Forever ‘Endeavour’

Inspector Endeavour Morse returns in season seven for more quaint British murder, in quaint British fashion.

The timeline still reflects the period during the 60s and 70s, with the emphasis on the dawn of a new decade, on the eve of 1969.

The core team is the same with Roger Allam as chief inspector Fred Thursday leading the gang; Sea Rigby and Jim Strange who work as extra hands on investigations; and Anton Lesser back as station commander chief superintendent Bright.

Most of the supporting cast return for this next segment of the young detective’s life, with the only exclusion being Sara Vickers, who played Thursday’s daughter. Abigail Thaw is back as the journalist in sleepy Oxford, Caroline O’Niell as Win Thursday, and James Bradshaw as the medical examiner Dr Max DeBryn.

The series also sees the directorial debut of Shaun Evans, who clearly sets out his credentials in the first episode.

Lovers of vintage crime drama will not be disappointed in the this season’s offering, which promises to provide, as in previous seasons, an overall plot line interspersed with episodic crimes and the mysteries of Oxford.

With the change of year, a change of crime also appears. The series introduces its first serial killer – a whistling man that attacks young women when they travel along a lonely path down the canal of the town. This is to be known as the ‘Tow Path Killer’.

Morse also falls in love! However, things turn out to be not as they would appear. Attached to this new love is another twist, a newly made friend from Morse’s days at Oxford. This is presented as an Italian tragedy, with the finale playing out in Venice, where it all began.

Lovers of classical music should still enjoy the background dramatics of the series, with opera and famous classical compositions part of the music score.

The series does not make reference to any of the unsolved crimes in previous seasons, like the death of inspector George Fancy from season five. It would seem that a new direction was taken, to advance the story further. This also changed the norm of the series length, where a season had four episodes before, this one has only three.

With season seven only recently aired, an eighth has been commissioned for production later this year, staying true to the early airing in the new year.

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