Cracking the Morse code

Cracking the Morse code


By Michael Pickard
January 30, 2018

STAR POWER

British actors Dakota Blue Richards and Lewis Peek tease the return of Inspector Morse prequel Endeavour for a fifth season, while also discussing life on set and the impact of the #MeToo campaign.

It’s strange to recall that, when it was first commissioned, Endeavour was intended as a one-off special marking the 25th anniversary of long-running detective drama Morse. As if its popularity would ever be in doubt: since that 2012 prequel, a further 16 feature-length films have aired on UK broadcaster ITV over the last four years.

It’s a sign of the show’s continuing success, with Shaun Evans taking the lead as the young Endeavour Morse, that the upcoming fifth season has been extended to six films, also proving that traditional ‘whodunnits’ like this and Midsomer Murders are far from antiquated in the face of competition from modern serialised crime dramas.

The new season, which begins in the UK on February 4, opens in 1968 with the recently promoted Detective Sergeant Morse facing changing times as Oxford City Police merges with another constabulary. His personal life also faces challenges as Joan Thursday (Sara Vickers) returns to Oxford, with many issues unresolved following her disappearance last season and Morse’s unexpected proposal.

Other returning characters include Roger Allam as Detective Chief Inspector Fred Thursday, Anton Lesser as Chief Superintendent Reginald Bright, Dakota Blue Richards as WPC Shirley Trewlove, Sean Rigby as Sergeant Jim Strange, James Bradshaw as Dr Max DeBryn, Caroline O’Neil as Win Thursday and Abigail Thaw as Dorothea Frazil.

Endeavour stars Shaun Evans as Endeavour Morse

But Morse’s life is further complicated by the arrival of a new recruit, Detective Constable George Fancy, whom he reluctantly agrees to mentor.

“He’s not happy about that,” actor Lewis Peek says of Morse’s reaction to his new partner. “[Fancy is] like a puppy: he’s eager to please and a bit naive. He’s got really good intentions and sometimes things don’t really go the way he planned.”

Try as he might, Fancy’s attempts to win Morse over don’t entirely go to plan, the offer of a lunchtime drink in particular going down like a lead balloon.

“He definitely comes from a completely different background than Morse,” Peek says. “In the first episode, he tries to suss out Morse but he doesn’t give a great impression. Then he’s being very pally with the beers and the social side but he’s not being very professional. He doesn’t really know what to expect and he’s facing this wall of stubbornness from Morse that is very hard to break down.”

Peek and Fancy have a lot in common, not least their Devonshire roots and the fact they are both joining a well-established team. But the actor says his experience joining Endeavour could not have been more different from that of the character he plays.

“It was terrifying, I was very nervous,” he admits. “But I think the nerves at the start helped a bit with the character. He’s new, he’s meeting everyone for the first time. I’m as new as Lewis, to the job and meeting everyone for the first time. I think it helped.

Dakota Blue Richards as WPC Shirley Trewlove

“I remember reading the scenes for the first time and I had a good feeling because I saw a lot of myself in the character when I was at school, and that definitely helped.”

Peek is also clear about what separates Endeavour from other crime series. “It has this class about it,” he says. “The cinematography is exceptional, but what I love about the show is the human nature. It is a detective show but if you’re not caring about the characters, you’re not going to want to watch. It captures real human spirit and emotions, and that’s what draws people in.

As well as the ongoing changes facing the police and a murder to solve, the opening episode of season five is also notable for new arrival Fancy’s attempts to flirt with WPC Trewlove, who clearly isn’t impressed by the new recruit.

“He tries so hard and he has the best of intentions but he just says the wrong thing at every available opportunity,” says Richards, who plays Fancy’s potential love interest. “He definitely has a go at Trewlove but goes about it in completely the wrong way, totally underestimates her and she’s largely unimpressed by his advances. But as the season develops, Trewlove begins to see through his klutziness and takes him under her wing a little bit, whereas Endeavour is not making that effort.”

Richards, who rose to fame as the star of 2007 big-screen adventure The Golden Compass before appearing in Channel 4 teen drama Skins, is a settled member of the Endeavour team, having joined the cast ahead of season three.

Lewis Peek joins the cast for the forthcoming season as DC George Fancy

She points to episode six as her favourite of the forthcoming season, “mostly because it’s the one I’m in the most,” but reveals that viewers can expect to see a much more emotional side to her character.

As to whether WPC Trewlove is facing up to the challenges of being a female police officer in a very male-centric environment, Richards admits the battle for equality “is much more my fight than hers.” The actor continues: “Trewlove’s a hard worker but is acutely aware of the limitations being a woman will put on her. There’s one really lovely scene with Fancy where he says, ‘I feel like I’m invisible.’ And she’s like, ‘Oh, imagine!’ She’s overlooked constantly, despite all her best efforts. But I think she’s come to terms with that and she doesn’t let it show most of the time.”

Richards puts the success of the show – penned by series creator Russell Lewis, produced by Mammoth Screen and distributed by ITV Studios Global Entertainment – down in part to the “fantastic performances” from the cast, and particularly Evans and Allam as the show’s central pairing, Morse and Thursday. “It’s also something about the workings of the human mind and figuring out a mystery that will always draw people’s attention, partly because people like to play along. Everybody loves watching a whodunnit show because they get to guess the murderer. That’s always fun, it feels more interactive.”

Returning to her comments about fighting for equality in the workplace, Richards is of course pointing to the ongoing #MeToo and Time’s Up campaigns supporting gender equality and an end to sexual misconduct, launched in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein allegations and others that have subsequently rocked the film and television industry.

“We need to show support and understanding to everybody that has been a victim of it but we need to be very careful because we are increasingly relying on a trial-by-media, and that is inherently dangerous because that’s not how justice ought to work,” the actor explains. “We need to be very careful about the way in which these very serious issues are dealt with. They need to be dealt with with a level of weight and importance and intelligence I think that the victims deserve and the perpetrators deserve equally.”

The Thick of It star Roger Allam (right) plays DCI Fred Thursday

Richards reveals the issues raised by the campaigns were discussed on the Endeavour set, with the conversation highlighting how prevalent the problem is in the industry.

“Every single woman and some men I know in this industry have been victims of some form of sexual misconduct. Every single one,” the actor says. “The trouble is it’s so ingrained and we need to be very careful about treating just the symptoms and not the disease. I have experienced awful behaviour, really quite appalling behaviour from directors, producers, other actors. Generally the consensus is as long as you are not physically harmed, you just shut up and deal with it because it is so common. But if you complained about every single incident, no one would ever get any work done. That’s the problem we need to be addressing.

“But it’s the same with all the problems in our industry. Racism is inherent in our industry as much as sexism, as much as sexual harassment. We need to really re-evaluate the way we deal with these sorts of things and the way we work with each other. What needs to change is that we need to be able to discuss things more openly. The real problem has been how silenced everyone has been, and that’s what’s allowed it to persist for so long and to get as bad as it has.”

Richards concludes: “The really important thing now is people are being more inspired to come forward. Hopefully we can dig out the worst offenders and hopefully that will inspire discussion and change within the industry, but I think we have an awfully long way to go.”

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