Endeavour's Abigail Thaw thinks her dad would have approved of Inspector Morse prequel

Abigail Thaw thinks her father would have given 'Endeavour' the "nod of approval".

The 57-year-old actress plays journalist Dorothea Frazil in the 'Inspector Morse' spin-off and she is sure her late dad John Thaw - who played Morse from 1987 until 2000 - would have loved the prequel series, which launched in 2012 with Shaun Evans in the lead role.

Speaking to What To Watch, she said: ""I like to think that Dad would have given it the nod of approval.

"We made it our own, we weren’t trying to ape Inspector Morse, but I've always had him as a sort of benign presence on set just there on my shoulder, and I’ve loved that.

"I think he's up there smiling."

The show is set to come to an end on Sunday (12.03.23) after nine seasons, and Abigail thinks her father would have been glad with the way Shaun played Morse.

She added: "Dad would have loved Shaun, and would have totally respected Shaun’s wishes to not emulate him but with the writing, you could still absolutely see Morse and the man he was about to become."

She admitted the role "meant the world" to her dad, despite some early doubts about the way the character would be perceived by viewers.

She explained: "Initially, he was unsure whether anyone would want to be bothered with this grumpy, vaguely alcoholic, miserable loner! But then he fell in love with the character.

"When he was in 'The Sweeney', every bloke wanted to fight him, whereas with 'Inspector Morse', everyone wanted to shake his hand!"

'The Endeavour' finale airs on March 12 at 8pm on ITV1.