‘Endeavour’ is a British detective drama television series. There is a prequel to the long-running Inspector Morse series. Shaun Evans portrays Endeavour Morse, a young detective constable who rose through the ranks of the Oxford City Police CID to become a detective sergeant. Endeavour is the third instalment in the Inspector Morse series, following the original (1987–2000) and its spin-off, Lewis (2006–2015).
With the exception of 2015, after a pilot episode in 2012 set in 1965, the first series was shown in 2013, likewise set in 1965, and five more series followed. The second series took place in 1966, while the third and fourth series took place in 1967. The fifth series, which aired for six episodes in 1968, was followed by the sixth series, which aired eight months later in 1969. The first episode of the seventh season, set in 1970, aired on Masterpiece Theatre on August 9, 2020, but series seven didn’t begin broadcasting until February of the following year.
The premiere date for Endeavour Season 8 has been set.
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Endeavour’s eighth season will premiere on ITV in the United Kingdom on September 12, 2021. Episodes are available on the ITV Hub (opens in new tab). The eighth season of Endeavour began on PBS in the United States on June 19.
What is the plot of Season 8 of Endeavour?
The eighth season of Endeavour, according to ITV, premieres in 1971 and follows Oxford Wanderers’ top scorer Jack Swift, who is the target of a death threat. Following that, Endeavour and his crew are forced into the glitz and glamour of 1970s football, showing the true cost of fame and achievement. They will also reveal a widespread division that is echoed much closer to home.
Meanwhile, Endeavour is heavily drinking alcohol as he mourns the loss of Violetta, his married sweetheart, who died at the end of the previous season.
“Violetta died a few months ago, and he’s still experiencing problems, but he’s trying not to show it. However, as the series progresses, it becomes evident that he is having difficulty. Overconsumption of alcohol and numbness are indicators of a deeper problem.” “I was excited to unpick that more in this series,” says Shaun Evans, the show’s lead.
Season 8, Episode 1
Striker: Despite being exhausted by the previous year’s events, there is no possibility of “light duty” at the CID in January 1971. Endeavour, crestfallen and with a scotch in hand, finds himself right back in the thick of things when a tragic murder at an Oxford institution has severe political ramifications. After the IRA threatened his life, Endeavour was charged with serving as the top striker of Oxford Wanderers’ bodyguard.
Season 8, Episode 2
Scherzo: The year is 1971, and the season is summer. Endeavour and the team are called in to investigate the death of a taxi driver in his vehicle on the outskirts of Oxford. Following a recent run of attacks on cab drivers, the team is afraid that an assault has evolved into a murder, and that the people of Oxfordshire are now at the mercy of the murderer. In the meantime, Endeavour has a visitor who brings up bad memories for him.
Season 8, Episode 3
Terminus: In the winter of 1971, the squad is called in to investigate the cruel and bizarre death of an Oxford college don. When Thursday makes an unexpected discovery, Endeavour’s ability to work on the investigation is jeopardised, and he is pushed aside. Thursday and Win’s domestic situation grows tense when they receive distressing news from abroad. Despite the fact that he is not on duty, Endeavour follows a lead and uncovers a complicated scheme that far exceeds his wildest expectations.
Season 8 of Endeavour’s cast
Detective Sergeant Endeavour Morse is played by Shaun Evans.
Endeavour, the famous detective played by John Thaw in the popular Inspector Morse series, has a younger doppelganger. Despite his intelligence, he sometimes struggles to match DI Fred Thursday, his mentor and boss, when it comes to tact and common sense.
Joan Thursday, Fred’s daughter, who did not appear in Series 7 but will return in Series 8, was another woman Morse had a crush on.
Detective Inspector Fred is played by Roger Allam. Thursday
Fred, Morse’s usual supervisor and mentor, is married to Win. The pair had a falling out after he lost their savings in series five, but they subsequently reconciled. We watched them enjoying the New Year and the decade at the start of Series 7. (the 1970s).
- Chief Superintendent Reginald Bright is played by Anton Lesser.
- Last season, Reginald, Fred and Morse’s boss, was relegated to a gloomy job handling Oxford’s traffic provisions, but he was just reinstated. His wife, on the other hand, is still battling cancer and finding it challenging.
- Detective Sergeant Jim Strange is played by Sean Rigby.
- Strange is a friend, coworker, and former roommate of Morse, and is the younger version of Morse’s employer from the first Inspector Morse series.
- Joan is played by Sara Vickers on Thursday.
- Joan is the daughter of Fred Thursday, a social worker. She didn’t make an appearance in Series 7, but she will in Series 8. She used to be in love with Morse, but could Jim Strange be the one for her now?
- Dorothea Frazil is played by Abigail Thaw.
- Dorothea is the editor of the real-life Oxford Mail newspaper and a staunch supporter of women’s rights. Over the course of the series, she and Morse have become friends.
- Dr. Max DeBryn is played by James Bradshaw.
- Max is the Home Office Pathologist, a younger version of a character who first appeared in the first few episodes of the original Inspector Morse series (played by Peter Woodthorpe).
- Caroline O’Neill is in the game Win Thursday.
- Joan is Fred’s wife and the mother of their daughter.
- Jack Swift is played by Julian Moore-Cook.
- After the IRA issues a death threat on Oxford Wanderers’ leading scorer Jack Swift, Morse is tasked with protecting him.
- Professor Stamfield is played by Andrew Havill.
- Professor Stamfield is the dean of an Oxford college, and his secretary is killed when she opens a bomb-laden box addressed to him.
Trailer
“I’m here to make sure justice is done,” Morse proclaims in the Season 8 trailer, which sees the Oxford investigator and his colleagues on the lookout for more killings in 1971. Detective Chief Inspector Fred Thursday (Roger Allam), their now widowed employer Chief Superintendent Reginald Bright (Anton Lesser), and Detective Sergeant Jim Strange are all back as his loyal senior officer/father figure (Sean Rigby).
Other recurring characters include pathologist Max DeBryn (James Bradshaw), newspaper editor Dorothea Frazil (Abigail Thaw), and Thursday’s wife Win (Caroline O’Neill) and daughter Joan (Sara Vickers), whom Morse has lusted over since the mid-’60s. Joan was noticeably absent from Season 7 due to the actress’s actual pregnancy.
Morse had a passionate love that ended tragically in those 1970s episodes. In Episode 1, “Striker,” he performs bodyguard to a soccer star whose life is in jeopardy, and while still hurting from the loss, he seeks solace in booze. In episode 2, “Scherzo,” the group investigates the death of a cab driver, which leads them to a nudist enclave. In the third and final episode, “Terminus,” Morse and Thursday are separated by an investigation into the death of a college acquaintance during extreme winter weather.
