Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Shaun Evans, Roger Allam, Sean Rigby, Anton Lesser, Caroline O’Neill, James Bradshaw, Sara Vickers, Abigail Thaw, Nicholas Farrell, James Anderson, Nicholas Boulton, Rob Ostlere, Leaphia Darko, Imogen Daines, Tamsin Newlands, Kirsten Louie, Jane Lapotaire, James Doherty, Simon Harrison, Jack Bannon, Jenny Galloway, Jason Lines.
What was that single moment in your life where everything you did after was just a continuation, the first touch of the Prelude of temptation which led you on the path in which your actions affected everything you did and all those around you.
If you can pinpoint that moment then the rest of your life makes sense, a small indiscretion on your part leads to constant apology, a touch of joy tempered can lead to a life time of regret, a fall back on habits will eventually lead you to your grave; and that is the reason for the prelude, so you can attune yourself to moment of self-reflection in your performance.
The last series of Endeavour should not be as emotionally charged as its illustrious predecessor, Morse, and yet that overture of Oxford crime solving is not without its connections, the knowledge that what happens in the last three episodes sets up the later half of a life filled at times with solitude and increased dependence on alcohol in order to function.
However, the signs are there in the opening episode of the last series, Prelude, that it was always building up to this, the unseen romance between his two friends, Jim Strange and Joan Thursday giving more of a clue to how Morse never seemed to find true love, his resentment towards certain societies, and as the drama unfolds surrounding the college’s orchestra and the death of one of its leading players, so the future gathers pace, the crescendo yet to arrive, but is evidently warming up.
Perhaps it is the uniqueness of foresight that has carried the nine series with charm and grace, the fan and the audience know how its going to end, there is no huge surprise for title character to come, and yet each episode has been its own magnificent mystery, and Prelude is no exception to this hard and fast rule.
With a terrific performance from Nicholas Farrell as celebrated conductor Sir Alexander Lemontov, a wonderful introduction to Imogen Daines as Mabs Portman, and the usual high mark of industry from both Shaun Evans and Roger Allam, Prelude leaves a lasting effect on the mind of the watcher and the armchair detective, for in a case driven by the most base of human emotions, the damage wrought is one to be drenched in blood and waste.
With two episodes remaining of this excellent drama, there can only be one way for it to finish, and it might mean the coda is one of serious consequences.
Riveting and intelligently written as ever, Endeavour scales the heights of crime procedural drama.
Ian D. Hall