Endeavour: Series Two Now In Production

Good news, British mystery fans! Filming has begun on the second series of Endeavour, the hit Inspector Morse prequel.

Shaun Evans (The Take, The Last Weekend) returns to telly as Detective Constable Endeavour Morse, who will be investigating cases in 1966 Oxford alongside his boss, Detective Inspector Fred Thursday (Roger Allam, The Thick of It, Parade’s End).

Also returning are Anton Lesser as Chief Superintendent Bright, James Bradshaw as pathologist Dr. Max DeBryn, Jack Laskey as DS Peter Jakes, Sean Rigby as PC Jim Strange, and Abigail Thaw (daughter of John Thaw, who played Inspector Morse) as newspaper editor Dorothea Frazil.

The second series of Endeavour will be comprised of four two-hour films written by Inspector Morse contributor Russell Lewis. Colin Dexter, creator of the Endeavour Morse character featured in his Inspector Morse novels, will again serve as a consultant to Mammoth Screen, the producers of Endeavour.

Lewis, who also serves as Executive Producer of Endeavour, said:

“1966 brings Endeavour a fresh quartet of baffling mysteries set to test his brain and body to breaking point. Though offset by the possibility of love unlooked for, against a backdrop of growing change in Britain and the wider world, Endeavour must face a challenge that threatens to take from him all he holds dear… Family. Friends. Colleagues. The old order changeth… but not without a fight. To the death.”

In “Trove,” the first episode, “a visiting beauty queen prepares to relinquish her throne. A father laments a missing daughter. Anglo-Saxon treasures are violated. And across the city, a detective returns to duty… When an unknown man plummets to his death, the investigation brings Detective Constable Endeavour Morse back into action. The young detective unearths secrets in the very bowels of the university and far beyond the city. But he must act quickly, as the body count rises and doomsday beckons…”

Ooh, sounds positively thrilling, doesn’t it?

Look for Endeavour: Series Two to premiere in the UK sometime in 2014 on ITV, where Series One was one of the top-rated dramas this year. It’s too early yet to know if and when the program will make its U.S. debut, but fingers crossed that it does, and on PBS’ Masterpiece: Mystery!, which aired both the Endeavour feature-length made-for-TV film and first series.

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