Endeavour | Series 9 Preview (ITV1)

Critically-acclaimed and internationally renowned detective drama, Endeavour, returns to ITV1 for the ninth and final series.

Produced by leading indie Mammoth Screen - part of ITV Studios - in partnership with Masterpiece, the Morse prequel sees actor Shaun Evans reprise the title role of DS Endeavour Morse for the very last time. Shaun also directs the first of the new films titled Prelude.

The final instalment of the popular drama has once again been written by Endeavour creator Russell Lewis who has penned each of the 36 screenplays across the last decade.

The new series, set in the early 70s, finds Endeavour and Thursday entering a new era of change both professionally and personally with the return of some familiar faces along the way including Sam, played by Jack Bannon (Pennyworth), who arrives back from Northern Ireland following his service in the British Army.

Filmed in and around Oxford the strong ensemble cast reunited with Shaun and Roger includes Anton Lesser (Killing Eve, Game of Thrones) who returns as CS Reginald Bright, Sean Rigby (Gunpowder) as DS Jim Strange, James Bradshaw (Close to The Enemy) as Dr Max DeBryn, Abigail Thaw (Miss Scarlet and the Duke) as Dorothea Frazil, Caroline O’Neill (The A Word) as Win Thursday and Sara Vickers (Watchmen) as Joan Thursday.

Episode 1: 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.

Endeavour returns Sunday 26th February on ITV1.