“Fortunate” is the word Shaun Evans uses the most during our conversation. He is an actor with a thriving career and a host of exciting roles in a variety of programmes under his belt – including the lead in Endeavour. The show is a prequel to Inspector Morse, where he plays the detective at the very beginning of his career in the police.
When I ask about how he dealt with taking on such a well-known role, he says that he is excited by any new venture he is offered.
Evans chose not to base his Morse on the iconic portrayal by the late John Thaw as he believes that the character would have been different in his younger life, and didn’t want to cement his own performance in how Morse seemed in the latter stages of his career.
“I didn’t think it would be useful to watch any of the things which had gone before, so I just worked with what I had in front of me […]I looked at the scripts, and I read through some of the books as well.”
As Endeavour is set in the heart of Oxford, I ask Evans what he likes most about our city. He expresses great affection for it – “I love the city centre, I love the architecture, I love the cobbled streets!” Next he praises the organisational skill of the crew which meant that there were no issues with being on-set in a busy city.
Endeavour is set in the 1960s, which adds something special to the experience for Evans. He likes the effect it had on the script itself; as “you can’t just text someone, there are no shortcuts”, the plots in Endeavour are made more subtle and well thought through. The context of Endeavour “takes [us] away from our sensibilities.”
Evans also cited the end of the war, the Women’s Lib movements and even the contemporary music as things which shape the show.
Evans knew in his early teens in Liverpool that he wanted to act, which is something he is grateful for, as he says that it removed a lot of unc e r t a i n t y from his life and “half of the trouble is making the decision”.
His career is certainly in the limelight now. Evans says he is fortunate to be offered a choice of interesting parts, and he is lucky that his work has always been exciting.
I wonder if he has his eye on some other iconic roles, perhaps Bond, or Doctor Who? But Evans politely refuses; “They’re difficult shoes to fill.” He admires Daniel Craig and Matt Smith, but doesn’t necessarily aspire to play their characters, or Sherlock. Instead, Evans prefers to look for subjects and character traits which he would love to portray, rather than named roles. He says that, to him, great writing means you can “see the world through the prism of what you read.”
Evans enthuses about acting, saying he feels he is in the fortunate situation of being able to use his mind creatively in his work. He describes himself as blessed – although people may overuse that word, he truly feels exceedingly lucky in his work.
His fellow actors are sources of inspiration for him. Malcolm McDowell from A Clockwork Orange is one of his favourites, as well as the late Peter Postlethwaite.
He also praises his co-star in Endeavour, Roger Allam, also well-known from The Thick of It, and extols his talent, along with earlier actors like Al Pacino. When I question whether he might maybe want to join Allam in comedy, he replies that he is “open to anything”.
Evans is extremely unwilling to limit or define his ambitions, which is very exciting in an actor of his talent and current popularity.
While he may have decided to take Morse in a different direction from John Thaw, it seems likely that Evans will definitely enjoy a career as illustrious as his predecessor.
