Dakota Blue Richards (The Golden Compass) has joined the cast of Endeavour.

The actress – who played Franky in Seasons 5-6 of E4’s teen drama, Skins – will appear as WPC Shirley Trewlove in the period crime drama’s third season.

The new regular character is described as “thorough, determined and forthright”, who “quickly draws the admiration of Endeavour by demonstrating natural initiative, a wry sense of humour and perhaps most keenly, a rare intellect – one not entirely similar to his own”.

Richards commented: “It’s very exciting to be joining the talented cast of Endeavour. WPC Trewlove is incredibly astute and enthusiastic and I can’t wait to see how her story unfolds.”

Writer Russell Lewis added: “Bright, capable and brave, WPC Shirley Trewlove is a very welcome addition to the ranks of Oxford’s Finest. While very much a young woman of the 1960s, Trewlove also evokes a very particular kind of timeless British heroine. Betjeman’s ‘Ring leader, Tom-boy, and chum to the weak’.”

Shaun Evans (The Last Weekend) returns as the young Detective Constable Endeavour Morse in four new 120-minute films.

Season 3 began filming in March.

Written by Lewis creator and Inspector Morse writer Russell Lewis, the new season will be set in 1967, picking up from Season 2’s finale that saw Endeavour Morse placed in police custody, framed for a murder he didn’t commit, and DI Fred Thursday’s life hanging in the balance after being shot in the chest.

Returning cast members include Jack Laskey as DS Peter Jakes, Sean Rigby as PC Jim Strange, Anton Lesser as Chief Superintendent Reginald Bright, James Bradshaw as Dr Max DeBryn and Abigail Thaw as journalist Dorothea Frazil.

ITV has not revealed if Roger Allam will be back as Thursday.

Are you looking forward to Season 3? Let us know below…