Everything you need to know about the return of ITV’s Inspector Morse prequel, starring Shaun Evans as young Endeavour Morse and Roger Allam as DI Fred Thursday.
It’s been a while since Endeavour Morse and Fred Thursday last appeared on our screens but there’s good news for fans of the ITV drama – series eight is set to premiere this autumn!
ITV confirmed the news in July and shared a first-look picture of a pensive Morse and a serious-looking Thursday in Endeavour series eight.
Not long to wait now! https://t.co/1erbux5b8N
— Endeavour (@EndeavourTV) July 23, 2021
Filming on the upcoming season finished in June, with the three feature-length episodes expected to air on ITV later on in the year.
Shaun Evans, who stars as the titular detective sergeant, is set to direct one of the episodes, which will follow Morse and Thursday in the aftermath of catching the Towpath Killer and the figure behind the recent string of “freak accidents”.
*Warning: spoilers ahead for Endeavour series seven*
Read on for everything we know so far about Endeavour series eight, which characters are likely to reappear and what happened at the end of series seven.
Endeavour series eight release date
We finally have a rough airdate for Endeavour series eight and luckily for Morse fans, it’s a lot sooner than expected.
Endeavour’s eighth series will feature in ITV’s autumn line-up, with the three-parter airing in the next month months.
It was announced in April 2021 that filming had begun on Endeavour season eight, with series lead Shaun Evans also directing the first of the three films.
ITV had already confirmed there would be a series eight, breaking the news before filming began on series seven.
!["Endeavour]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2020/02/END8_film-1_D1___412-6e55d02.jpeg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413" "\"Endeavour")
Speaking to RadioTimes.com ahead of the series seven launch date, Shaun Evans also spoke about future plans for another series, when he confirmed that the character Joan Thursday (Endeavour’s love interest in the earlier seasons), who was absent from the most recent series, will “definitely be back, she’s part of the family”.
Director Kate Saxon announced on Twitter in June 2021 that filming for the “final slate” had wrapped, so hopefully we’ll see season eight premiere later this year or at the beginning of 2022.
It’s a wrap! The final slate for this series of @EndeavourTV – #Endeavour Thanks for having me @mammothscreen pic.twitter.com/U17BkC9iuq
— Kate Saxon ???? (@SaxonKate) June 11, 2021
What happened at the end of Endeavour season seven?
Endeavour’s three-part seventh series finished with a sombre final scene, set against a night-time Venetian backdrop. Throughout the series, Morse and his mentor Fred Thursday were at odds over the “Towpath Killer,” a serial killer whom the Oxford City police were struggling to trace, and also whether or not a series of local freak accidents were, in fact, the work of another serial killer (Endeavour was convinced of foul play, but Fred disagreed).
In episode three, tensions between the two detectives reached boiling point, and long-unspoken resentments – Endeavour’s superiority complex, Fred’s more old-fashioned policing techniques – were finally aired, as the pair hurled insults at each other (while standing over a corpse, we might add) until the usually well-mannered pathologist Dr Max DeBryn had to break them up.
!["MAMMOTH]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2020/02/endeavour_ep_3_19-178a1b7-scaled.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413" "\"endeavour_ep_3_19\"")
Endeavour vowed to transfer to another police department, but in the meantime he continued to follow leads regarding the freak accidents – which led to him and DS Jim Strange accidentally discovering and apprehending the towpath killer, who turned out to be the same man whom Fred had suspected all along, despite Endeavour’s doubts.
A more contrite Endeavour headed off to Venice, after finally working out that the deadly freak accidents were being caused by his new friend, Ludo (whose wife, Violetta, Endeavour was having an affair with). There was a final moonlit showdown, in which Fred turned up just in the nick of time – before Violetta took a bullet for Endeavour, and he was last seen cradling her as she died.
Confused? Don’t worry, so were we – you can read our full explainer piece here, which includes all the questions we need resolving in series eight.
Endeavour season eight cast
It’s highly likely that we’ll see the return of Shaun Evans as Endeavour, and Roger Allam as Fred Thursday. We’ll also probably see Joan Thursday (Sara Vickers), following her absence from series seven.
We’ll also hopefully see other supporting characters return, including Anton Lesser as Chief Superintendent Reginald Bright, Sean Rigby as Detective Sergeant Jim Strange, and Abigail Thaw as journalist Dorothea Frazil.
Endeavour season eight trailer
Not yet, but we’ll update this page as soon as one materialises.
Visit our TV Guide to discover what else you can watch tonight, or find all the latest news on our Drama hub.