Endeavour

This ninth and final series of Endeavour, prequel to the adaptation of Colin Dexter’s Morse novels, starts with an intricate and sure-footed episode directed by Shaun Evans.

This final series has been written to reward long-term fans, with references to past cases thrown in. A character we haven’t seen for a few seasons made an unexpected return. Morse seems restored after unravelling in the last series. But there was also a new string of murders to solve.

Endeavour is cardigan-comfy and uplifting, even when it is wading through bleakness. ... This is down to the gentle but weighty Shaun Evans as Morse and, most of all, to the brilliant Roger Allam as Fred Thursday. No one holds the screen and turns a phrase like Fred.

A treat for the faithful.

For anyone whose idea of a classic British procedural is the divinely gritty “Prime Suspect,” the design of the Morse prequel may seem creatively anachronistic. But it has charms to spare.

Let us say that the oft-times convoluted plot and the occasional absurdity are worth enduring for the personalities—Morse, Thursday and the wonderfully dry police pathologist, Dr. Max DeBryn (James Bradshaw).

It all made for a slightly sprawling instalment but one that still ticked the required boxes of a classy and comforting Sunday night watch.