Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Anton Lesser, James Bradshaw, Martin Jarvis, Jenny Seagrove, Jack Roth, Craig Parkinson, Ellie Beaven, William Brand, Joanna Cassidy, Craig Els, Rosalind Halstead, William Houston, Jack Laskey, Maimie McCoy, James Merry, James Northcote, Darwin Shaw, Tim Stern, Abigail Thaw.

The penultimate episode of the first series of Endeavour, the fascinating Rocket, starts to get to grips with some of the background story that surrounds the Oxfordshire policeman. Some of the mysteries that were never really explained about his life, the run ins with authority and the way that the indignant belligerence rightly aimed against his superior, portrayed superbly with more and more anxious nervousness and riled resentment by Anton Lesser, possibly slowed down his rise through the ranks. His love life also highlighted and the thought of the one that remains lost to him.

All of this and against the backdrop of two murders separated by 12 years, industrial espionage, a family at war with itself and a royal visit to an arms factory in Cowley. It really never is dull in deepest Oxfordshire, especially on the country estates that surround Bicester.

Whereas the previous week’s episode relied heavily on the cryptic and modern lateral thinking that Morse was always fantastic at, this episode of Rocket sees good old fashioned police work, dogged, determined and unwilling to let go of the case until the right question comes along and the killer identifies themselves, both approaches work supremely well and whilst many viewers will always tip their hat in favour of Morse solving the case by his reasoning. There are times that the right question always comes in handy, Second Time Around and Driven To Distraction are two such episodes that worked well with this approach in the classic series and Rocket fits well into that system.

Rocket also features some incredible performances by the supporting cast. Away from Shaun Evan’s increasing skill at capturing the young Morse, this episode saw the welcome returns of Jenny Seagrove as the matriarch of the Broom family and the fantastic Jack Roth to the screen. Maimie McCoy also was a revelation as an old friend of the scholar turned detective. The way that the two skirted round each other was beautifully shot and set in precedence Morse’s future as the serial bachelor, falling in love with the wrong woman and never allowing the right one to get too close.

With the amount of good British crime drama being announced on the I.T.V. network that is coming the viewer’s way, these are good times for fans of the genre however Endeavour has fast become interesting and revealing television that will be hard to top.

Ian D. Hall