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Let’s get started.
Exeunt: used as a stage direction in a play to indicate that a group of actors leave the stage.
SPOILERS AHEAD!
Where’s Colin?
At two minutes we see a student running through a college quad. A professor is walking away from the camera. The actor has the look of Colin.
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At around the eight and a half minute mark, while in the first victim’s home, Endeavour mentions that the crossword setter was, Codex. This was the pseudonym that Colin used when setting crosswords.
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I think this is supposed to be Colin.
Directed by Kate Saxon. Kate directed the Endeavour episodes, Zenana (S7E3), Terminus (S8E3)
Written by – Colin Dexter (characters), Russell Lewis (written and devised by). Russell has written all the Endeavour episodes. He also wrote;
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’.
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First broadcast in the UK on March 12, 2023.
EXEUNT: Series 9, Episode 2.
SYNOPSIS
June, 1972.
Endeavour continues to investigate who was killed and buried at Blenheim Vale. After the skeletal remains of Landesman and Brenda Lewis were found Endeavour believes that one of the young boys, Peter Williams, will also be found. Meanwhile, two people have been killed in what looks like accidents. However, their obituaries were published in the Oxford Mail before they died.
Preparations for the wedding of Jim Strange and Joan Thursday continue to punctuate the events mentioned above.
REVIEW.
(warning, this review will contain spoilers)
I’m not sure where to start. Let’s start with the positives. As always the cast were sublime. The main cast can walk away with their collective heads held high. The actors who played the secondary characters, Frazil and Max in particular, played them with such relish. There were times when Abigail Thaw and James Bradshaw stole scenes from the main actors nor only in this episode but throughout the series. Anton Lesser was under used in this episode but his reading of Prospero’s monologue from Shakespeare’s The Tempest was moving, glorious and overwhelming. It practically stole the show.
Those behind the scenes can also take a curtain call: the cinematographers, the wardrobe and make-up departments, the location team and everyone else involved can be proud of their work on the Endeavour series.
Kate Saxon’s direction was good and showed she had a steady hand on the tiller. I think of the three episodes she directed, Zenana and Terminus, this was her best work. Kate appeared to have a clarity of vision in what was always going to be a difficult episode to direct. Kate appeared to be enthused and invested in this project.
The music by Matthew Slater was utterly beguiling at times especially the first piece we hear at the beginning of the episode. Matthew always had a difficult job in following in the proverbial footsteps of the legend that was Barrington Pheloung. I feel that Matthew Slater improved series by series.
Unfortunately, I need to write about what was wrong with the episode and the final series overall. This final episode was, like the second episode, Uniform, rather dull in places and even worse, ridiculous. The main/subplot of John Bingley was utter piffle and the episode would have been better without it. I still can’t decide if it was a subplot or the main plot. For a main plot it was over very quickly, within the first hour. John Bailey was a cartoon cypher for all that apparently ails modern Britain or England in the case of the episode. I have no problem with a writer pushing a political agenda but not when we are bludgeoned over the head with those ideals and it has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
What made it worse was the Scooby Doo moment when Bingley confronted Endeavour. He talked about how he would loved to have killed a few more if it hadn’t been for Endeavour interfering. I was waiting for the line, ‘If it wasn’t for you pesky police I would have gotten away with it.’ Russel tried to cram too much into the episode. It would have better if he had left out the John Bingley storyline and concentrated on the Blenheim Vale/Sam/wedding storylines.
However, I do believe using the events of the Neverland storyline was unwarranted and lazy. New storylines would have have been better and fresher. Each of the episodes of the ninth series should have been standalone episodes with the only story arcs being the wedding and Sam.
My main problem is Fred murdering the biker who turned out to be Peter Williams, the ‘boy’ that Endeavour believed was buried at Blenheim Vale. For me, this was not a good way to allow us to find out why the older Endeavour never mentions Thursday. Not only did Fred murder someone but Endeavour, in saying and doing nothing, is complicit in that murder. As I have written below, Why would Joan be safe from the bikers as said by Endeavour? Didn’t Fred say that criminals would get to you through your love for your family? Wouldn’t the bikers kidnap and threaten her until she told them where Fred was? Jim Strange has already told us that the bikers are relentless and unforgiving if one of their own is killed.
Fred should have been killed due to a situation caused by Endeavour and so making him feel so guilty that he never mentions Fred. It would have also have created the reason why the older Jim Strange was quite frequently tetchy with Morse. It could have also explained why Strange’s wife, is rarely mentioned in the Morse series and in particular her never being named. This would have made more sense. I believe Russell didn’t have the courage to kill off Fred Thursday.
I enjoyed the ending with the two jags passing and a John Thaw lookalike being used. However I didn’t like the rear view mirror part. I know Russell did it to have a continuity with the last and the first episode but like using the Neverland Blenheim Vale storyline it is repeating oneself.
I will never understand why Russell didn’t introduce the McNutt character other than mentioning him. Surely, it would have been better to have had McNutt be Bright’s replacement. Of course, Morse says to Bright that he will think of moving to the newly reopened Cowley police station that McNutt will run. Maybe, we are to believe that he does transfer there and becomes McNutt’s bagman.
I believe the chap at the end who Endeavour hands the book to is supposed to be Colin Dexter.
The idea is I believe, that Russell Lewis, through the Endeavour character, is passing the baton over to Colin. Russell has written the first part of Endeavour Morse’s life now it is down to Coin Dexter to write about the later years of Morse.
So, what about the future of the Morse Universe. In discussions on my Twitch channel and in the comments section here on my website, the two favourite ideas are a series about a young Thursday and a quirky crime drama with the characters Dorothea Frazil and Max DeBryn. Unfortunately, I think it will be at least five years before we see another series in the Morse Universe. If we see one at all.
WHAT?
– Once again Russell puts Endeavour in jeopardy in this episode. Not just once but twice.
– So, many ridiculous coincidences in this episode: the bikers turn up just in time to save Endeavour from being killed. But why? Wouldn’t the bikers be concerned that Endeavour would have them arrested for killing Lott? Why didn’t we hear the bikes driving up to the area.
– Endeavour has a daydream. This is what one would expect from a soap opera or sitcom not a serious crime drama. Why not have Endeavour have a dream and then wake up in hospital after being beaten by the Lott?
– He is badly injured, kicked in the ribs, maybe stabbed or punched in the back yet he doesn’t wince when Joan hugs him.
– Sam has a major problem with drink and drugs but then hallelujah he suddenly doesn’t have those problems. No mention of going to the Alcoholics Anonymous or counselling. Would Sam be able to join the police force after being in a military prison?
– Fred would need to tell Win why he was having to leave the police force and why they were no longer moving to Carshall. Would Win stay married to Fred if she knew he murdered someone? Fred lost their entire savings and she left him because of that.
– Why would Joan be safe from the bikers as said by Endeavour? Didn’t Fred say that criminals would get to you through your love for your family? Wouldn’t the bikers kidnap and threaten her until she told them where Fred was? Jim Strange has already told us that the bikers are relentless and unforgiving if one of their own is killed.
– What an amazing and incredible coincidence. The very church where Joan and Jim are being married, Endeavour sees the name of the person who owns Blenheim Vale on a gravestone.
– Fred has hidden the gun in a box on top of a cupboard in the kitchen. Does Win NEVER clean up there?
– Where did Endeavour get the bullet to load Fred’s gun?
– It seems to me that the death of Andrew Lewis in the first episode of the series was just a tortured way to mention Robbie Lewis in the last episode.
– Isn’t it a coincidence that Dr Andrea Massey at the wake for McMurdo says, “We should tell people if they mean something to us.” And here’s Endeavour thinking that same thing about Joan.
– Once again Endeavour is the only one who finds clues; the button from Sam’s jacket, the name on the gravestone etc.
– If the killer John Bingley has a friend who works at the Times as a typesetter why didn’t John Bingley get him to put in the other death notices? Wasn’t Bingly worried that his friend would tell all if the police got involved?
– We never find out why Jakes returned. Yet another coincidence?
Jags out of ten:
MUSIC.
All ‘modern’ music is what was used in the original UK broadcast. For legal and copyright reasons the music may be different in broadcasts in other countries.
At around the seven minute mark we see Sam in a pub. The music being played is Paranoid by Black Sabbath.
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At 30 minutes Sam again at the pub while Bloodsucker by Deep Purple is playing.
At around 31 minutes, Endeavour is at home listening to music. It is Requiem in D Minor, K. 626: Communio. Lux aeterna – Cum sanctis tuis by Mozart.
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Around the one hour and five minute mark, Jakes and Endeavour are talking in Endeavour’s home. Thank you to Nancy who pointed out that the music playing in the background is, Chopin – Prelude in E Minor op 28 no 4.
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At around the one hour and ten minute mark, Endeavour is in his car. We hear, Mozart’s Requiem In D Minor,. K. 626: Sequence III, Rex Tremendae Majestatis.
At around one hour and 17 minutes Endeavour enters the marquee. We can hear Brown Sugar playing by the Rolling Stones.
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In the same scene the Rolling Stones segues into Elvis Presley’s, The Wonder of You.
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Then as Endeavour is left standing alone when Joan and Jim leave we hear Elton John’s, Rocket Man.
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The final piece of music was Requiem : ‘In Paradisum’ by Gabriel Fauré
LITERARY REFERENCES.
At two minutes we hear the college professor speaking to his class. He is quoting a Thomas Babington Macaulay poem, Horatius.
“Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the gate:
‘To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his Gods.
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The reverend during the funeral of Edwin Bevin says, “…the pen is infinitely mightier than the sword.” “The pen is mightier than the sword” is a metonymic adage, created by English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1839. The full quote is, “The pen is mightier than the sword if the sword is very short, and the pen is very sharp.”
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In the final pub scene, Endeavour says to Fred, “I know thee not, old man.” This is from Shakespeare’s, Henry IV Part 2: Act 5 Scene 5. The King is talking to Falstaff.
I know thee not, old man. Fall to thy prayers.
How ill white hairs become a fool and jester.
45I have long dreamt of such a kind of man,
So surfeit-swelled, so old, and so profane;
But being awaked, I do despise my dream.
Make less thy body hence, and more thy grace.
Coincidentally, Roger Allam has played the character of Falstaff.
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At the end Chief Inspector Bright reads out from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Act IV, Scene 1. It is said by Prospero.
Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Ye all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep. Sir, I am vex’d;
Bear with my weakness; my, brain is troubled:
Be not disturb’d with my infirmity:
If you be pleased, retire into my cell
And there repose: a turn or two I’ll walk,
To still my beating mind.
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The name of McMurdo who was killed in an ‘accident’ and whose funeral we saw at the beginning has the name from the Arthur Conan Doyle novel, The Sign of Four. McMurdo is the doorman at Pondicherry Lodge.
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Claypole, the undertaker, shares his name with the undertaker in Charles Dicken’s Oliver Twist.
ART
At around the 22 minute mark, Endeavour and Thursday enter Dr Fortescue’s college rooms.
Above: Richmond Gardens by Mark Churchill (1935–2011).
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Above: Abstract Landscape in Greens and Browns by John Talbot Mclean (b.1960).
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LOCATIONS.
The episode opens with a funeral. It’s Dr McMurdo’s funeral.
Thank you to Coco who identified the above location. It is The South Chapel Hendon Cemetery and Crematorium, Holders Hill Rd, London NW7 1NB.
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At around two and a half minutes we see a pupil running through a college quad.
This is New College.
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At three minutes the Thames valley police station.
The location of the Thames Valley Police Station is, The St Cross Building, University of Oxford. It contains the English Faculty Library. Thank you to Roger who wrote in the comments, “relevantly for Morse, that building is actually overwhelmingly taken up by classrooms and offices for the Oxford Law Faculty and for the Bodleian Law Library. A fitting fictional home for a police station?”
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Blenheim Vale.
This is Langleybury House & Film Centre, Langleybury Ln, Sarratt, Kings Langley WD4 8RN.
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At around 11 minutes we see the new offices of the Oxford Mail.
This is a building adjacent to Holywell Music Room on Holywell Street.
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Endeavour visits Dr Rupert McMurdo’s home. UNIDENTIFIED.
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The Thursday home.
The Thursday house.
The address is 10 Ramsey Road, Headington.
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Strange and Joan arrive at what might be their new home. UNIDENTIFIED
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Endeavour, Thursday and Dr Fortescue walk through a college quad at around the 21 and a half minute mark.
This is again New College.
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After talking to Dr Fortescue at around 23 mins we see Thursday and Endeavour walking through a college quad.
Above, Fred and Endeavour are walking toward this large Archway one can see in the photo below.
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In the next scene Thursday has his ‘turn.’
This is now Exeter College. As can happen in the Morse Universe. The actors walk through a door or exit of one college and end up in another.
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After the above scene we are at the funeral directors. Thanks to Coco who identified this as Hall Barn Estates Ltd, Home Farm Estate Office, Hall Barn, Windsor End, Beaconsfield HP9 2SG. This location was also used to stand in for Cowley Train Station in the episode Scherzo.
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Endeavour visits Neptune House where the first phone call was made to the Oxford Mail regarding a death notice. UNIDENTIFIED.
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At around 31 and a half minutes we see the shot shown below.
This is New College Lane.
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At 34 minutes Strange relates to Endeavour the location of the second phone call to the Oxford Mail.
This is The High Street in the Old Town of Hemel Hempstead.
The High Street in Hemel Hempstead has been used in a few Endeavour episodes; Raga (S7E2), Confection (S6E3) and Pylon (S6E1).
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At 41 minutes the funeral of Edwin Bevin. The South Chapel Hendon Cemetery and Crematorium, Holders Hill Rd, London NW7 1NB.
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A quick shot at around 47 minutes.
This is Brasenose Lane.
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After the above shot we are at the flower shop.
The production team have used the same location for the flower shop as they have for the empty shop that Endeavour visits at 34 minutes; The High Street in the Old Town of Hemel Hempstead.
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At around 47 minutes Endeavour arrives at the church where Jim and Joan’s wedding will take place.
All the church and graveyard scenes are at this location.
Thank you to my good friend, Linda Parker, who identified this location. It is St Mary & St Nicholas, Church, Berkshire, Remenham Ln, Henley-on-Thames RG9 3DD.
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Endeavour, at around the 56 minute mark, follows up a call from Ms Frazil.
This is Turl Street, Oxford. Once again, The Oxfam Bookshop has been used as a location.
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At around one hour and two minutes. we get this shot.
This is Catte Street at the Broad Street end.
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Morse’s home shown at one hour and four minutes.
It is a vicarage next to St Paul’s Church, Grove Park Road, Hounslow, London.
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Endeavour is in hospital.
This is same exterior as used in the Endeavour episode, Lazaretto (S4E3).
This is Maidenhead Town Hall.
The same location was used in the Carry On film, Carry On Doctor.
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Endeavour says goodbye to Fred.
This is, of course, Radcliffe Square. Fred is seen walking down St Mary’s Passage.
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Near the end of the episode. Blenheim Palace.
Above two photos from b4-business.com.
PUB LOCATIONS.
I’m not sure if the pub frequented by Sam is a real pub or a studio set.
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At around the one hour and two minute mark we see Jim’s stag night in full swing. UNIDENTIFIED.
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Fred and Endeavour spend one last time in a pub.
This is the The Cross Keys, 57 Black Lion Lane, London, W6 9BG.
Actors who appeared in Exeunt and/or Morse or Lewis or Previous Endeavour episodes.
At 39 minutes we see DC Lott in the police station.
DI Lott played by Danny Webb was in the pilot episode of Endeavour. He also turned up in the pilot episode of the Lewis series as Tom Pollock.
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Charlie, Fred’s brother turns up.
Charlie is played by Phil Daniels who turned up in the Cartouche (S5E2) and Icarus (S5E6) Endeavour episodes.
CONNECTIONS OTHER THAN ACTORS TO THE LEWIS, ORIGINAL MORSE SERIES AND PREVIOUS ENDEAVOUR EPISODES.
At around four minutes we see flashbacks to the Neverland episode of Endeavour.
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At around 16 and a half minutes, Endeavour tells Thursday that Andrew Lewis, the man killed in the first episode, had a cousin in Newcastle, Robert Lewis. This is of course referencing Robert Lewis, Morse’s sergeant.
If we take Kevin Whately’s real year of birth for that of Robert Lewis that would make him, 21 in 1972.
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Fred Thursday talks about a colleague and friend Commander Len Drury. he appeared in the episode Scherzo.
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Bright mentions to Endeavour in the police station around the 19 minute mark that, “Division are to reopen Cowley, under DCI McNutt.” McNutt is the character from the Morse episode, Masonic Mysteries.
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At 23 minutes, Thursday has his ‘turn.’
This happens in the same college quad where Morse collapsed in the episode The Remorseful Day; Exeter College front quad.
This is a bit tenuous. At about 26 minutes we are in the Oxford Mail office and on the wall we can see a front page of the Oxford Mail that reads, ‘Body found near church.’
A reference to the Morse episode, Service of All the Dead?
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At 34 minutes Endeavour is visiting the location of the second call to the Oxford Mail.
We see catalogues for the Burridges store. Burridges was of course seen in the Endeavour episode Sway and then mentioned in the Prelude episode. Endeavour also visits the store to ask about shoes in the prelude episode.
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Another tenuous link. DI Lott introduces his bagman as DC Bennett. Charlie Bennet was a character in the Morse episode, Absolute Conviction. Charlie Bennet ‘murdered’ his wife. Not the same character, of course. As I wrote, a bit tenuous.
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So, we learn that Charlie was not in money trouble from the Cartouche episode. He was told to say that by DI Lott to have something over Fred Thursday. They then called in that marker for Fred to close down the Blenheim Vale investigation.
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In the episode Win hands Endeavour a Wednesday special sandwich. So, we never find out what was between those slices of bread on a Wednesday.
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Endeavour says to Fred Thursday in their final scene, “Goodbye Sir.” The same words said by Lewis as he kissed the forehead of Morse in episode, The Remorseful Day.
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The music played at the end and sung by the choir is Requiem : ‘In Paradisum’ by Gabriel Fauré. This was the music played as Morse collapsed in the episode, The Remorseful Day.
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Jakes mentions during the stag party that he had dated Joan. This was seen in the Endeavour episode, Home.
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At the end we see ‘John Thaw’ as the older Morse.
Here are photos from the Oxford Mail during filming of the above scene.
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At the end of the episode we see Endeavour sing in a choir. In the first episode of Morse, The Dead of Jericho, Morse is seen singing in a choir near the beginning of the episode.
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Blenheim Palace seen at the end of the episode was first seen in the Morse Universe in the episode, The Way Through the Woods. Which co-incidentally was the first episode written by Russell Lewis for the Morse Universe.
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Endeavour is in hospital.
This is same exterior as used in the Endeavour episode, Lazaretto (S4E3).
This is Maidenhead Town Hall.
The same location was used in the Carry On film, Carry On Doctor.