Endeavour creator says there's 'a plan' in place to wrap up the series

"There's still more stories to tell."
DIGITAL SPY - BY JO BERRY AND JUSTIN HARP

​Endeavour is about to embark on its sixth series – and with any series that deep into its run, the end has been prepared for!

The ITV detective procedural fits into a specific timeline between Endeavour Morse (Shaun Evans) leaving Oxford University and the events of 1987's Inspector Morse, but that window is admittedly quite wide.

In an exclusive chat with Endeavour creator Russell Lewis and star Evans about the new episodes moving into 1969, Digital Spy asked the duo if they'd had discussions about how their show will eventually end.

"If there's an appetite to see Endeavour in the early '70s – if the audience are keen, and the network are keen, and the guys want to do it, then yeah, absolutely [we'd do it]," Lewis confirmed.

"In a way, I'd always thought we'd probably stop in the '60s, but there's still more stories to tell. We always shape them so that – heaven forfend, force majeure stops us from doing any more – that that would be an appropriate endpoint with each series.

"But yeah, there is a much larger destination in mind if we get there. So yeah, there is a plan. There's always been a plan from the start."

Evans stressed that he'd want to make sure any continuation didn't hurt the credibility of either Endeavour or Inspector Morse.

"I always think it should be dictated by story, rather than an arbitrary number," he explained. "And so, by the end of this one, I am in the house where this character lives for the rest of his life, which I think is significant.

"I think it's important for us to go and have a cup of tea and have a chat when this has aired, and to be like, 'OK, where else is there to go with this story? Where else can we take these characters?' And to be brave about what comes up in that as well – but not for it to be an arbitrary number."

The new episodes pick up with Morse and his team processing the murder of DC George Fancy, who was killed off in a shock cliffhanger at the end of the last series.

Endeavour series six begins Sunday, February 10 at 8pm on ITV.