Shaun Evans – Sergeant Endeavour Morse
Who does he play?
The younger version of John Thaw’s Inspector Morse from the original TV series, Evans’ Morse starts the new series as a desk sergeant in Woodstock, Oxford, desperately hoping to return to CID.
“At the end of last season we all go our separate ways,” Evans told RadioTimes.com from the set of the new series.
“And then it picks up, I’m in the countryside in my own little station, back in uniform. “
Where do I know him from?
Endeavour is by far Evans’ best known role, though he has also appeared in Teachers, Silk, Ashes to Ashes and The Scandalous Lady W among other productions. He is also a director, and helmed the second episode of this year’s series after previously directing two episodes of Casualty.
“It was the first thing I’d directed that I was in,” Evans said.
“So that brought with it its own challenges, but made it quite economical and efficient as well.”
Roger Allam – Detective Inspector Fred Thursday
Who does he play?
Morse’s former boss and mentor, Thursday has been bumped down a rank following the events of the last series and has trouble at home, leaving him open to the bad influence of new boss DCI Box.
“Thursday is at a new station where he’s been bumped down a rank, and he’s under the command of Box, who’s a younger, aggressive Sweeney-type, shall we say,” Allam told us.
“So things are not good in Thursday land, really,” he concluded.
Where do I know him from?
Allam is a longtime veteran of stage and screen, appearing in the likes of Ashes to Ashes, Game of Thrones, The Missing, Parade’s End, The Missing, The Book Thief, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and The Lady in the Van in the last few years alone. He also once appeared in a 1987 episode of Inspector Morse, and narrates popular children’s TV show Sarah & Duck.
Anton Lesser – Chief Superintendent Reginald Bright
Who does he play?
Morse and Thursday’s former boss, Bright has been exiled to a demoralising job organising Oxford’s traffic provisions, while personal issues threaten his entire way of life.
“It’s a big comedown for him, a big shift,” Lesser said on the Endeavour set.
“Because his authority has been completely undermined now he’s been reduced to organising traffic. It’s a real challenge for him personally, and he has to take a back seat in everything.
“He has to be subjugated to the very people who he regards as having no integrity, and being the new world of policing, which is without the rigour and care that he has been part of.”
Where do I know him from?
Lesser is probably best known now for his role as the villainous Qyburn in Game of Thrones (a part he will reprise in the upcoming final series), though he’s also had major roles in The Crown, On Chesil Beach, Disobedience, Wolf Hall, Ripper Street, Dickensian, The Hollow Crown and Agatha Christie’s Poirot in recent years.
Sean Rigby – Detective Sergeant Jim Strange
Who does he play?
A younger version of Morse’s boss from the original Inspector Morse series, Strange is still rising through the ranks at the time of Endeavour – and in the latest series, he begins to make the connections that will facilitate his future success.
“Nothing’s really great for anyone, except probably Strange to a degree,” co-star Roger Allam said of Rigby’s character in the new series.
“He seems on the up.”
Where do I know him from?
Rigby has also appeared in BBC historical drama Gunpowder, as well as short films Isabella, The Baby Shower and Crossing Seas.
Sara Vickers – Joan Thursday
Who does she play?
The daughter of Fred and Win, Joan also has a complex romantic history with Morse. In the new series, she’s taken a job in social services, bringing her into contact with Fred and Morse more regularly.
Where do I know her from?
Scottish actor Vickers has also appeared in The Crown, Shetland, Privates, Taggart, Man Down, Lovesick, Breaking and The Alienist among other projects. She’s also set to star in the new TV adaptation of classic comic-book Watchmen when it debuts in 2019.
Simon Harrison – Detective Chief Inspector Ronnie Box
Who does he play?
A hotheaded former robbery detective who appeared in the last series, Box is Thursday’s new boss, and tries to tempt the older detective into his less by-the-book methods of policing.
“Thursday’s under the command of Box, who’s a younger, aggressive Sweeney-type, shall we say,” Roger Allam said of Harrison’s character.
“They are very much representing that 1970s feel of a different way of policing,” added producer Deanne Cunningham.
“Its more rough-and-ready, flying squad style, and totally anathema to Morse and Fred.”
Where do I know him from?
As noted above, Harrison played Box in the third episode of Endeavour series five with a very different look.
He’s also appeared in series including Fearless, Outlander (where he played George Washington), Grantchester, Humans and Doctors, and films like Transformers: The Last Knight and London Has Fallen.
Richard Riddell – Detective Sergeant Alan Jago
Who does he play?
Box’s right-hand man, Jago takes part in all sorts of shady policing activities with his boss.
Where do I know him from?
The ever-busy Riddell has appeared in series including Bodyguard, Curfew, The Terror, Barbarians Rising, Scott & Bailey, Penny Dreadful, Merlin and Misfits among many others. Film roles have included parts in Robin Hood, Legend and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Abigail Thaw – Dorothea Frazil
Who does she play?
Editor of the real-life Oxford Mail newspaper, Frazil is a talented journalist who has developed a friendship with Morse.
Where do I know her from?
Thaw has appeared in the likes of Black Mirror, Love Soup, I Want my Wife Back, Doctors, Casualty and The Bill over the years, but she’s also known for being the daughter of original Morse actor John Thaw. Her character’s name is actually a play on her own surname, with De-Frazil meaning to de-ice, or thaw something.
James Bradshaw – Dr Max DeBryn
Who does he play?
The Home Office Pathologist, Dr DeBryn has a wry sense of humour, and appeared as an older man in early episodes of the original Inspector Morse series played by Peter Woodthorpe.
Where do I know him from?
Bradshaw is best known for playing Gordon Grimley in The Grimleys, as well as his current role as DS Geoff Thorpe in Hollyoaks. He has also appeared in Primeval, EastEnders, Coronation Street, Heartbeat, Close to the Enemy and Mile High among other programmes.
Caroline O’Neill – Win Thursday
Who does she play?
The wife of Roger Allam’s Fred, Win has become estranged from her husband after he lost their savings in the previous series.
Where do I know her from?
O’Neill has appeared in Doc Martin, Queer as Folk, Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax, Lewis, EastEnders, Coronation Street and Grange Hill among other series.
And finally…where’s WPC Trewlove?
Sadly, Dakota Blue Richards’ character Shirley Trewlove has departed Endeavour after series five, which saw her boyfriend George (Lewis Peek) gunned down in a gangland incident.
“This is the end of Trewlove for now – Dakota told us she wanted to leave at the beginning of last year, so we planned series five to give her the arc,” executive producer Damien Timmer told RadioTimes.com.
“But the door is always open for return appearances!” Timmer added.
Episode 1 additional cast list
ACC Bottoms Colin Tierney
Dr Lester Sheridan Roger May
Maggie Skynner Katharine Bubbear
Alfred Skynner Tom Canton
Stanley Clemence Aston McAuley
Ernest Croglin Mike Grady
Ann Kirby Ava Masters
Wizard Ed Coleman
Karen Kirby Fiona Skinner
Mick Haynes Khali Best
The Rev Postill Hugh Sachs
Mr Tingwell Simon Hepworth
Emily Bayard Elizabeth Wells
Joseph Kirby Daniel Boys
Viv Wall Alison Newman
Laurel Skynner Holly Giles
Chris Kit Young
Gilbert Sipkin Adam De Ville
Rhapsody Dickenson Lindsey Campbell
Rosie Johnston Abby Barnes
Endeavour airs on ITV on Sundays at 8.00pm
from Radio Times http://bit.ly/2RJPRXa
