Fans of ITV1's detective drama Endeavour, which is a prequel to Inspector Morse and follows the life of young Inspector Morse at the beginning of his career, have one more series to enjoy before the show ends. Series nine is set to follow Endeavour as two unexplained deaths seem to lead to the Oxford Concert Orchestra, while a body discovered in a derelict warehouse stokes fears that ‘London business’ involving the criminal underworld has again found its way to Oxford.
Series nine of Endeavour will begin at 8pm on Sunday, February 26, on ITV1 but what happened in the last series? If you need to catch up on the events of series eight of Endeavour before series nine begins, read on. You can keep up to date with the latest TV and showbiz news by signing up to the newsletter here.
At the end of series eight Endeavour finally admits and accepts he has an alcohol addiction after he was drunk on the same bus as a man who was murdered and didn't know. He goes away for a couple of months to recover and returns to series nine sober.
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Endeavour also shares some moving scenes with Joan Thursday, his 'will they? won't they?' love interest, leaving his relationship with Joan to be explored in series nine - although she is engaged to another man, Detective Sergeant Jim Strange. Sam Thursday is still missing at the end of series eight but has been confirmed to be returning from Northern Ireland following his service in the British Army leaving his storyline open for series nine.
Sam's return is set to push Endeavour out of the Thursday family, with Fred Thursday (Sam's father) being Endeavour's mentor and acting like a surrogate father. However, Sam's return means that Fred focuses more on Sam, leaving Endeavour isolated.
Endeavour's relationship with the Thursday family will be a key part of series nine and must somehow end abruptly and dramatically, as Fred, Joan, Sam and the rest of the Thursday family are never mentioned in the later series of Inspector Morse.
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