fearful people and uses them to do wonderful things.
01h16m35s
Bright and Thursday march into the Rev. Monkford’s church to confront Endeavour. Bright wants to know what he is doing in the church. Endeavour says that he knows who the killer is. Bright replies, “What’s this? More threadbare Legerdemain? Legerdemain means deception or trickery.
ART.
00h06m51s
Endeavour finds no one on guard outside Margaret Bell’s house. Endeavour enters the house and hears a toilet flushing. (It turns out to be our first meeting with Jim Strange). In the hall hangs a painting;
This is a painting called Still-life with Fruits, Parrots and White Cockatoo, by Jakob Bogdány. Bogdány is a Hungarian painter and the above painting was painted sometime in the 1710s.
00h29m46s
Behind Morse there is a cubist painting but unfortunately I cannot identify it.
Next up we have two paintings which can be found in St Edmund Hall, Oxford University.
The painting to the left of Endeavour is The Right Reverend Herbert Henry Williams (1872–1961), Principal (1913–1920), Bishop of Carlisle (1920–1946) and painted by Reginald Grenville Eves (1876–1941).
Next we have a painting which can be seen on the wall at the top right of the photo below.
This is a painting of The Right Reverend Daniel Wilson, Vice-Principal (1807–1812). The artist is unknown.
Locations
The first scene of the episode is of a famous and well used location in episodes of Morse, Lewis and Endeavour.
The street is Broad Street. The bus in the above picture is indicated by the red arrow in the photo below.
Next up we have a location used in the montage of scenes used at the beginning of the episode. Dr Cartwright is seen driving up to a street and then entering a post office.
The black car is being driven by Dr. Cartwright. This took a LOT of detective work but I eventually managed to work our where this location is.
The address is Long Lane, Glebe Ave, Ickenham. Though the colour of the building above the shops is a different colour one can only assume that they were painted recently or more probable is that the colour was changed in post production.
The funeral directors was unchanged.
Next up is at the one minute and 50 second mark. Pamela gets on a bus as Morse gets off.
00h12m33s
Endeavour meets the young student, Denis Bradley.
Endeavour first visits Rev Monkford at around the 37 minute mark. This location is St Mary the Virgin Church, Hambleden, Buckinghamshire.
00h41m10s
Endeavour meets Sir Edmund Sloan. The location is St Edmund Hall dining room and quad, Oxford University.
The White Horse pub in Oxford has turned up in many a Morse and Lewis episode and Endeavour is no different. It turns up three times in this episode.
Fred Thursday about to eat his sandwich.
The White Horse Pub.
Morse and Strange are back in the pub at 52 minutes.
At the one hour mark we are back in the village of Hambledon.
As an aside, the large tree has now gone and been replaced with a sapling.
Up next is the house where Pamela Walters lives.
This is Holywell Street in Oxford.
Miscellaneous
Next up are two verbal connections to the original Morse series. The first is when Thursday and Morse are in the pub at 1 hour, 3 minutes and 56 seconds. Endeavour is about to leave in a rather foul mood when he turns to Thursday and says
Morse – “I’m a good detective”.
Thursday – “And a poor policeman. No one can teach you the first. Any fool can learn the second”.
This exchange refers to the Morse episode ‘Second Time Around‘ (Series 5, Episode 1). In that episode Morse has joined Detective Chief Inspector Patrick Dawson’s wife Catherine for dinner at the Randolph Hotel;
John Thaw as Morse and Ann Bell as Catherine Dawson.
Catherine Dawson – “Thank you for agreeing to allow my husband to stay in Oxford, it was very good of you. Charlie meant a great deal to him.”
Morse – “I’m bound to say it was against my better judgement. We’re not exactly bosom friends. I don’t like the idea of not being trusted to do my job.”
Catherine Dawson – No, no you’d be wrong to believe that Inspector. Patrick thinks you’re a very good detective. Poor policeman but a very good detective.”
Morse – Really? Well, I suppose half a compliment is better than none.”
The second verbal clue and I know it’s rather tenuous but it is a link of sorts. In the Endeavour episode ‘Girl’ Morse is discussing with the Reverend Monkford about his bike and how it ended up next to a crime scene, (at 38 minutes and 45 seconds). The Reverend Monkford is also, like Morse, a fan of crossword puzzles but admits to being rather flummoxed with the crossword he is currently trying to solve. Endeavour helps him by telling him to concentrate on 11 down the clue for which is, ‘Running over a dune is an effort’. Answer, Endeavour. It’s an anagram of ‘over a dune’. How does this relate to a previous Morse episode? Well, in the Morse episode, ‘Death is now my Neighbour‘ ( a Special and chronologically episode 31), Adele Ceil played by the beautiful Judy Loe asks what Morse’s Christian name is. Morse is reluctant to tell her but instead gives her a cryptic crossword clue, “A whole life’s effort has revolved around Eve”. Answer, Endeavour, an anagram of ‘around Eve’.
The fragrant Judy Loe with John Thaw in ‘Death is now my Neighbour’.
Another very tenuous link but all the same a link in the Endeavour episode, ‘Girl’. When Morse enters his flat we get a close up of his name on the side panel of the door. Above and below are two other names, ‘Gant’ and ‘M. French’.
There is a Matt Gant who worked as a Production Designer on this and three other Endeavour episodes, ‘Home, Rocket and Fugue. But he hasn’t worked on either Morse or Lewis. However, an M. French has done just that. The Dressing Props on the Endeavour episode ‘Girl’ was a Matt French who also worked on four episodes of Lewis as a stand in props; – ‘Falling Darkness‘, (Series 4, episode 4), ‘Your Sudden Death Question‘ (series 4, episode 3) ‘Dark Matter‘ (series 4, episode 2), ‘The Dead of Winter’ (series 4, episode 1).
One last thing regarding the subject of miscellany. When Endeavour confronts what he thinks is the bogus gasman he shows him his warrant card.
Is the folded piece of paper on the left contain his address and phone number? There is no Pulsey House in Oxford though there is a Pusey House but that certainly couldn’t be his home address.
————————————————–
In the Endeavour episode Girl, (Series 1, Episode 1) Endeavour is sent to a house by Thursday to look into the death of a girl. It’s where Endeavour first meets Strange.
This is the house that Endeavour will eventually buy in the episode Degüello.
Actors who appeared in the Endeavour Series 1, Episode 1 ‘Girl’ and/or Morse or Lewis.
Apart from Roger Allam there were four actors who appeared in this Endeavour episode who also appeared in Morse and/or Lewis series.
Firstly there was Albert Welling who played Wallace Clark in the Endeavour episode. He also appeared as Chris Stoneley in the Morse episode ‘The Last Enemy‘, (series 3, episode 2).
Albert Welling (Born on February 29, 1952) as Wallace Clark in the Endeavour episode ‘Girl’.
Albert Welling as Chris Stonely in the Morse episode ‘The Last Enemy’
The second of the four actors is John Flanagan who plays Mr Greaves in the Endeavour episode and Tony Mangold, a college porter, in the Lewis episode, ‘Generation of Vipers‘, (Series 6, episode 2).
John Flanagan on the right as college porter Tony Mangold in the Lewis episode ‘Generation of Vipers’.
The third actor is Bill Geraghty who played the gasman Watkins in the Endeavour episode and Jackson in the Lewis episode, ‘And the Moonbeams Kissed the Sea‘. (series 2, episode 1).
Bill Geraghty (D.O.B. unknown) as the gasman, Watkins in the Endeavour episode ‘Girl’.
Bill Geraghty as the bookmaker in the Lewis episode, ‘And the Moonbeams Kissed the Sea’.
And lastly we have Greg Bennett who played a Police Constable not only in this episode of Endeavour but also in the episodes, ‘Trove‘ (series 2, episode 1), ‘Home‘ (series 1, episode 4), ‘Rocket‘ (series 1, episode 3), and ‘Fugue‘ (series 1, episode 2). He also appeared in three Lewis episodes, again, as a Police Constable, ‘Indelible Stain‘ Series 6, episode 4), ‘Generation of Vipers‘, (Series 6, episode 2) and ‘The Great and the Good’, (Series 2, episode 4).
Greg Bennett (D.O.B. unknown) as a PC in the Endeavour episode, ‘Girl’.
Greg Bennett as a PC in ‘Generation of Vipers’.
Jim Strange, who makes his first appearance in this episode, appears in sixteen of the Endeavour episodes having not appeared in the pilot episode. The character of Jim Strange appeared in 22 episodes of the 33 episode Morse series as Chief Superintendent Strange.
– The Remorseful Day (2000)
– The Wench Is Dead (1998)
– Death Is Now My Neighbour (1997)
– The Daughters of Cain (1996)
– The Way Through the Woods (1995)
– Twilight of the Gods (1993)
– The Day of the Devil (1993)
– Deadly Slumber (1993)
– Cherubim & Seraphim (1992)
– Absolute Conviction (1992)
– The Death of the Self (1992)
– Dead on Time (1992)
– Promised Land (1991)
– Greeks Bearing Gifts (1991)
– Who Killed Harry Field? (1991)
– Fat Chance (1991)
– Second Time Around (1991)
– Masonic Mysteries (1990)
– Driven to Distraction (1990)
– The Last Enemy (1989)
– Last Seen Wearing (1988)
– The Dead of Jericho (1987)
In the Endeavour series the character is played by Sean Ribgy, (Born on August 15, 1989), matey and in the original Morse series he was played by James Grout, (Born: October 22, 1927 – Died: June 24, 2012).
James Grout as Chief Superintendent Strange. (We never learned of his first name in the original Morse series).
Sean Rigby as firstly PC Strange then in series 3 he is promoted to DS Strange.
The second of the two characters who make an appearance in Endeavour having been in the original Morse series is Charlie Hillian. As I wrote above the character is only referred to in this episode but was seen briefly in the Morse episode, Second Time Around: Series 5, Episode 1.
Maurice Bush as Charlie Hillian. (Died: 1999) in the original Morse series.
—————————————————————
Thanks to John Molloy who sent me this comment, “Jakes’ reference to Gideons Way at 1hr12m40s in Endeavour Series1 Episode 1 ” Girl ” may be a comment upon the TV series of that name which ran on UK TV from around 1964-1966 in which John Gregson played the titular character who was a police detective.”
CAST
Jonathan Hyde as Sir Edmund Sloan.
Alan Morrissey as Denis Bradley
Shaun Evans as DC Endeavour Morse.
Fiona Ryan as Margaret Bell
Will Richards as Brian Powell.
Dominic Taylor as Dr. Frank Cartwright.
Luke Allen-Gale as Derek Clark.
Albert Welling as Wallace Clark.
Sophie Stuckey as Pamela Walters.
Jonathan Guy Lewis as Rev Monkford.
Olivia Grant as Helen Cartwright.
John Flanagan as Mr. Greaves.
Roger Allam as DI Fred Thursday.
Anton Lesser as Chief Superintendent Bright.
Jack Laskey as DS Peter Jakes.
Sean Rigby as PC Jim Strange.
James Bradshaw as Dr. Max DeBryn.
Mark Bazeley as Dr. Bill Prentice.
Billy Geraghty as Gas Man ‘Watkins’.
Well we have come to the end of another post. I hope you enjoyed the post. As I said above I am going on another holiday next week so my next post may not appear until August 9th or 10th.
Such detail- posted to the group- Thank you so much for your blog gives such incite into every little detail ;o)
When Jakes referred to “Gideon’s Way” after Strange caught the gas meter thief, it was very likely a reference to a police procedural program of the that name that aired on ITV in the mid-1960s. On the US’s Wikipedia site, the series is characterized as fast-paced. Cop shows that accurately mimic the life of a police officer would put people to sleep because the work is exciting only in spurts – although Strange had to chase the gas meter thief. A foot chase isn’t as exciting as car chase and a gas meter thief is a far cry from a homicide.
Thank You for an excellent review, one of my favourite stories. Gideons Way was a tv series, starring John Gregson.
Absolutely superb! Thank you!
Hello Chris,
The extract heard at 18.40 is from Abigaille’s aria “Anch’io dischiuso in giorno” from Verdi’s _Nabucco_.
Thanks.
Hello Chris,
Enjoyed your detailed posting again a lot. Thanks and looking forward to your next post!
Regards,
Karel (The Netherlands)
This is fantastic! I also tried mapping locations, and got a few others, but didn’t get Hambleden or the Post Office. I’ve added those in as well. Take a look if you’re interested: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1BO83w4d5zHl7ynRmAtvoGCT5jm4&ll=51.66173977616828%2C-0.6862096499999097&z=10
It includes Cowley Police Station and Morse’s flat.
Loved your post. I wonder if you picked up the crossword clue given to Morse for which the answer was, I think, “breadcrumbs”?
All one could ever want to accompany these three delicious series. I am going back to watch “Morse” again, pulled in by this fine blog. First time visit. Regarding your writing up this episode, since we are forewarned for spoilers, I would have liked to have the “who done it” (s) spelled out in full. Thank you. Will stay tuned.
Interesting idea regarding the ‘who done it’ Nora. I will have a think about that and welcome to my blog.
Please do. Sometimes I watch Morse twice and still don’t know.
Yes I would love that as well! Especially when I’m trying to sort the timeline in my head afterwards hah. Just finished the first series, I visit your blog after each episode. Thank you for taking such time!
Excellent post, as always, and very helpful to those of us catching up with our viewing on DVD.
I believe that the mention of Gideon’s Way refers to the popular British police series which aired on ITV from 1965 to ’66. The TV series was partially inspired by the Commander George Gideon novels by John Creasey.
I thought this was a wonderful episode, full of so many interesting narratives and ideas. I think this richness is what sets it apart from other current detective drama series (and also what makes it so interesting to analyse and discuss). Compare it to the scandi noir genre for example, which I love very much, but tends to be almost minimalistic in terms of storytelling.
The only thing that lets this episode down, as noted by Chris, is the blackboard at the church. That reveal scene was a bit miss marple,
About the blackboard…
One thing I found in visiting very old churches in rural England and Wales, and from watching a very good BBC series called “Churches: How to Read Them” that did the same though for different reasons, is how many of these places have no additional space, like a parish hall, for such activities as meetings or Sunday school classes. Instead, people simply pull up a pew, so to speak, or commandeer a side chapel or some other similar space. Which means you can easily find things like blackboards tucked away in corners for easy accessibility when they’re needed. (In more than one episode of “Churches: How to Read Them,” you can see a colorful felt board in the background while the host discussed things like medieval carvings, and in one case there was a list of rules the kindergarten Sunday school class had created for itself, full of things like “No shouting” and “”Be kind” hanging from the wall in a church tower room the host explained had once been used as a parish courtroom and jail!) So I really had no problem with the fact of a blackboard in the church. It’s position? I could explain that away easily enough, since the priest was trying to send Morse a message with it and wanted to make it as prominent as he could.
Hi Kathy. That is very interesting indeed. If it’s okay with you I will add your comment into my post. Thanks for the information, fascinating.
And that was Barbara Bonney singing with Kiri Te Kanawa in Der Rosenkavalier
Can I also add that blackboards are often at the front of old churches because the minister will write down the chapter, etc. from the bible that the sermon comes from, so people can read along. As well, hymn numbers (from hymn handbooks) are written for the congregation to sing along.
A couple of corrections if I may.
I presume you meant to refer to Denis Bradley not Brian Powell under section 00h41m56s as the love interest of the deceased Margaret Bell.
And like others, under section 01h12m40s, I imagine Jakes allusion to “Gideon’s Way” is to the 1965 TV show of the same name rather than the Biblical figure.
Anyways jolly good review again! 🙂
Thanks John. I will correct the errors and omissions as soon as is possible.
I purchase Season One from Vudu. I saw the pilot on PBS before that but it was not included in my purchase. I have been unable to find it anywhere as a standalone purchase. Any idea where I might get it?
Hi. My only answer is DVD.
Thanks but I only wanted to know who the murders were because Endeavour is so boring I fall asleep within the first 30 minutes of every episode. Also, I don’t buy Shaun Evans in this role given his past roles and lack of resemblance to The older Morse. Evans is barely an actor. How in the world did he win the acting lottery with such minor talent?
You’re having a giraffe!
A few typos, mainly:
there was in the UK only five channels. — there were
The introduction of Sean Ribgy — Rigby
he was under used — underused
outside Pamela Walters house — outside Pamela Walters’ house
However, can someone tell me what a blackboard was doing near the altar. — … altar?
Did the Reverend not only foresee his own death but also Endeavour’s need for a visual aid. — … aid?
make the above mentioned scene — above-mentioned
It’s full title is ‘Moriarty’s Police Law: — Its
Translated La Gazza Ladra means thieving magpie. — The Thieving Magpie
the errors Brain had made — Brian
In the context of typographical, lacanae — In the context of typography, lacunae
[As you say, ‘lacuna’ means ‘gap’, not mistake or error, so Sir Edmund uses the word incorrectly. He was trying to show off, but came a cropper.]
cried the Lady of Shalot. — Shalott
DI Jakes says to Morse, “It’s not Gideon’s way … etc — still not corrected (promised January 23, 2019)
but its what gets them up the steps. — it’s
Legerdemain means deception or trickery. — literally ‘light of hand’
(It turns out to be our first meeting with Jim Strange). — (It turns out to be our first meeting with Jim Strange.)
back in the village of Hambledon. — Hambleden
as a stand in props — stand-by props
Is the folded piece of paper on the left contain his address — Does the folded …
In the Endeavour series the character is played by Sean Ribgy, — Rigby
(Born on August 15, 1989), matey and — matey?
On watching this episode, I was intrigued to see Mr Greaves emerging from what was once my uncle’s house in Beaumont Buildings. Not sure why this was chosen – exterior shot only and it could have been anywhere.
Impressive!
Question: I couldn’t tell for sure if the 1st gam man arrested is the same exact person who was arrested as the gas man. Can you tell?
I don’t believe so.
Question: is Margaret Bell’s lodging house the same house Morse eventually purchases in Deguello? The porches sure look similar, but it seems they repainted the door from green to red.
Also, I think I identified Morse’s home for this season in the older Victorian part of Rewley House at the corner of St John’s Street and Wellington Square.
Hi Lydia. What is the timestamp when we see the lodging house. Can you also give me a timestamp as to when we see Endeavour’s flat. I know that his flat in the earlier series was in 14 Wellington Square. Thank you.
Hi Chris!
At 00:02:41 we see Morse walking around the corner into St John’s Street from Wellington Sq. He goes into a green door next to an iron fence, and I think it’s of the Victorian Rewley House. I don’t think it has a number any more.
At 00:03:30 we see Margaret Bell come out of her house. And at 00:06:34 there’s a daytime shot when Morse arrives. The porch, windows, and doorway at the right of frame look the same as the house Morse buys in Deguello. Do you have any idea where that house is, by the way? I’ve seen it used as a location in other shows.
A really great episode and a very interesting background report. Excellent! Thanks a lot for this!
Even after looking at it several times, I still unfortunately couldn’t understand why the Reverend went to the toilet house at the lake at a late hour (take a look at 1:18:18). What did he want there? Neither Dr Cartwright nor W. Clark would have been interested in being seen.
In my opinion, this is not properly cleared up in the episode.
Can someone help me there? 🙂
Greetings from Germany!
I believe he was going to meet a young man there for sexual relations– which would have been very taboo in general, but especially for a man of the cloth. The claim was originally made by the young man who was caught with the stolen coins when his gas meter was robbed (1hr13), saying that he was there for that reason, not because he was homeless as the reverend claimed.
Could I ask, how did Wallace Clark know where Dr. Frank Cartwright left the drugs?
Hi Paul. I don’t believe it’s ever explained within the episode how he knew. I always assumed he either followed Dr Cartwright or made his son tell him. Sorry I don’t have a more definitive answer.
Hello Chris. Thank you for that. I always feel better when you say that you ‘don’t have a more definitive answer’. I then know I haven;t missed something.
There is one line that is one of my favorites in Girl. “I’m here in a position of trust.” (When she asks Endeavour to take her to bed.) Call me old fashioned but wouldn’t it be wonderful if everyone held to that principal no matter what position one has.
So true Kathleen – Yes it was so lovely to see in the episode and would be a wonderful thing if more held those values in real life – I know it wasn’t the same situation but IMO his morals and standards certainly changed in S7….. (again I understand that Pamela was different to Violetta but the morality of sleeping with a friend’s wife for months in a rather tawdry little ‘Love nest’ behind his friends back made me hark back to his views earlier in the series – which the older Morse had as well – bordering on naivety and trust when it came to women)
Maria, Yes, I did not like that and thought it was out of character from the beginning of the series and even from older Morse. True that both older and younger Morse were vulnerable to damsels in distress and Violetta played that part, but that affair was something very different.
One of my favourite Lewis episodes is “The Quality of Mercy’ featuring the hapless Simon Monkford. Do you think he could be related to the Rev. Monkford?
Hapless? Driving a getaway vehicle for a gang of dobadders and killing Mrs Lewis in the process?
Congrats on going to University again. From what we see here, you will love it and do well! I admire you for being strong enough to start a journey in a new direction.
Condolences on the extremely sad loss of your Mum.
The reason I started this comment was to add my appreciation and thanks for your exceedingly well-researched posts. I especially love your citations of the literary quotes and allusions.
It’s a marvelous touch to add music links! How do you know which recordings are being used?
These are the best post fir Endeavour that I have ever found!
During our twitch.tv watch on Jan. 17, 2021, @marno1956 seemed to recognize the Lewis theme. There is a clip that contains a *strong* resemblance. This occurs when the scene cuts from the jail to the Oxford skyline (around 1h12m). The horns play the notes of the 1st phrase of the Lewis theme almost exactly, but in a minor key with tempo and note durations changed and the last note de-emphasized. It’s clearer if you play the video at 2x speed.
There is an *extremely* tenuous connection in that Morse spots an article about someone killed by a drunk driver. But unlike Val Lewis, the driver is ID’ed and the victim’s a man. An associated tenuous link (pointed out above by David Hall) is the character Rev. Monkford (who is not the driver), and Simon Monkford is the Lewis character who crashed into Val. Chris asked during the Sunday watch (at 1h56m), “Why would Barrington use that particular music in that scene?”
Given the very tenuous links, it’s still hard to Barrington was signaling any significant connection. Perhaps he was just being a “ratbag”, or he was planting his version of “here’s another clue for you all/The walrus was Paul”.
Continuing from my previous post or link on the Endeavour pilot episode, here is another interesting interview with Russell Lewis. This covers the episode, “Girl”, which, of course, is brilliantly analysed by Chris, on this web page. Here is this fascinating link, as Russell shares his thoughts about the writing of this superb episode.
http://dmbarcroft.com/the-endeavour-interviews-russell-lewis-part-ii/
James, Thank you for posting such wonderful interview articles. “Inside” stories are the best!
As Sean Rigby, who plays PC Jim Strange, was introduced in this Endeavour episode, there is also a very interesting interview with the actor himself. Here is the link:
http://dmbarcroft.com/the-endeavour-interviews-sean-rigby/
Hi Kathleen. I am very pleased to see you are enjoying reading these articles. I feel it is illuminating to hear straight from the horse’s mouth, as it were, the thoughts of Endeavour creator and writer, Russell Lewis. Henceforth, they are very interesting, aren’t they?
I have a few more links to share with you all, as Russell discusses each episode in turn. Every week, I will post a new Russell interview, after we have watched and analysed that episode on Twitch, with Chris. Therefore, next week I will place the link of Russell’s interview on the Series 1 finale, “Home”.
Watched this episode again last night. It struck me that the casting is so strong here. The Sloan family are very believable as a family, with all their issues and secrets. Also the Church and village where Rev Monkford ministers looks quite similar to locations used in ‘Harvest’. I presume that’s just coincidence.
Do I understand correctly that the Reverend went to the public toilet to lure an unsuspecting gay man with the sole purpose of robbing him?
And how in the world did the elder Clark know that his son had anything to do with Dr. Cartwright? Even Cartwright did not know who he was leaving the drugs for. Hard to believe the lying son would have ever told.
The Sloane family was a very good illustration of a dysfunctional family that distracts itself from its problems by focusing on the problems of only one member of the family, the black sheep, in this case daughter Pamela. This allowed the rest of the family to pretend that they were good, normal people. It saved them from having to think about Daddy’s career in mass murder, or the manipulating behavior of entitled and dependent daughter Helen, who ultimately tried to kidnap her nephew.
The reverend was going to the public toilet for sex, not to commit robbery.
Providing a cryptic crossword clue in the story added a big dose of fun to the show, but this American English speaker had never heard of the exclamation “Crumbs!”
‘Crumbs!’, I would suggest, might be a euphemism for ‘Christ!’.
I watched this episode again and had forgotten how many stories were mixed in.
I didn’t like the fact that Pamela’s relationship with her sister’s husband had to be seen as romantic. It annoys me when people try to justify adultery.
Hello Haley and welcome to my website.
I love the program and have watched it two or three times, most recently last night with a friend. This time, I had some questions. Were they answered and I missed it?
How did Wallace Clark know where and when to go to confront the doctor. Was he working with Derek all along on the blackmail plot? That seems unlikely. Derek was the one who was desperate to get out of the shopkeeper’s life. But assuming Derek was doing the blackmailing on his own, why would he tell his father all the details?
How did Morse know that the barber was involved and had stolen the rare coins from the reverend? Did I doze off and miss whole scenes? The barber appears earlier but never is in the police’s gaze.
Why would Wallace Clark rifle through the reverend’s effects searching for anything pointing the finger at him? Why did he wait so long to kill the reverend?
Why would the reverend abandon his bicycle and run away on foot after witnessing the murder of Dr. Cartwright?
Hi Alan, All good questions and I have to stop and think about what the answers are because I don’t know! This is such a good episode and one of my favorites. The one question that you have asked really sticks in my mind and although I have seen this episode several times, I never stopped to ask why the Reverend did not ride his away from the rest room. Why indeed? I know he wanted Morse to think someone stole it but if he had ridden it away it wouldn’t matter. I guess I must watch this again.
Thanks, Kathleen. I reviewed it myself, fast forwarding.
The only explanation I can imagine for the reverend abandoning his bike would be if he was going to hide out and make his way back away from the road. As a cyclist myself, I know I would never forget my bike if trying to get away quickly.
On the question of the barber: rewatching revealed that he had been the last victim of the gas meter robber. Morse found the Reverend’s rare coins in the burglar’s bag. So he asked the Barber about it. The barber admitted to lifting them from the reverend’s place, confident he would not be reported because the barber could have revealed the reverend’s sexual orientation.
So that plot point makes sense. But why would the barber use rare coins to fill the has meter? He had stolen them from a rare coin collection. He would have known they were valuable. He would not have put them in the gas meter! Perhaps we need to assume the barber was dumb or that he had a coworker or family member who found the coin, didn’t know its value and stuck it in the meter.
Still: like the bike, it’s a weak point in the show’s logic.
Am I missing something?
How strange to hear a public toilet described as a ‘rest room’! I believe that the practice of visiting such places for s*x is known as ‘cottaging’.
Hi Bert, Is rest room an old fashioned term? Even so I use it all the time, in restaurants, in stores, rest stops while traveling. I’m not so naive to not know that these rest areas are sometimes used for sex meetups but I have never heard the term cottaging, but then again I probably wouldn’t have. In all the places I have lived I’ve never seen a public “bathroom” on the street or in places not attached to another place of business. I believe they have these in Europe? Anyway the place where the Reverend was seemed to be in the middle of the woods somewhere but as I say I have to watch this episode again.
Thanks to Alan for clearing up the coin question!
I wouldn’t say that ‘rest room’ is old-fashioned, because, as you say, the term is still used, especially by Americans. It is just that it is a euphemism for what the actual place is used for. In fact, just about every term we have for ‘that place’ is a euphemism. ‘Lavatory’ means a place for washing, and ‘toilet’ comes from a word meaning a small cloth used to protect clothes while shaving or arranging hair.’Bathroom’ should mean a room with a bath in it, but so often there’s no bath in that place, and you didn’t want a bath, anyway. There used to be many public toilets (not attached to any place of business) in the UK, but many have been closed because of vandalism or because of their use for business of a type not envisaged by the local council when they were built. They were (are) usually small single-storey buildings, which could be thought of as a cottage, I suppose. ‘Urinal’ is the only word that springs to mind that is not a euphemism, but they are only used by men.
very interesting Bert. thanks
After the excellent Girl is a strong opener to the full series. OK there’s the odd cliche, particulalry the scene in the church with all assembled from the police to hear Morse explain. However, it didn’t seem forced since Bright was trying to get Morse from the start to get him busted down to general duties. As we know over time his character changed from the martinet in the earlier series.
I thought the episode was good as well since it didn’t neatly tie everything up.
Good introduction to Jim Strange, and I did like his expression when Morse had said it was him that inspired the answer.
I always enjoyed how well the actors played off one another in the early episodes, like they had been doing the series for years.
I never did fully get why Bright was so against Morse right from the beginning. And even after Morse proved himself by solving the crimes. What do you think Bright had against him? I wouldn’t think it was his superior intelligence because that would only enhance Bright’s department.
Kathleen – Mr. Bright was aware of what happened with his predecessor, and perhaps was worried (needlessly) that Morse might indirectly be the cause of his (Bright’s) dismissal because of Morse’s odd, but usually effective, detection methods.
Sheldon, That could very well be but sometimes it seemed to me that Bright was mainly concentrating on getting results by limiting Morse’s investigation or even prohibiting it. He several times mentioned Division wants this or that and the pressures even put on his wife who seemed to be in with the higher-ups. In later episodes, though, I was glad to see that he changed towards Morse and genuinely had respect and a fondness for him.
The final episode we see Strange and Joan drive away to start their new life and Morse continues his work around Oxford but when do we assume Strange returns to become Morse’s boss..