The original Morse series was lauded as the pinnacle of British police-series on TV, though it was very much about style over substance. Superb acting and cinematography almost made up for the rather contrived and stilted plots of many episodes. But with some it generated stellar TV. The series was all about John Thaw as Endeavour Morse , gritty, grumpy with major strokes of insight by association rather than traditional police-work. He shunned the use of his first name, just using Morse for all but one episode. So, how does one select a young Morse for a prequel? I don't mind that Shaun Evans does not look like a young John Thaw, but as personalities there is a massive gap, to hard to be breached. Evans looks and operates like a choir-boy , or as a newly appointed vicar to a parish. There is zero similarity with the rough and gritty personality of the eventual Morse of the eighties. Sorry, but this is a poor choice casting-wise. The second gripe is about the fact that Evans is totally overshadowed by Roger Allam as his DI boss. The DI reminds me of Maigret as played by Bruno Cremer with that deep rumbling voice, exact timing and a hint of some unspoken tragedy. This series could just as well have been : "Fred Thursday, DI" and would have been none the worse for it. Thirdly, plots seem to race down the glacier towards plain silliness. The last episode I viewed was about a Tiger kept in isolation, breaking free , killing randomly by applying a scent to a hankie, finally being killed in a maze by the Superintendent who happened to have killed a man-eater back in his days in India. This same episode also covers the strained relation between Strange and Morse with Strange almost begging to be still Morse's mate though the latter is left behind career-wise. The casting of the young Strange is equally baffling, there is not a hint of the larger-than-life portrayal by James Grout. Finally, an average rating of 8.6 on IMDb, really means that a major part of the audience is blissfully ignorant of the origins of the Morse canon. If the Lewis series made for a superior sequel, than this mediocre outing does not do a prequel justice.
