Endeavour is set to end after next year's eighth series.
In a blow for the drama’s seven million fans, Shaun Evans says he plans to quit as the TV detective before reaching the point where John Thaw took up the role in 1987.
Admitting that the move feels like “planning your own funeral”, the actor said he was “very close” to calling time on the show, which began in 2012 and will be set in 1970 for the upcoming run.
He said: "This is our story and we shouldn’t be staying at the party too long."
"It’s difficult because it’s like planning your own funeral. Why would I not want to be earning this money? Why would I not want to be hanging out with these people who I love? But you have to be strict. We shouldn’t be milking it."
Evans said the final decision would be made with the rest of the cast and crew.
He told Radio Times: "It’s something I want us to come to an agreement on as a team, because my decision will have a knock-on effect for everyone."
"I want to make sure that everybody feels, within reason, that we’ve finished it in a satisfying way."
Roger Allam, who plays DI Fred Thursday, agrees the end is nigh.
He said: "There should probably be one more series that wraps up our characters’ stories before it jump-cuts to Inspector Morse."
He added that he wants a “spectacular death” for DI Thursday, who is not in the later series.
Writer Russell Lewis said he was already planning the final storylines.
"I’ll do it for as long as they want me to, but I do know how it ends."
"We wouldn’t want to get to the point where you can see the join. I think we’ll bow out long before that."
He knows he’s had a good run thanks to the books by Colin Dexter.
"I’ve been spoilt for 25 years. First with John, then with Kevin [Whately] and now with the Endeavour team. I still pinch myself most days."
Thaw, who died suddenly in 2002, took on the role aged 45 and continued until 2000.
