Roger Allam, best known for playing Detective Inspector Fred Thursday in ITV's Endeavour, has candidly admitted that he no longer has the energy for acting. The 72-year-old, who began his career in 1976, spoke about the scarcity of roles following the show's conclusion in 2023.
Two-year hiatus after Endeavour
Allam starred alongside Shaun Evans in the prequel series from 2012 to 2023. After the show ended, he admitted he "didn't know what to do" as other TV roles were few. Although he appeared in the film Tetris shortly after, it was two years before his next credited production.
In 2025, he took on roles in the comedy film Brighton Storeys and the short film Learners. Later that year, he made his return in the World War I drama The Choral, which also featured Ralph Fiennes, Mark Addy, Alun Armstrong, Robert Emms, and Simon Russell Beale.
Reflecting on the gap
Speaking to The Telegraph, Allam shared: "Endeavour had just finished, another TV thing which I thought might have a few series in it didn’t get made, and I just felt completely adrift. I didn’t know what to do."
He added: "But then I don’t work as much as other actors. I just don’t have the energy any more. I look at someone like Lesley Manville, who always seems to be filming a TV series while doing eight shows a week in the West End, and I think, 'My God!'"
Other work and upcoming stage role
Despite the screen hiatus, Allam was active in radio, starring alongside Joanna Lumley in the BBC Radio 4 comedy Confessions from a Long Marriage from 2020 to 2025. He said the series, about a couple married for 40 years, brings him "fan mail".
Now, he is set to appear on stage in Alan Ayckbourn's comedy How the Other Half Loves, running from July 29 to September 19, 2026.
