Endeavour is almost back on our screens, and Shaun Evans has revealed that Endeavour Morse will be going through a very difficult time - and has turned to alcohol to help.
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Speaking to ITV ahead of the show’s return, he said: “Violetta died at the end of the last series which was New Year’s Eve going into 1971. This new series begins two months later and Morse is suffering. When we pick Endeavour up in February 1971 he is drinking too much, not coming into work, phoning in sick quite a bit. That’s what we see over the course of the whole season.
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“That getting slowly worse. But a drink problem is only a manifestation of something else. It’s not just the booze. It’s everything. Then finding a release in booze. It’s too easy to explain something away as alcoholism. That’s not what we were reaching for with it. It’s actually about not being able to cope with life on life’s terms. It is incredibly complicated.”
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Speaking about the challenge of playing Endeavour as he hits rock bottom, he continued: “I do think there is something really interesting in where we find him and how his misery manifests. There was more of a drinking culture then so it was much more acceptable. You could definitely hide it in plain sight. The challenging thing is always to try and take Endeavour to a new place, but without changing it completely from what we’ve done before.”
Are you looking forward to the show's return?
The new three episodes will see Endeavour and his friend Fred Thursday tackle three new crimes, including an IRA attack, the mysterious death of a cab driver in debt, and the murder of a college don.
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