Shaun Evans

Sunday nights have been busy for 41-year-old Shaun, who is in both Endeavour (8pm, ITV) and Vigil (9pm, BBC1). Here’s his story so far…

Born on March 6, 1980 in Walton – an area of Liverpool – Shaun trained with the National Youth Theatre and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

He began working straight out of drama school – in 2002, he was in the Ch4 series Teachers (available on All 4), and in 2003, he featured in The Boys From County Clare. He dated his costar in that film, singer Andrea Corr, for four years after they met on set.

Before sinking his teeth into the title role of Endeavour, which he’s played since 2012, he was in episodes of Ashes To Ashes (2009, Britbox) and Whitechapel (2012, Britbox).

Shaun later played Sir Richard Worsley in 2015’s The Scandalous Lady W (buy on Amazon).

Morse creator Colin Dexter died in 2017, having stipulated in his will that no one could succeed John Thaw to play the older Morse on screen. Dexter did, however, approve of Shaun being cast as the younger Morse, and the two became close friends. Shaun directs episodes of Endeavour and, before that, got his start directing episodes of Casualty:

‘I really wanted to learn my trade… I don’t want to be limited by just being an actor, and by that, I mean I want to be able to tell stories that don’t depend on my acting limitations.’