I meant to write about this show when I found out about it, weeks ago. You know what they say about putting off until tomorrow…
Short notice, but tonight, on your local PBS stations, Masterpiece Mystery will be airing Endeavor. For those of you who are Inspector Morse fans, you will know that his first name, although highly guarded, was actually revealed as >>> you guessed it! >>> Endeavor. Morse’s mother had been a Quaker, and assigned this very big name to her little baby, something he never quite grew into. Thus, everyone called him Morse. (That was years ago, before it became commonplace for people to name their babies with such unusual names.)
This 1 1/2 hour Masterpiece Mystery episode stars Shaun Adams as Morse, the young version of the Morse many of us “knew” as John Thaw’s portrayal. Inspector Morse was an opera-loving, Oxford-educated man, who enjoyed working the most difficult crossword puzzles while listening to the most beautiful classical music, sipping the finest liquor. (Oh, and he never met a beautiful woman he didn’t want to know better! Even though she might be a suspect in his current murder investigation…)
Yes, I guess I do sound like what I am: a Colin Dexter fan! Although he doesn’t write Cozy Mystery books, his Inspector Morse books are some of the very finest police procedural mystery books I have ever read. And, of course, I am like many in that I have seen every one of the Inspector Morse television mystery shows, at least once.
So, go set up your mode of taping OR make sure you are sitting in front of your television tonight, with it set on your local PBS station’s channel, and get ready to be introduced to a young Endeavor Morse, before he owned his beloved red Jaguar.
PS >>> Watch for John Thaw’s daughter – Abigail – playing the part of a very busy newspaper editor. The editor is being questioned by Endeavor, while she is trying to get work done at her desk. She asks his name, hears it, and finally looks up to see him and ask him if they have ever met. He says no, to which she replies “Another life then.”