Premieres Sundays, June 18 - July 2, 2023 at 9 p.m. on KPBS TV / PBS App / Stream Seasons 1 - 8 now with KPBS Passport!
The curtain drops on the acclaimed detective series, portraying the early years of brooding, gifted Sergeant Endeavour Morse of Thames Valley police in Oxford. Shaun Evans (Vigil) stars in the title role, with Roger Allam (Murder in Provence) as his streetwise superior, DCI Fred Thursday. ENDEAVOUR, THE FINAL SEASON brings this hit series to a close in three suspenseful episodes on MASTERPIECE, Sundays, June 18 - July 2, 2023 on PBS. “Morse and The Last Endeavour,” a documentary looking back at Endeavour, will air prior to the final series on Sunday, June 11.
Inspired by MASTERPIECE’s 1987-2000 series Inspector Morse, starring John Thaw, and based on Colin Dexter’s bestselling mysteries, ENDEAVOUR turns back the clock to explore the making of this matchless detective, who spurns his first name to go by just “Morse.” Endeavour first aired in 2012 and has earned a devoted following for Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, and the other principal actors.
The ensemble cast includes Anton Lesser (KILLING EVE) as CS Reginald Bright, the exacting head of Oxford’s Castle Gate Police Station; Sean Rigby (GUNPOWDER) as Morse’s friend, colleague, and romantic rival DS Jim Strange; James Bradshaw (CLOSE TO THE ENEMY) as the punctilious police pathologist, Dr. Max DeBryn; and Abigail Thaw (MISS SCARLET AND THE DUKE) as Morse’s journalist confidante, Dorothea Frazil.
Also featured are Caroline O’Neill (THE A WORD) as Thursday’s devoted wife, Win; Sara Vickers (WATCHMEN) as his daughter, Joan, who is the secret object of Morse’s infatuation; and Jack Bannon ("The Imitation Game") as Thursday’s troubled son, Sam.
The ninth and final season opens in spring 1972 with DS Morse rejoining the force after an extended leave to treat his drinking problem, brought on by overwork and personal troubles. His first case immerses him in a world he loves—orchestral music—where the performances are divine, but the personnel can be petty, dictatorial, and even homicidal.
Also in episode 1, which is directed by Evans, Morse and Thursday investigate a gangland slaying targeting a police informant, known to Thursday. As viewers have learned to expect, the surprising amount of mayhem in Oxford is often connected. With growing dread, Morse and Thursday face the prospect that the unresolved Blenheim Vale child abuse scandal from season 2 has resurfaced. In that story, Thursday was shot, and Morse was framed for murder, ending up under arrest. Now the loose ends are starting to intertwine.
Episode 2 opens with some cases left hanging, followed by a confounding series of new deaths, centered on a group of rowdy aristocratic students and a popular TV crime series, currently in production in the area. Meanwhile, the romantic plot involving Joan Thursday is accelerating toward the altar, even as her ex-soldier brother, Sam, descends into drug abuse and despair.
In episode 3 it all comes together: the Blenheim Vale affair, Joan's wedding, and the whole glorious nine seasons of one of the most beguiling and riveting prequels in television history.
Reviews:
Critics abroad praised ENDEAVOUR, with Mark Lawson of The Guardian UK describing this final series as “a perfect end to one of the classiest vehicles in TV crime drama.”
Giving the The Final Season five stars, The London Times, UK described the ending as “classy, poignant” while The Sydney Morning Herald said it is “a mesmeric masterwork”
EPISODE GUIDE:
Episode 1: "Prelude" premieres Sunday, June 18, 2023 from 9-11 p.m. on KPBS TV - An orchestra soiree, a much-anticipated performance and an abandoned warehouse are scenes for a trio of deaths. Morse’s investigation turns up an unsettling connection to the past. Thursday gets a tempting offer, as does Joan.
Episode 2: "Uniform" premieres Sunday, June 25, 2023 from 9-11 p.m. on KPBS TV - A gang of entitled college students runs riot. But are they behind a rash of lethal mayhem? Morse makes a date with Joan, then starts digging up an old crime scene.
Episode 3: "Exeunt" premieres Sunday, July 2, 2023 from 9-11 p.m. on KPBS TV - Someone is placing death notices for people not yet dead. As preparations for Joan’s wedding proceed, the shocking Blenheim Vale case reaches a climax.
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Credits:
A co-production of Mammoth Screen and MASTERPIECE in association with ITV Studios for ITV. The executive producers are Roger Allam, Shaun Evans, Russell Lewis, Damien Timmer and Helen Ziegler. The executive producers for MASTERPIECE are Susanne Simpson and Rebecca Eaton. The producer is Charlotte Webber. The series is based on the novels by Colin Dexter, and written and created for television by Russell Lewis. The directors are Shaun Evans, Nirpal Bhogal, and Kate Saxon.
“Final seasons are especially difficult,” says Susanne Simpson, Executive Producer of MASTERPIECE. “Our audience loves this series, as well as Inspector Morse and Lewis that preceded it. I can promise that these episodes are a beautiful and brilliant ending to this beloved show.”
Charlotte Webber, producer for Mammoth Screen says, ”It has been a real privilege, but ever so bittersweet, to bring this much loved series to a close. These final three films are testament to the complexity, the intricacy and the tenderness of Russell Lewis’s writing, and Shaun, Roger and all our magnificent cast have brought these concluding stories to life in full technicolour.”
