Endeavour will return for a sixth series in 2019.
The Inspector Morse prequel, which stars Shaun Evans as the famous literary detective, aired its season five finale last night (March 11) with the reveal that Detective Constable George Fancy (Lewis Peek) had been murdered during an investigation into the disappearance of a teacher from a secretive public school.
While fans were up in arms about the devastating death, they were immediately comforted by the reassurance that the show will return for a sixth series in 2019, as confirmed by ITV on Twitter during the episode itself.
A sixth series of Endeavour was expected even before the announcement, given the commercial and critical acclaim of the show this season.
The latest series launched with consolidated figures of 6.7m and 25% a share, with the consolidated figures for the first four episodes the highest for three years.
So what's next for Morse and pals?
Well, the next series will be set in 1969 and go into production later this year for transmission in 2019.
"As our story reaches the last year of the 1960s, and mankind makes its giant leap, all at Team Endeavour look forward to exploring further early chapters in the casebook of Colin Dexter's beloved creation," said series creator Russell Lewis.
"Endeavour continues to be hugely popular with ITV audiences and we're delighted to be bringing viewers more films to enjoy," added ITV's head of drama Polly Hill.
"Thanks to Russell Lewis's consistently intriguing scripts and the excellent production values at Mammoth Screen, it is a high quality drama that ITV is immensely proud of."
Endeavour will return to ITV in 2019.
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