Hello everybody and welcome to a new post. Those who follow me on FB and Twitter are already aware of this article but I do know that many of you don’t use social media.
The piece was published on Fri, Mar 17, 2023 and written by NEELA DEBNATH.
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Endeavour’s Shaun Evans and Roger Allam praised for ‘excellent’ final episode in tribute.
EXCLUSIVE: Inspector Morse and Endeavour fan Christopher Sullivan opened up about the last-ever episode of the ITV crime drama prequel.
WARNING: This article contains spoilers from the Endeavour series finale
Endeavour recently wrapped up on ITV with the Inspector Morse prequel series reaching its natural conclusion. The show from writer Russell Lewis tied up most of the loose ends with Exuent while giving the young incarnation of the iconic detective (played by Shaun Evans) a fitting end. There was even a nice nod to Inspector Morse with the sleuth’s distinctive red Jaguar crossing paths with his younger self’s car as the baton was passed over.
Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, fan Christopher Sullivan shared his thoughts about the finale and hailed Evans and Fred Thursday actor Roger Allam. He said: “Their performances were excellent as always. Both never put a foot wrong in the final episode or any episode for that matter. “One couldn’t imagine anyone else playing the roles of young Endeavour and Thursday.”
Christopher, 63, said about the finale: “It was good and very emotional.
(Image: ITV)
“It was a nice touch to have a Colin Dexter lookalike included in the scene when Endeavour hands over the book and leaves Blenheim.
“Without Colin there would be no Morse Universe and I certainly would not have met so many lovely people who love the Morse series as much as I do.” Adding: “The passing of the two Jags was a lovely touch.” However, he admitted he was unsure about Fred’s exit from the series with many fans previously predicting the detective would be killed off.
(Image: ITV)
Instead, Fred was given a stay of execution by writer Lewis with his exit from the Morse universe explained by his murder of a biker gang member. Fred had stabbed the young man to death to protect his son Sam Thursday (Jack Bannon) but would face the wrath of the gang if he was discovered to be the killer. He realised he would need to make a getaway, going further afield than Carshalton and essentially disappear to avoid the vengeance of the bikers. Endeavour knew he could never mention Fred out of fear his friend could face reprisals for the killing, which explained why the character was never name-checked in the original Inspector Morse series.
Christopher said: “I am still unsure if it was the correct decision. I personally believe it was out of character for Fred to kill. “There were other solutions to protecting Sam other than killing the ‘hell’s angel.’
“But it did give a good reason as to why the older Morse never mentions the Thursday family.” He also addressed the mysterious gun scene in the graveyard when it looked like Endeavour played Russian Roulette with the gun going off but viewers unable to see who the bullet hit.
The blogger said: “That was a strange scene. We know that the young Endeavour can’t die so I can only assume it was supposed to be like a one gun salute to Fred.”
Christopher founded his Morse, Lewis and Endeavour blog back in 2014 and has been faithfully posting for the best part of a decade. The blog was originally a way for the former ecological scientist from Edinburgh to celebrate Inspector Morse author Colin Dexter’s work and commemorate his legacy. He said it was sad the show had come to an end and feared it was the last of the Morse universe given writer Dexter wrote in his will no one else would be allowed to play the detective after Evans in a bid to protect original actor John Thaw’s legacy. However, he did say a Fred prequel could be the way forward for the franchise with the detective solving crimes in post-War London.
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I hoped you enjoyed the article. Take care.
Well done – great they got a real expert in.
I did not understand the gunshot at the end at all. And I still can’t see any reason for it that makes sense to me. Why would firing the shot be any kind of homage to Fred? I did love the episode though especially the cars passing.
Wonderful write up! Haven’t seen the last season here in the US yet but anxiously awaiting it coming to my local PBS channel this Spring. Although sad that it is the last season of this superb prequal. It would be fabulous to have a ‘Fred’ series and I am forever hoping for a ‘Hathaway’ series (even if Laurence Fox is not the Hathaway we all love!). Although I realize that Hathaway would be a once (or twice) removed series from a Morse connection, it would still be associated with Morse – as long as it is held in the Oxford world, which I always associate with Endeavour Morse.
I agree with the sentiment that Endeavour’s final and mysterious Webley pistol round firing is a one-gun salute to all that Thursday means to this MLE universe.
I was wondering if this was the same gun that had one round left in the CODA episode ?
It probably is the same gun but Endeavour loads the gun.
Well done for all your work over the years and for what is to come.hope to be in oxford during august. Ken(Keble).NZ.
I can’t really believe that Endeavour would shoot a gun in the city. He cares too much about the safety of civilians. If you shoot a bullet into the air, it returns to earth somewhere and people have been killed, in real life. Hard to believe he would have attempted suicide, too, at least not there and just after saying good-bye. Maybe after a night of drinking?
This was a great article, so thanks Chris for posting it on here for us to read.
The gunshot I think at the end was superflouous and confusing.
So was the choir master at the end officially a tribute to Colin Dexter or was it just coincidental? There was some chatter on one of the FaceBook groups that it was Russell Lewis, but I understand he denied it was him on a twitter post, so this being a tribute to Colin would make sense.
I’ll look forward to your review and thoughts.
Here in Australia my family absolutely LOVED the final episode, despite knowing it was the last one ever. Beautifully written and performed and incredibly poignant. The passing of the old and new Jags in the final scene was a beautiful ending. There have been a few episodes in recent times where we felt the writers lost their way, but this last series – just wonderful.
Any chance we get another series with Shaun Evans playing Morse? Since Evans is the only actor who can play him, would be a shame to not try to get some of the cases Morse did with McNutt or even some setting up the Inspector Morse series. Just a dream.
There will be no more Endeavour. Unfortunately, there will be no more Inspector Morse series.