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Endeavour; The Dambusters' Great Escape – TV review Endeavour; The Dambusters' Great Escape – TV review
(1 day later)
I've made a few cock-ups in my time as a journalist, as I'm sure you can imagine. Like using a picture of Edwyn Collins to illustrate a piece about Morrissey. And the time I enraged an entire country and was sent there, to say sorry, to everyone.I've made a few cock-ups in my time as a journalist, as I'm sure you can imagine. Like using a picture of Edwyn Collins to illustrate a piece about Morrissey. And the time I enraged an entire country and was sent there, to say sorry, to everyone.
But the one I think I'm most ashamed of is a review of the Inspector Morse prequel Endeavour, in which I singled out Abigail Thaw, daughter of Morse himself, in the role of the soprano who turned out to be the killer. Not just singled out, but made a crass joke about her too, I seem to remember. Guess what? Abigail Thaw wasn't playing the soprano, she was playing someone else, a newspaper editor. I got in touch and apologised; she was really nice about it, but it still makes me feel a little bit sick.But the one I think I'm most ashamed of is a review of the Inspector Morse prequel Endeavour, in which I singled out Abigail Thaw, daughter of Morse himself, in the role of the soprano who turned out to be the killer. Not just singled out, but made a crass joke about her too, I seem to remember. Guess what? Abigail Thaw wasn't playing the soprano, she was playing someone else, a newspaper editor. I got in touch and apologised; she was really nice about it, but it still makes me feel a little bit sick.
She's back in Endeavour (ITV, Sunday) again, still not the killer, still the newspaper editor, Dorothea Frazil. It's not a big part, but I'll get it out of the way: she's excellent, perfect in the role. So much better than if she'd been the killer. And it gives the whole thing a lovely tie-in with the past, or the future, depending on which way you look at it. Her father, anyway. Frazil, incidentally, is a type of ice, so D Frazil is like de-ice, or thaw. Riddle-solvers, crossword enthusiasts, Morse aficionados will appreciate that.She's back in Endeavour (ITV, Sunday) again, still not the killer, still the newspaper editor, Dorothea Frazil. It's not a big part, but I'll get it out of the way: she's excellent, perfect in the role. So much better than if she'd been the killer. And it gives the whole thing a lovely tie-in with the past, or the future, depending on which way you look at it. Her father, anyway. Frazil, incidentally, is a type of ice, so D Frazil is like de-ice, or thaw. Riddle-solvers, crossword enthusiasts, Morse aficionados will appreciate that.
The story is a typically contorted and bonkers one. Three cases – a missing person, a "suicide" and the robbery of some historical treasures from a college – become one. Well, they do in young Endeavour Morse's mind; but he's having a job convincing anyone else of it, or that his mind is actually working properly at all. He's still a bit jumpy and frazzled (not frazilled) from the events of the last series. Drinking a lot too; not just a couple of pints at lunchtime, which was the norm for the Old Bill in 1966, but the hard stuff.The story is a typically contorted and bonkers one. Three cases – a missing person, a "suicide" and the robbery of some historical treasures from a college – become one. Well, they do in young Endeavour Morse's mind; but he's having a job convincing anyone else of it, or that his mind is actually working properly at all. He's still a bit jumpy and frazzled (not frazilled) from the events of the last series. Drinking a lot too; not just a couple of pints at lunchtime, which was the norm for the Old Bill in 1966, but the hard stuff.
Bodies, meanwhile, fall out of the sky on to (illegally) parked cars; and wash up alongside medieval spearheads in forgotten underground tunnels. There are secret codes to break. And a byelection. And a beauty pageant at which a queen is shot at point-blank range by a student. With a starting pistol though; protest not murder. Jaguars chase Sprites, Mark 1 and Frog-Eyed respectively, around dreamy picture postcard cityscapes to All Your Favourite Opera Arias vol 2. The spectacular denouement has it all: the war, stolen identity, incest, filicide, freemasonry – not so much far-fetched as retrieved from the very furthest reaches of credibility. Bodies, meanwhile, fall out of the sky on to (illegally) parked cars; and wash up alongside medieval spearheads in forgotten underground tunnels. There are secret codes to break. And a byelection. And a beauty pageant at which a queen is shot at point-blank range by a student. With a starting pistol though; protest not murder. Jaguars chase Sprites, Mark 1 and Frog-Eyed respectively (see comments), around dreamy picture postcard cityscapes to All Your Favourite Opera Arias vol 2. The spectacular denouement has it all: the war, stolen identity, incest, filicide, freemasonry – not so much far-fetched as retrieved from the very furthest reaches of credibility.
Young Morse may be a moody bugger but Endeavour is no The Killing or The Bridge (not even The Hertford Bridge). Cherwell Noir has yet to be invented. Line of Duty shows that we can do that deeply involving longer-form crime storytelling in this country, but Endeavour is not it. On a spectrum of grit – from Midsomer to Line of Duty, it lies somewhere in the middle. It is, nevertheless, very charming, in an understated-English kind of way. It also remains in keeping with the spirit of Morse, and is certainly superior to its sequel, because Shaun Evans's young Morse is a much more interesting and enigmatic screen presence than Kevin Whately's wet, grey Lewis.Young Morse may be a moody bugger but Endeavour is no The Killing or The Bridge (not even The Hertford Bridge). Cherwell Noir has yet to be invented. Line of Duty shows that we can do that deeply involving longer-form crime storytelling in this country, but Endeavour is not it. On a spectrum of grit – from Midsomer to Line of Duty, it lies somewhere in the middle. It is, nevertheless, very charming, in an understated-English kind of way. It also remains in keeping with the spirit of Morse, and is certainly superior to its sequel, because Shaun Evans's young Morse is a much more interesting and enigmatic screen presence than Kevin Whately's wet, grey Lewis.
There are lots of nice performances – Roger Allam as Endeavour's immediate superior/sidekick/father figure; James Bradshaw as the cheery pathologist ("Stomach contents: full English, about an hour before he put Sir Isaac's law of universal gravitation to the test," he says about the falling man). Oh, and from John Thaw's daughter Abigail. Just a small part – she's the newspaper editor, I might have mentioned – but she's fabulous.There are lots of nice performances – Roger Allam as Endeavour's immediate superior/sidekick/father figure; James Bradshaw as the cheery pathologist ("Stomach contents: full English, about an hour before he put Sir Isaac's law of universal gravitation to the test," he says about the falling man). Oh, and from John Thaw's daughter Abigail. Just a small part – she's the newspaper editor, I might have mentioned – but she's fabulous.
There was real British heroism on show in the gripping Secret History film, The Dambusters' Great Escape (Channel 4, Sunday). "At the time we just got on and did it, that was our job," says one wonderful old boy. The job being to fly to the very limits of a Lancaster's range, dodging flak from the ground and Luftwaffe fighters, then drop bombs on the Tirpitz, Hitler's most powerful warship, which lurked in a Norwegian fjord, a beast in its lair. They did it too, sank her, an extraordinary feat, but with horrendous loss of life – nearly 1,000 – for the Germans.There was real British heroism on show in the gripping Secret History film, The Dambusters' Great Escape (Channel 4, Sunday). "At the time we just got on and did it, that was our job," says one wonderful old boy. The job being to fly to the very limits of a Lancaster's range, dodging flak from the ground and Luftwaffe fighters, then drop bombs on the Tirpitz, Hitler's most powerful warship, which lurked in a Norwegian fjord, a beast in its lair. They did it too, sank her, an extraordinary feat, but with horrendous loss of life – nearly 1,000 – for the Germans.
Most moving are the two men, Tony and Kurt, who were both there but on opposite sides, bomber and bombed, but who became close friends after the war. And then, perhaps inevitably, an endnote: Tony didn't make it to transmission.Most moving are the two men, Tony and Kurt, who were both there but on opposite sides, bomber and bombed, but who became close friends after the war. And then, perhaps inevitably, an endnote: Tony didn't make it to transmission.