Endeavour to return in 2017.

Successful detective drama Endeavour, has been recommissioned for a fourth series, ITV has confirmed.

Produced by Mammoth Screen, Endeavour stars Shaun Evans (The Scandalous Lady W) as the young Morse, in a prequel to the popular Inspector Morse series.

Also returning for the fourth series is acclaimed stage and screen actor Roger Allam (The Lady in the Van) as Endeavour’s senior officer, Detective Inspector Fred Thursday alongside Anton Lesser as Chief Superintendent Reginald Bright, Sean Rigby as PC Jim Strange, James Bradshaw as Doctor Max deBryn, Caroline O’Neil as Win Thursday, Dakota Blue Richards as WPC Shirley Trewlove, and Abigail Thaw as Dorothea Frazil.

As Series IV (1967 Vol.2) resumes, barely a fortnight has passed since the events depicted in the series III finale. Endeavour waits to hear the result of his Sergeant’s Exam, and self-medicates to numb his heartache, but whisky and Tännhauser will only get a man so far.  While Thursday and Win deal with their own sense of grief.  Their home is empty, Sam gone to the Army and Joan… Who knows where?

The summer of 1967 is on the turn. Midsummer has been and gone but in Lovelace College a team of boffins is about to unveil a ‘thinking machine’ that will challenge the Soviets, and plunge Endeavour and Thursday into their most perilous, baffling and darkly terrifying case to date.  White Heat.  Cold War.  And an immortal game that will cast the life of a friend into the hazard.

The stories that remain will take Endeavour and Thursday, together with the rest of Oxford’s Finest, into places hitherto unexplored – the worlds of 1960s pop; Doctors and Nurses; and an exploration of the English pastoral.

2017 marks the 30th Anniversary of Inspector Morse on ITV, viewers can expect many respectful nods to the original series in terms of guest casting, heritage characters and stories,including James Lawrenson (Wolf Hall) as Professor Amory, who appeared in the very first Inspector Morse episode in 1987.

Also featuring is, Tristan Sturrock (Poldark), Adam James (Doctor Foster), Gillian Saker (Ripper Street) and Chris Fulton (One of Us).

Created and written by Russell Lewis (Inspector Morse), the series is based on Colin Dexter‘s novels, who will continue to act as a consultant

Endeavour begins filming on location in Oxford in Spring 2016.