Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish - reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!
Last week, I reviewed the second season of The Crown. Heather reviewed the alternate history novel That Inevitable Victorian Thing. Sim shared her life experiences about Queen Elizabeth. Tina discussed both the book and movie of How I Live Now. Becky reviewed a mystery set during the Regency, Murder, Magic, and What We Wore, and the children's book Mr. Pusskins.
I recently watched all the available episodes, three seasons worth, of Endeavour. Endeavour Morse is the young man who will grow old and become Inspector Morse. Inspector Morse was a show I planned my week around when it aired on PBS long before the advent of digital recording or streaming.
Since Inspector Morse was set in contemporary Oxford of that time (1987-1993, plus annual specials from 1995-2000), naturally Endeavour has to be set decades earlier - the mid-to-late 1960s. I feel like I've been getting quite an understanding of Britain in the mid-20th century with Endeavour alongside Call the Midwife and Grantchester.
Oxford, of course, is one of the main draws of both of these series and the other spin-off, Inspector Lewis. I love the long shots of dreaming spires, the walks across and around quads and under cloisters. and the moments outside the Bodleian Library. Sometimes, there are even scenes in the Bodleian Library - that's always very exciting for a librarian! In Endeavour, I keep being constantly amazed how well it puts me into Oxford from another time period with old-fashioned cars and clothes, and not a cell phone in sight.
It's been a long time since I've seen Inspector Morse. I feel like I get some, but not all, of the references from the prequel. The love of music is definitely there. Also, treating a case like a puzzle to be worked out. I'd love to see Inspector Morse again, but as far as I can tell, no one is streaming it.
About Joy Weese Moll
a librarian writing about books
