Exclusive - Endeavour creator Russell Lewis says season 8 will "ideally" air later this year

The "delay has purely been so far in terms of production, so... our timeline survives, fingers crossed," he said.

Asked whether Endeavour season eight will air later this year, he added: "Fingers crossed, yeah. It's a matter for the network for when they want to schedule it, but ideally it would be lovely if it went out this year."

Lewis (who also recently penned ITV's Grace) continued: "The audience is terribly keen to see it. I don't say that in any kind of grand way, it's just... they write and say, 'We're desperate to see what's happening with Endeavour'. As are we. It's our pleasure really to get back to it, and resume duties for Oxford's finest."

Endeavour season seven was missing one of its key cast members: Sara Vickers, who plays Endeavour Morse's on-off romantic interest Joan Thursday (daughter of Roger Allam's DI Fred Thursday), was unavailable for filming.

However, when asked whether Vickers would return, Lewis hinted that fans can expect her reprise the role. "We certainly hope so," he said. "All will be revealed, I'm sure."

Endeavour's three-part seventh season was partly filmed in Venice, where Endeavour (played by Shaun Evans) struck up a holiday romance that came back to haunt him when he returned to Oxford.

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Tensions between Endeavour and DI Fred Thursday reached boiling point, but the pair appeared to reconcile by the end of the season.

You can read our full explainer piece on the Endeavour series seven ending, which includes all the questions we need resolving in season eight.

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