List of Endeavour characters
This article is a list of characters appearing in Endeavour, the ITV prequel crime drama, broadcast from 2 January 2012 to 12 March 2023.
[Oxford City Police] CID">Criminal Investigation Department">CID, Cowley">Cowley, Oxfordshire">Cowley Station">Police station">Station
[Detective Constable] (DC) [Endeavour Morse]
Background and personality
The protagonist and main character of the series. Endeavour Morse, played by Shaun Evans, is a twenty-eight-year-old Detective Constable in the Oxford City Police's CID at Cowley Police Station, Oxford. Endeavour grew up in Lincolnshire. His father was a taxi driver and his mother, Constance, died when Endeavour was twelve years old in 1950 when she was twenty nine. His father married a woman named Gwen, whose daughter Joyce "Joycie" is Endeavour's step-sister. Endeavour left Lonsdale College at Oxford University late in his third year without taking a degree as a result of breaking up with a woman from Jericho named Susan. Endeavour spent a short time in the Royal Corps of Signals as a cipher clerk before joining the Carshall-Newtown Police. After spending two years as a Police Constable, Endeavour is transferred to CID as a Detective Constable.In the pilot episode of the series, Morse transfers to the Oxford City Police's CID in 1965 following the coaxing of the Oxford City Police's Cowley Station "guv", veteran DI Fred Thursday, after the young Endeavour successfully solves a double murder case. Throughout the series, Endeavour expresses doubts in staying with the police, and in the Series 2 finale, expresses a desire to possibly leave the force and become a teacher abroad.
Endeavour is highly intelligent and possesses a wealth of knowledge on Oxford and English history, opera and classical music. His favourite opera singer is Rosalind Calloway, a killer whom he helped capture and who ultimately took her own life in the pilot episode. A non-smoker, Morse initially was a teetotaler, before being given a pint of ale by Thursday following his fainting at the sight of an autopsy. By the second series, Morse increased his level of alcohol consumption, particularly in spirits. Morse does not believe in an afterlife. In the episode "Nocturne", he discusses his belief that "death is the end", because he "saw enough of it."
Series 1
While with the Oxford City Police, Morse is taken under the wing of veteran Inspector Thursday. Thursday names Endeavour his designated "bag man" and shows him the ropes as Morse begins to solve a string of complex murders, much to the envy and annoyance of some of his superiors, particularly Detective Sergeant Peter Jakes and Police Chief Superintendent Reginald Bright. Thursday and Morse's fellow officer, Police Constable Strange, try to steer the young Endeavour into taking his Sergeant's exam, so that he may be relieved of "General Duties" and become Thursday's official "bag man" with the appropriate rank and title of a Sergeant. In the final episode of Series 1, Morse is shot during an investigation, around the same time that his father dies. Morse is then put on "light duty" for several months at Oxfordshire Police's Witney Station, under D.I. Bart Church.Series 2
Upon returning to Cowley Station in 1966, Morse is received warmly by Chief Superintendent Bright and Sergeant Jakes, as Inspector Thursday begins to keep a more watchful eye on the young Endeavour. As a result of the shooting, Morse begins to suffer from delayed stress and paranoia, as well as an increase in alcohol consumption at local pubs and in his own city flat. Upon return to active duty, Morse is confronted first by three cases, which he tries to tie in together. Morse makes several mistakes in the investigation, but despite his errors, he solves the cases, impressing his superiors. During the investigation of one case, he is beaten into a concussion and is cared for by his nurse neighbour, Monica Hicks, who becomes his love interest during Series 2. D.I. Thursday's daughter, Joan, begins to take a romantic interest in Endeavour, although unrequited.Morse solves several more complex murder cases and in the series finale, Morse and Thursday are called upon by Assistant Chief Constable Deare to investigate corruption within the Oxford City and Oxfordshire Police forces. After investigating several cases leading to the pillars of Oxford society, the finale of Series 2 ends with Thursday's being shot by ACC Deare, who is in fact the head of the corruption, who succeeds in framing Endeavour for his murder of the Chief Constable and the bilking of evidence. Morse is arrested and placed in a jail cell.
Series 4
In the first episode Morse learns that he has failed his sergeant exams because his papers went missing. Chief Bright suggests that some of Morse’s enemies might be sabotaging his career and advises him to leave Oxford. Morse, however, decides to stay. After having received a call from her, Morse locates Joan in Leamington and asks her to come home which she refuses.In the final episode Morse receives a job offer in London and he considers leaving Oxford. Joan visits Morse when she is hit and kicked out by her boyfriend. He asks her to marry him, which she refuses, and he gives her some money to help her out. Later, Morse is notified when Joan is admitted to hospital following a miscarriage. Having averted a disaster at a nuclear power plant along with Thursday, Morse is awarded the George Medal and promoted detective sergeant in the series finale.
[Detective Inspector] (DI) Frederick Albert Thursday
Background and personality
Fred Thursday is a veteran Detective Inspector and Second World War veteran portrayed by Roger Allam. Thursday served in the North African and Italian Campaigns during the war as a soldier in the British Expeditionary Force after becoming a policeman in London in December 1938. Thursday married his wife, Win, in November 1941, with whom he has two children in their early twenties: Joan and Sam. Thursday is one of the more noble and honourable figures in the series and takes the young Endeavour under his wing, clearly seeing Endeavour's high level of intelligence when it comes to police work. Thursday also keeps Endeavour in line and tries to protect him. Thursday is also highly protective of his family and always avoids corruption and does his best to do what is right and decent. Thursday never talks about his work at home with his family, preferring to "leave work...on the hall stand by the front door".In the pilot episode, after seeing to the removal of a corrupt Detective Sergeant, Thursday persuades young Endeavour Morse to transfer out of the Carshall-Newtown Police and join the Oxford City Police, saying that "The world is long on academics, Morse, but we're short a good detective".
In the original script for the pilot, the character was called DI Bernard Stokes.
Series 1
In the first series, Thursday names Morse his designated "bag man", much to the chagrin of DS Jakes and to the annoyance of the very procedural CS Bright. In the second episode, Thursday tries to get Morse to accept "General Duties" until he can pass his sergeants exam and be given more leeway, explaining to Morse that he needs more experience by saying he was a good detective, "...but a poor policeman. No one can teach you the first, but any fool can learn the second". Still, Thursday tries to convince CS Bright of Morse's obvious intelligence and superiority to make his superiors more accepting of the young Endeavour. In the series finale, it is revealed that Thursday was originally an officer in the Metropolitan Police Service in London during the earlier half of his career, but relocated himself and his family to Oxford and transferred to the Oxford City Police after an officer working under his wing in London was killed in a beating gone too far by East London gangsters, aiming to take revenge upon Thursday. Thursday then saves Morse's life by shooting and killing a murderer who shot Morse.Series 2
In the second series, Thursday displays more of a fatherly role toward Morse and explains his worry for the young detective to his wife, Winifred 'Win', particularly when Morse begins to show signs of delayed stress and increased alcohol consumption. Thursday and Morse solve several complex cases together. In the third episode, it is revealed that shortly after he was married, during the Italian Campaign of WWII, Thursday had a love affair with a young Italian woman who he thought was murdered by the Nazis. When she surfaces as a department store clerk in Oxford, Thursday begins seeing the woman again, but does not engage in any impropriety. The woman kills herself due to grief in betraying her family during the war, which crushes Thursday who still loved her despite being married.In the Series 2 finale, Morse and Thursday are called upon by ACC Deare to investigate rampant corruption within the Oxford City Police, the Oxfordshire Police, and the Town Hall. At the same time, as part of streamlining in the Thames Valley Police merger, Bright suggests that Thursday either retires or becomes a Training Officer, in part due to his age and high blood pressure. Thursday mulls the idea over. Finally, in a set up headed by ACC Deare, the head of the corruption, Thursday is shot in the chest trying to rescue a young boy who witnessed a murder and was ultimately kidnapped by corrupt officers. Thursday's last few lines include his affirmation that it is not about him, but about the people he is sworn to protect and serve. Thursday ends his affirmation before being shot by saying to Morse, "I was born a copper, and I'll die one." Morse administers to the critically wounded Thursday until an ambulance arrives. The episode ends with Thursday's family waiting in their home for the phone to ring, bringing news of Thursday's condition. The finale ends with no news as to Thursday's condition, which appears grave, or as to whether or not he lives or dies.