Endeavour is a British crime drama television series devised by Russell Lewis as a prequel to the long-running adaptation of Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse novels which follows the eponymous police detective in his early career as he conducts his dogged, incorruptible pursuit of justice from the shadows of Oxford and the fringes of the police force.
Set in mid to late-1960s Oxford, England, the series centres on the early career of Endeavour Morse (Shaun Evans) after leaving Lonsdale College of Oxford University late in his third year without taking a degree, spending a short time in the Royal Corps of Signals as a cipher clerk, and then joining the Carshall-Newtown Police.
In the pilot episode, having been transferred to CID after only two years as a uniformed police constable, the young DC Morse soon becomes disillusioned with law enforcement and begins writing a resignation letter.
However, before he can resign, Morse is sent with other detectives from the Carshall-Newtown Police to the Oxford City Police's Cowley Police Station to assist in investigating the case of a missing fifteen-year-old schoolgirl.
Having studied at Oxford gives Morse advantages and disadvantages when dealing with Oxford's "town and gown" divide.
During the pilot episode, he tenders his resignation but his superior, veteran Detective Inspector Fred Thursday (Roger Allam), the "gov" at the Oxford City Police's CID, sees in him an unblemished detective whom he can trust and takes him under his wing to be his new "bag man" meaning assistant, replacing a corrupt Detective Sergeant.
Broadcast Notes
The series premiered in the UK on ITV on 14 April, 2013, preceded by a prequel in 2012 which served as a pilot episode to the series.