Before I continue, in case you didn’t know, I have written a book on the Endeavour series. It has a colour (color) version, a B&W version and lastly a kindle version.

The book is only available from Amazon and can be purchased on Amazon.com. Click HERE to visit the Amazon page.

I hope this post finds you all well, mentally as well as physically.

Before the post begins please take time to read the following.

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Hello everyone and welcome to a new post and in particular those who don’t follow me on social media.

From the Oxford Mail, 10th May 2024.

New owners of Eagle and Child ready to meet planners.

by Andrew French.

The pub in St Giles, famous for its links with fantasy writers JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis, has now been closed for about four years.

But last year the hostelry was bought from St John’s College by the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT).

The institute, established in Los Angeles by billionaire Larry Ellison, also announced plans for a new laboratory campus at Oxford Science Park.

In February representatives from the institute visited the city and paid a visit to pub, which now needs to be renovated.

EIT chief operating officer Lisa Flashner visited with senior directors Matt Abney and Tom Myers, and enjoyed pints of XT3 West Coast IPA in the Lamb and Flag opposite.

Architects Norman Foster and Partners have been appointed to develop the laboratory campus, due to open in 2026, and Mr Foster is also managing the restoration of the pub.

Due to its poor structural condition and nearly four years of standing empty no date has been given yet for its reopening.

Dave Richardson, of the Oxford branch of real ale group CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ale), said in February the challenge would be to recreate the pub’s original features, including the alcoves at the front and the Rabbit Room where writer’s group the Inklings used to meet, while making the narrow building more welcoming.

The conservatory dining area at the rear, which Ms Flashner described as “horrible”, will be demolished and replaced by a modern addition.

Key to the plans is to open up the rear garden, with access via the passageway up the side as well as through the pub.

Susie Barber, a spokeswoman for the Ellison Institute, said there would be two pre-application meetings with city council planners between now and July, and a meeting with stakeholders would follow in July or August.

The Lamb & Flag on the other side of St Giles closed during Covid but then reopened in October, 2022.

Mr Richardson added: “I know there were delays with renovation work at the Lamb & Flag due to listed building consent issues.

“The Eagle and Child is Grade II listed so I do hope its listed status won’t cause additional delays during the renovation.

“A lot of structural work will be needed because the building is in a poor state after being closed for four years.

“Norman Foster is a renowned architect and no doubt he will be taking into account the pub’s listed status.”

Mr Richardson added: “It’s frustrating for people walking past the pub to see it semi-derelict and I think it could be at least another year before it reopens.

“I hope we will not end up facing endless delays.”

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50 years!!!! Yikes!

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Endeavour star Roger Allam lands next movie role.

Endeavour star Roger Allam has signed on to star in new British mystery movie Promenade.

The actor, best known for playing DCI Fred Thursday in the long-running ITV series, is one of 50 ensemble cast members to appear in the who-dunnit drama set in the seaside town Brighton.

Four Weddings And A Funeral and Downton Abbey actress Anna Chancellor joins Allam on set, in addition to Top Boy’s Malcolm Kamulete.

Anna Chancellor in the Lewis episode, A Gift of Promise.

“In Brighton, on the South coast of England, sharpened by the sting of sea spray, and mellowed by numinous light, a tight-knit community of oddballs and heart-felts live together in a tatty old mansion, the Fletcher Apartments,” teases the synopsis.

“When a golden feather, the priceless antique mascot of the building, unexpectedly disappears, the residents have a mystery to solve. Will they find the talisman that previously bound them together, or will their community, now divided against itself, irrevocably unravel?”

The project has begun shooting, with principal photography commencing this week.

Promenade is written by David Wigram, with filmmaker John Jencks in the directing seat. Jencks is a producer on the upcoming reboot of The Crow starring Bill Skarsgård and previously directed the 2017 comedy The Hippopotamus based on the Stephen Fry novel of the same name.

“Having spent seven years producing a superhero movie, I wanted to direct a film that was the diametric opposite,” said Jencks.

“Promenade is a community-led film with no single hero. It has over 50 characters and 12 stories, tied together with one overarching plot. It all takes place in a block of flats in Brighton and will be one wild ride!”

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John Thaw, suited and booted.

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Photos uploaded to Twitter by John Thaw Archive and Roy Slater. John at RADA.

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Visited the lovely North Berwick in East Lothian, Scotland 21st April and saw this in a shop window. I can’t escape the Morse Universe.

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John in 1977.

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John Thaw, 1970s style.

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My first London home: Roger Allam
The award-winning actor, best known as Fred Thursday in Morse spin-off Endeavour, talks about his life as a born-and-bred Londoner.

Jane Slade, written for The London Magazine, produced by The Chelsea Magazine Company
19 March 2024.

I was born in the East End not long after the war. My father was rector of St Mary Woolnoth and we lived in a rectory in Bromley-by-Bow.

As a small boy I found the house big and scary. It was filled with people. There was my mother and father and two sisters, a curate in the flat above with his family, and a bachelor curate in the basement. So, lots of dog collars under one roof.

We left Bromley-by-Bow in 1959 and moved to a little 1920s house in Luttrell Avenue in Putney, which was a lot cosier. We later moved to a beautiful vicarage on the Broadway in Muswell Hill.

I do like churches. If I’m on holiday I’ll always go into a church. I’m what I call a cultured Christian. I used to sing in the choir in Putney and at Christ’s Hospital School.

My first home after Manchester University was a housing-association flat on Crouch Hall Road in Crouch End in 1978. I had one room, and paid £8 rent and £4 rates a week – it was very cheap.

I then shared a four-bedroom house in 1980 with my then girlfriend and two others at 52 Bouvier Road, overlooking Albany Park and cemetery. It had four bedrooms and we bought it for £25,000 and shared the mortgage. I had joined the RSC so was away quite a lot in Stratford. I had ten years with the RSC, so it was very handy when I was performing in the Barbican.

I now live in East Sheen, where I moved with my wife Rebecca 20 years ago. It’s an Edwardian terrace. The pros are that it’s near Richmond Park, the river and the Wetlands Centre, but the cons are it’s on the South Circular and under the flight path.

I love cooking and eating at home. I got into cooking in the 70s with Robert Carrier’s Great Dishes of the World. I made heart-cloggingly rich food, then got into French cooking and used to bone and stuff a duck and wrap it in pastry – which would take about two days.

Frank and Percy is the first play I’ve done in three years – which is the longest spell not doing theatre in my career. Ian McKellen is an old friend, so it’s lovely working with him. [This show has now closed].

The play does focus on old age, which makes me think about death a lot. My father died when he was just 63 and his brother died at the same age. So I’ve outlived them both so far.

Ticket prices for the theatre are ridiculously expensive. When I started going to the National Theatre at the Old Vic, I could stand for 10p or sit for 15p.

I accepted the role of Fred Thursday in the TV series of Endeavour as I’d never played a character like that before. I did nine series over 11 years. I would have never signed up if I had known it would be that long.

My relationship with Sean (sic) Evans who plays young Morse is the closest I’ve ever had with an actor. I can’t imagine that kind of depth with anyone else.

I’d love to do another series of Murder in Provence – even though we did most of the filming in Didcot. And I’m doing another series of Conversations from a Long Marriage with Joanna Lumley for BBC Radio 4.

I don’t know about reprising The Thick of It. [Roger played MP Paul Mannion] Life is bleaker now. When it started, things were more optimistic, we were in the Blair government. There wasn’t a war in Europe and there wasn’t a cost-of-living crisis, so I don’t know where it would sit now.

I need to keep working. My two children still live at home. My younger son just finished school, and my older one is looking for work as an actor and musician.

Rebecca and I have no plans to downsize or move. I think the way house prices have risen and how they take up a much greater proportion of people’s income is a disaster. Houses have become a financial asset rather than a place to live, which is quite wrong.

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ITV’s Endeavor: What Oxford detective stars are up to now.

Oxford Mail. 4th April. By Edward Burnett.

It is just over one year since the final episode of the Oxford-set series Endeavor was televised.

The TV crime drama lasted for nine seasons on ITV following the success of its first episode on January 2, 2012.

Acting as a prequel to the heavily popular sister shows Morse and Lewis, Endeavour starred Shaun Evans as Inspector Morse and covered his rise in the detective world.

The show finished on March 12, 2023, with its final story being watched by millions of viewers across the country.

With the first anniversary of Endeavor’s conclusion upon us, we decided to take a look at what three major cast members have been up to.

Following on from that, we are now taking a look at what the other stars of the show have been working on since that final episode.

Starring as Endeavor’s top boss, Chief Superintendent Bright, Anton Lesser’s police boss became a familiar yet stern face on our screens.

Anton recently returned to Oxford, where large parts of Endeavour were filmed, to star in a one-night-only adaptation of Red Sky at Sunrise.

Staged at Oxford Playhouse, the show took place on a simple stage with Lesser playing author Laurie Lee, covering his life from his childhood during the First World War to fighting for the Spanish Republican army.

Aside from his professional work, the Game of Thrones actor became a patron of Shipston Home Nursing last year.

The organisation offers an end-of-life service in the homes of patients who would prefer to be in their home surroundings and the actor starred in their Christmas appeal video in 2023.

Another colleague of Inspector Morse, DS Jim Strange, was a staple throughout the ITV crime drama with the character also starring in the original Morse series.

The beloved character was portrayed by Preston-born Sean Rigby throughout Endeavor’s 11-year run on the small screen.

After bidding farewell to Jim, the 34-year-old actor went on to star in two episodes of Apple TV’s Foundation as Nolan Seldon in the sci-fi show’s second season.

A complex saga of humans scattered on planets throughout the galaxy all living under the rule of the Galactic Empire, the show was originally released in 2021.

The resident sawbones on the show, Dr Max Debryn was another longstanding character throughout Endeavour’s lifespan on the television.

Portrayed by James Bradshaw, the police doctor often could be spotted at a crime scene helping Shaun Evans’ Morse determine the cause of death.

Also taking to the stage like Anton Lesser, James starred as Edward in a Mark Gatiss-directed play, The Way Old Friends Do.

The show ran throughout 2023 at London’s Park Theatre and also came to Oxford Playhouse in May of last year.

 

 

That’s all for now. I hope you enjoyed the above. Take care.