Endeavour

Following a promising pilot last January, Endeavour begins its first full run this Sunday (ITV1 at 8pm). Since Inspector Morse came to an end in 2000, a few attempts to duplicate its hugely successful formula have floated across our screens. The two most direct heirs to the Morse legacy are of course Lewis, which centres around the irascible detective’s former sidekick, and now Endeavour. Endeavour, set in the mid-1960s, picks up young Morse’s story at the beginning, just as he is setting out on his journey to become Oxfordshire’s grumpiest detective.

Shaun Evans doesn’t look much like he’s going to grow up to be the late John Thaw. He’s constructed more along the ‘young Julian Rhind-Tutt’ pattern.

He’s a pleasant enough lead, though, and he’s ably supported. Roger Allam, one of those actors you can’t help but take to, even when he’s playing a villain, is DI Fred Thursday, the older copper who takes young Morse under his wing. Anton Lesser, who by no fault of his own seems a touch sinister in even the most sympathetic roles, is Chief Superintendent Bright.

This first episode of the series also sees the introduction of Morse’s future boss, Chief Superintendent (but presently just Constable) Strange. It’s a playful nod to those of us who were devoted to the original series. It’s one of quite a few. In fact, if I have a criticism of Endeavour, it’s that it’s rather too interested in foreshadowing the original Morse series.

For a start, it seems scarcely credible that he could afford to run that Jag on a constable’s salary. And opera and crosswords already seem to be well embedded in the Morse psyche. It’s hard to see where this character has room to develop.

That doesn’t matter too much when things start rolling, though. We wanted more Morse, and we’ve got more Morse. There’s a series of interconnected murders that only Morse’s steel-trap mind can solve. And Morse, over the course of about an hour and a half, solves them. It’s terrific fun, everyone’s good at their craft, and the mid-1960s touches are a delight. Perfect Sunday night TV in fact. If a shade long.

Another new offering from ITV this week, and another show that perhaps could have done with a judicious trim before transmission, is The Security Men (Friday at 9pm). It’s a one-off workplace comedy. About security guards. And, specifically, security men. There isn’t a female voice to be heard in this show. That doesn’t automatically make it terrible TV. However, despite a script by Caroline Aherne, it really is a touch too blokey for its own good at a few points.

The ambitious plot doesn’t have time to breathe in the course of the hour, and yet the comedy feels as if it needs to be corseted into a more traditional half-hour sitcom shape. There are funny moments but the cast, and the idea, deserved better.