ITV is showing a new series of Endeavour, the story of Dexter’s Inspector Morse as he solves cases in the Oxford of 1965 and lays the foundations of his canonical career. I was impressed when I wrote about the pilot episode last year and remain so after this further show.

One of the features of the prequel series is the appearance of younger versions of characters who are familiar from the books and also from the original TV series starring John Thaw. For example, in this one, a bobby called Jim Strange plays a significant supporting role; Strange of course goes on to become the Chief Superintendent when Morse has risen to Detective Chief Inspector. As the show closed, Jane and I were debating about whether the journey of a young boy called Robbie on a bus that could be heading to Newcastle presaged Morse’s Lewis; an attractive theory although I think the chronology works against it because the character of Robbie Lewis is coming to the end of his career in his own eponymous TV series but, by this reckoning, he probably would not even be 50.

One thing I didn’t spot was a cameo appearance by Colin Dexter, who often (always?) featured somewhere in Morse and again in Lewis. Of course, maybe there were being clever and there is an actor playing a younger Dexter to look out for?