masterpiece mystery - endeavour

I just found out in time to catch the episode 1 of series 2 of the Masterpiece Mystery's Endeavour, beginning tonight.

Of all the Masterpiece productions, set in the mid sixties, Endeavour is my favorite. To me the episodes in series 1 probably the most beautifully shot TV series. I would rate it in par with, if not better than some of the best episodes of Mad Men (Mad Men production varied a lot from season to season while most episodes are excellently shot). The production quality is as perfect as it gets. The lighting (note the shadow details and faces and skin tones in interior scenes) and cinematography are consistently outstanding that one would be hard pressed to find even a bad frame. The castings, sets, locations, props, costumes makeup, and hairdos are always period accurate. Even the skylines of England were painstakingly CG'ed to perfection. Then there are the occasional excerpts from many operas. Each of the about 80-minute episode is self-contained with complex and clever convoluted plots that you have to pay undivided attention the whole show.

To learn more about the Endeavour series please refer to this Wikipedia page that covers all the episodes and productions. The Endeavour series started with the pilot in 2012 which only has 1 episode. With the well received success of the pilot episode then followed with series 1 in 2013. Both the pilot and Only series 1 are is currently on Netflix streaming (here in the US) and only available until July 1.

Series 2 is the current (2014) season and episode 1 would begin tonight in most PBS affiliates in the US. My local station OPB will air it at 9:00 pm weekly on Sunday night beginning tonight. There will only be 4 precious episodes so if you want to watch them you have to catch them when you can. While it is likely series 2 will eventually make it to Netflix, I would not want to take the risk in case they don't.

If you are in Portland or nearby cities in Oregon, there are actually three chances you can catch it. One at Sunday 9:00 pm, and two at early morning weekdays.

there are plenty of beautiful period automobiles like this Jaguar MKII and the Rover P6

 inspector Morse is an opera lover and a cerebral intellect with attention to details

the production has some of the best cinematography

 then there are eye candies of famous architecture like the Homewood that was inspired by Villa Savoye

 a scene in the Rocket shot in the lovely interior of the Homewood

Update Jun 29 23:18
In the episode 1 of the current series (series 2), as usual there are treats of period automobiles. Right off the back they destroyed a beautifully painted Cortina MK I station wagon. Then there is a car chase (in gentlemen's fashion) involves a Triumph roadster. And there is the excerpt from the ball scene in La Traviata opera used as the sound track during the beauty pageants. The new episode is as enjoyable as each in series 1.