A second actor from Endeavour has agreed to attend a festival to celebrate the long-running Inspector Morse TV detective dramas.
ITV has confirmed that series 9 of Endeavour will be the last, and the final three episodes are expected to be shown at the end of this month and at the beginning of March.
To mark the end of Endeavour, a festival to celebrate Inspector Morse is being held in Jericho on Saturday, March 4 and Abigail Thaw and Anton Lesser, who appear in Endeavour, have both agreed to attend.
READ AGAIN: Endeavour - counting down to the last episodes
The Inspector Morse spin-off starring Shaun Evans and Roger Allam launched in 2012 and scenes have been shot on location in the city ever since.
Inspector Morse, starring John Thaw and Kevin Whately, ran from 1987 to 2000, and was then followed by Lewis, featuring Kevin Whately and Laurence Fox, from 2006 to 2015.
Jericho resident John Mair, who is organising 'Morsefest', said the festival idea had really taken off.
He added: "This Morse event day is proving genuinely exciting.
"We already have one big star on board - Abigail Thaw.
"Her father John Thaw played Inspector Morse and she is the 'editor of the Oxford Mail' in Endeavour.
"Anton Lesser, who has the role of Chief Superintendent Bright in Endeavour, is coming too.
READ AGAIN: Endeavour - when the final series will air
"Chief Superintendent Katy Barrow-Grint of Thames Valley Police has also agreed to attend."
Festival events will run from 2pm.
They will include a guided Morse tour starting at 2pm at Martyrs' Memorial, a drink in the Morse bar at the Randolph Hotel at 4pm, followed by talks in St Barnabas Church, Jericho, at 6pm. Entry is £10.
Then to conclude the event, there will be a meal in the Old Bookbinders Ale House at 8pm.
Mr Mair added: "The Saint Barnabas event at 6pm still has room.
"There are now six Morse walks on the day and four are full.
"It's going to be a very busy day."
READ AGAIN: New signs go up at first veggie Pret in Cornmarket
Mr Mair said earlier that he had organised the festival to mark a significant end of an era, as the end of the Endeavour series will mark the end of a 36-year-old Inspector Morse TV tradition.
According to the website britishperioddramas.com the final season’s opening episode is set in the spring of 1972, and directed by Shaun Evans.
The synopsis for the story reads: "Two unexplained deaths turn up ties to the Oxford Concert Orchestra, while a body discovered in a derelict warehouse stokes fears that ‘London business’ has yet again found its way to Oxford.
“Thursday and Endeavour’s investigation unearths some unsettling connections to cases the duo believed were well and truly behind them.”
Precise dates for series 9 of Endeavour have not yet been confirmed by ITV.
Read more from this author
This story was written by Andy Ffrench, he joined the team more than 20 years ago and now covers community news across Oxfordshire.
Get in touch with him by emailing: Andy.ffrench@newsquest.co.uk
Follow him on Twitter @OxMailAndyF
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here