A puzzle to tax even the mind of Morse: what follows Thursday?
WHAt comes after thursday? Like a clue in one of Morse’s crossword puzzles, the answer is a cryptic one — and the answer isn’t Friday.
the character of Chief Inspector Fred thursday, played by Roger Allam in Endeavour (ITV), poses an enigma. He is never mentioned in the original series starring John thaw, Inspector Morse, nor in its sequel, Lewis.
But the redoubtable old copper and war veteran is a towering presence for the young Morse, both mentor and father figure. What catastrophe occurs to exclude him permanently from our detective hero’s future?
As the show returned, thursday was toying with the idea of accepting a promotion to Chief Super, a job implied to be something of a sinecure. (Any reader happening to be a police superintendent who is offended or triggered by this slur, please complain to ItV, not me.)
Surely that extra bit of brass on Fred’s uniform couldn’t prompt his protege to despise him. It’s always seemed more likely that thursday would be killed off — but then, wouldn’t that give an extra layer of lustre to the old man’s legend?
Clearly, writer Russell Lewis, who has devised the scripts for every episode of endeavour since its launch in 2013, has something devious and brilliant in mind. I’m baffled, as I usually am before the solution is revealed.
the final series opened with a beautifully crafted musical mystery, set among the artistes of a symphony orchestra. In the middle of a performance, the lead violinist keeled over from anaphylactic shock — killed by particles of crushed peanuts on her strings.
First, it seemed to be the conductor whodunnit, and then the tea lady. But the plot took a last, cunning twist and . . . well, if you haven’t watched the ending yet, I won’t spoil it for you, but it brought a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘playing second fiddle’.
As ever, asides and in-jokes were scattered like grace notes through the script. When Morse (Shaun evans), returning from extended leave, remarked that he’d been exploring the West Country ‘ in Hardy’s footsteps,’ Sgt Jim Strange (Sean Rigby) innocently replied: ‘Another fine mess then.’
And when an informant called Mickey Flood was found crucified, with his tongue ripped out, thursday murmured a world-weary lament over the body: ‘If it was raining luck, Mickey couldn’t get wet to save his life.’
Shaun evans directed the episode, highlighting how deeply attached he has become to the character. When Morse’s creator, Colin Dexter, died in 2017, he left instructions in his will that no other actor was ever to play him.
But he didn’t specify that there must never be a remake of
Inspector Morse. If there ever is, it would have to star evans. Now there’s a tantalising thought.
Like Fred thursday, the nuns and nurses written out of Call The Midwife (BBC1) are almost never mentioned again.
Sister Frances and newlywed Lucille (ella Bruccoleri and Leonie elliott) have already vanished and been forgotten this year. Now Nurse Nancy (Megan Cusack) is disappearing from the show. But fear not: though trixie (Helen George) has married her posh beau Matthew (Olly Rix), she will carry on delivering babies.
If trixie ever leaves, that really would be the end, like the tower of London losing its ravens.
Sister Julienne (Jenny Agutter) hasn’t lost a trixie — instead, she has gained a camp osteopath, in the shape of the bride’s brother Geoffrey (Christopher Harper), arriving for the wedding, which is a suitably sentimental affair.
the last camp osteopath seen in a period telly drama was Stephen Ward, seedy villain of the Christine Keeler affair. Sister Julienne couldn’t possibly permit anything so louche.