16 Awesome British Mysteries You Can Stream Right Now

Roger Allam as DI Thursday and Shaun Evans as DC Morse. (Photo: (C) Mammoth Screen/MASTERPIECE/ITV Studios)

Endeavour

Endeavour is actually a prequel to the classic British mystery series Inspector Morse. The original Morse ran from 1987 to 2000 and starred John Thaw as the brooding, curmudgeonly detective who liked opera, fancy cars and good beer. But he wasn’t always that guy.

Set in 1965, Endeavour stars the extremely charming Shaun Evans as a much-younger Constable Endeavour Morse. The story follows the story of Morse in the early days of his career, after leaving his Oxford college without taking a degree and joining the police. He gets the opportunity to investigate the murder of a teenage girl, and so his storied career begins.

Evans is joined by The Thick of It’s Roger Allam as Morse’s partner and mentor, Detective Inspector Fred Thursday. Sean Rigby plays police constable Strange, another character that shows up in the original Morse mysteries.

You don’t have to have seen Inspector Morse to enjoy Endeavour, or even know anything about the original show at all. There are some nice in-universe shout-outs for Morse fans, and Thaw’s real-life daughter has an onscreen role. But that’s about it as far as connections go. Yes, it’s a prequel. But Endeavour stands on its own as a period mystery, and it’s a pretty good one, too.