The WORST episodes of Endeavour
Every episode of Endeavour ever, ranked from worst to best by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The worst episodes of Endeavour!
Set in the mid-Sixties, this Inspector Morse prequel centers around the early career of Endeavour Morse. After leaving his Oxford college without a degree, and spending a short time as a cipher clerk, Morse joins the police, working under veteran DI Fred Thursday.
#1 - Colours
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 2/25/2018
A photo-shoot on an army base turns sinister when one of the models is found dead. But the investigation is complicated when Sam Thursday is revealed to be involved.
#2 - Cartouche
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/11/2018
Hollywood glamour comes to Oxford as the stars of a new horror movie sequel begin filming in the city. Meanwhile, the unexplained poisoning of a former detective sergeant leads Endeavour and Thursday to a local cinema, which is playing host the film's stars in a special event.
#3 - Muse
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/4/2018
The newly promoted Detective Sergeant Morse investigates when a famous international thief tries to steal a Faberge egg from an auction. The case leads to the gruesome murders of an academic and a gangster, and Morse is convinced the deaths are the work of the same man. As he struggles with his new responsibilities, he finds himself forced to mentor a younger partner.
#4 - Passenger
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/18/2018
The railway takes centre stage as Endeavour investigates the disappearance of a local woman - with initial fears linking it to the unsolved murder of a teenager, killed several years earlier. Endeavour puts the missing woman's last known movements under scrutiny, while Thursday is absorbed in the investigation of a lorry hijack which he suspects is linked to local gangster Eddie Nero. The murder investigation takes a surprising turn when a woman's body is discovered, but Endeavour notices anomalies at the murder scene which point away from the cold case theory. Meanwhile, Cowley is disrupted by the arrival of two rough-and-ready burglary squad officers, also investigating the lorry hijack, who commandeer Fancy for their plans. Soon stumbling on a potential informant, Fancy is thwarted when his new lead is violently killed. The discovery of another body uncovers a clue that blows the case of the missing woman wide open - and leads to an unlikely culprit.
#5 - Striker
Season 8 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/12/2021
It's the start of 1971 - though wearied from the events of the past year, there's no chance of "light duties" at the CID. Crestfallen and rarely without a scotch in hand, Endeavour finds himself right back in the thick of it when an explosive murder at an Oxford college has potentially far-reaching political ramifications. Meanwhile, the IRA have made a threat against the life of the Oxford Wanderers' star striker, and Endeavour is tasked with the duty of acting bodyguard.
#6 - Scherzo
Season 8 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/19/2021
It's the summer of 1971. Endeavour and the team are called to investigate the murder of a cab driver found dead in his taxi on the outskirts of Oxford. With a recent string of assaults on cab drivers, the team worry that assault has escalated to murder and the population of Oxfordshire is at this killer's mercy. Meanwhile, Endeavour receives a guest at home who reminds him of a past he'd sooner forget.
#7 - Raga
Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/16/2020
As campaigning for the 1970 general election gets underway in Oxford, racial tensions escalate in the city and a clash between two young rival gangs results in tragedy. Initial investigations lead Endeavour and Thursday to the door of a familiar face, where they discover the influence of the British Movement, a right wing organisation hoping to win an Oxford seat. Elsewhere in the city, tragedy strikes a second time, this time an Indian restaurant, where a customer's mysterious disappearance and a shocking murder put even the strongest family loyalties to the test.
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#8 - Arcadia
Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/10/2016
April 1967. As spring blooms, the death of artist Simon Hallward in a horrendous house-fire leaves Oxford City Police baffled as to the cause of the blaze. When a young housewife dies, seemingly of the same mysterious ’tummy bug’ that has seen half of Chief Superintendent Bright’s men go on Sick Leave, DC Endeavour Morse’s investigation leads him to an inner-city supermarket, Richardson’s, owned by a wealthy family of the same name, descended from a line of Quakers.
#9 - Canticle
Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/15/2017
The so called ‘permissive society' comes under the spotlight as Endeavour is tasked with protecting conservative social activist, Joy Pettybon, after she receives a death threat while visiting Oxford to promote her ‘Keep Britain Decent' campaign. Also staying near Oxford and recording their new album are a band called The Wildwood and their manager Ralph Spender, who is desperate to maintain their squeaky-clean image in the media spotlight. However, their harmony is disrupted when the body of local brickie, Barry Finch, is discovered in the middle of Oxford and it transpires that Finch was working at Maplewick Hall, where they band are staying, before he died. Delving into the social revolution of the time, Endeavour finds himself caught in the crossfire of bitter liberalising forces and deep reactionary conservatism both fighting for the consciences of the British people in 1967. And in this collision of two worlds, Endeavour must explore all avenues before more killings occur.
#10 - Terminus
Season 8 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/26/2021
It is the winter of 1971 and the team is split up by a snowstorm while investigating the murder of a college don, and Endeavour is stranded at an abandoned hotel where he becomes the subject of a revenge plot.
#11 - Prelude
Season 9 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/26/2023
It's spring 1972 and Endeavour's return to Castle Gate coincides with another homecoming, that of the celebrated Oxford Concert Orchestra, led by illustrious composer Sir Alexander Lermontov. A gruesome discovery in a College garden leads Endeavour and Thursday to the orchestra's door, and when a second tragedy hits, they uncover a web of secrets. Meanwhile, grisly London business turns up in Oxford and a criminal from the Smoke is brutally murdered in a derelict warehouse. As the mystery unfolds, Endeavour and Thursday realise there are some unsettling ties to a case the pair had hoped was long since behind them.
#12 - Oracle
Season 7 - Episode 1 - Aired 2/9/2020
As Endeavour sees in the new year – 1970 – at an opera house in Venice, a murder on an Oxford towpath speaks to Thursday's intuition, and convinced he has the man responsible, he vows to bring him to justice. Returning home, Endeavour makes a new acquaintance, and old friendships show signs of strain. Later, when an exciting new educational television programme appeals for Academic presenters, a contentious college project develops into a fatal battle of the sexes. On investigating, Endeavour and Thursday discover a potential link between the department and a young woman's troubling premonitions.
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#13 - Prey
Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/17/2016
Early June 1967. A missing persons case - that of Danish au pair INGRID HJORT - proves far from routine, pulling ENDEAVOUR into the dueling worlds of Oxford scientific academia, the city's vast parks, Night School and the untamed wilderness of the Oxfordshire countryside.
#14 - Uniform
Season 9 - Episode 2 - Aired 3/5/2023
Endeavour suspects a connection between a woman's disappearance and her past employer but another missing persons case demands his attention. This time, it's a notable artist, whose work adorns the covers of a series of paperback mysteries. Meanwhile, reports flood in of stolen cars and wanton criminal damage, as a debauched group of university undergraduates wreak havoc. A murder of a uniformed copper sees Bright command all hands on deck, while, much to Endeavour and Thursday's chagrin the cast of television detective series, Jolly For Short, are in town filming the final series.
#15 - Lazaretto
Season 4 - Episode 3 - Aired 1/22/2017
Whispers that Cowley General contains a cursed ward - and a seemingly innocuous death - set off a chain of events that lead Endeavour to investigate the dark depths of the hospital. While there, he is forced to confront his own ghosts as he discovers a chilling secret.
#16 - Apollo
Season 6 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/17/2019
As the highly-anticipated moon landings of Apollo 11 draw near, Endeavour finds himself investigating the death of a promising young astrophysicist and his girlfriend. Their deaths seeming to be a result of a tragic car accident on first inspection, with the clues pointing to foul play, Endeavour enlists the help of an injured Thursday to uncover the truth.
#17 - Game
Season 4 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/8/2017
The ‘white heat' of technology takes centre stage in the first film, as Lovelace College is taken over by a team of research scientists who are developing a ‘thinking' machine to equal and even outstrip the capabilities of man's own mind. As a Russian academic prepares to do battle with the Joint Computing Nexus (JCN or Jason for short) in a game of chess, the Cold War is played out on a chequered field and Endeavour and Thursday are plunged into their most perilous, baffling and darkly terrifying case to date. Throwing himself into his work to mask the heartache of Joan's departure, Endeavour is quickly consumed by his duties when one of the research team is found drowned near Magdalen Bridge. Assuming it to be a suicide on first inspection, the circumstances become more suspicious when two more victims are also found drowned nearby in East Cowley Baths. Is there more to the deaths than meets the eye?
#18 - Confection
Season 6 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/24/2019
The murder of a chocolate factory owner during a local hunt leads Endeavour to the sleepy village of Chigton Green. When he learns of a vicious campaign of gossip and rumour, it seems likely that two murders are connected. One of the targets, a beautiful, single mother, captures Endeavour's attention, giving him food for thought about the future.
#19 - Sway
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired 4/13/2014
Bonfire Night is just around the corner and housewife Vivienne Haldane is found strangled with a silk stocking in her own home is the third death in a month. All the women were married, alone and their wedding rings missing. Tracing the stockings to the sole supplier, Burridges department store, and a number of suspects and for Inspector Thursday a face from the past he thought was dead leading to complications in his family life and with Morse.
#20 - Quartet
Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/4/2018
An assassination attempt at an international sporting event opens a new case for Endeavour and Thursday, but their investigation is quickly brought to an unexpected end.
#21 - Ride
Season 3 - Episode 1 - Aired 1/3/2016
Jeannie Hearne is spirited away in the middle of the night with no explanation. Her body is found the next day in the countryside, alerting the attention of the Oxford City Police. Endeavour may be suspended, but with the case being so close to his home, he begins an investigation of his own.
#22 - Zenana
Season 7 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/23/2020
When Endeavour is called to investigate what at first appears to be a freak accident at Lady Matilda's College, he uncovers a potential link between a series of peculiar incidents across Oxford, and despite Thursday's skepticism, becomes convinced the accidents are the result of foul play. Lady Matilda's meanwhile, is in the midst of a referendum campaign which will decide whether or not the college should become co-educational, and when one of their own is attacked while walking alone on the towpath, the female students become more determined than ever to keep the wolf without the citadel.
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#24 - Icarus
Season 5 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/11/2018
After the mysterious disappearance of a teacher, Endeavour finds himself investigating the dark and secret world of a public school.
#25 - Harvest
Season 4 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/29/2017
When a body is found in a marshland outside of Oxford, everyone assumes they are the remains of an Oxford botanist who mysteriously disappeared near the site five years earlier.