Clive Burkitt

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Pure Evil
Full Name	Clive Burkitt
Alias	Councillor Burkitt
Origin	Endeavour
Allies	Alan Jago Freemason members Clive Burkitt
Powers / Skills	Sophistication Authority Negotiation
Goals	Conceal his corruption and shoddy work on the Cranmer House.
Moral Event Horizon	Grafting money from the poor construction of the Cranmer House, knowing well of any consequence of his actions. Joining the corrupt official ring in Oxford and win support in election with a false image. Assisting McGryffin to murder people who tried to expose their conspiracies. Uncaring about the Cranmer House's deterioration, the deaths caused by its collapse, and being evasive over questions after the house had collapsed. Trying to persuade Bright and later blackmailing Thursday into turning against Morse. Turning against all of his partners and gave them all in so that he could earn a lighter sentence in prison.
Kill Count	18+ (indirectly) 5 (attempted)
Worst Crimes	Attempted mass murder Mass murder by proxy Negligance Blackmail Extortion Fraud Grafting Bribery
Type of Villain	Cowardly corrupt politician

“	Look... you play fair and all your troubles... disappear. The cheque, gone. Everything back to how it was. Just bring him out to Wicklesham tomorrow. Maybe between us, we can talk some sense into him.	„
	~ Burkitt threatening Thursday to surrender Morse in.

Councillor Clive Burkitt is one of the two secondary antagonist (alongside George mcgryffin) in the Series 6 of Endeavour,

Burkitt was an Oxford city councillor and the man who oversaw the building of Cranmer House, a new apartment in the Martyrs' Field, but in secret he and his partner George McGryffin used cheap and unsafe materials to build the apartment in order to graft expenses from it. He was later revealed to be a partner of Alan Jago and one of the people that Ronnie Box answered to.

He was portrayed by Alexander Hanson, who previously portrayed Francis Mitchell in Lewis.

What Makes Him Pure Evil?

• As a major member in Oxford officials as well as one of Alan Jago's partners-in-crime, Burkitt was a participant of the Thames Valley corruption. He was also one of the people whom Ronnie Box answered to.
• He and his partner George McGryffin used cheap and unsafe materials to build the apartment in order to graft expenses from it.
• A year later, as the controversy of Cranmer House arised, Burkitt only tried to keep his good name and disregarded the early alarming informed by Mrs. Reynolds.
• He assisted McGryffin in murdering Hollis Binks, and later he assisted the latter to murder Osbert Page.
• Eventually, the House Cranmer partially collapsed, killing sixteen men, women, and children, and injuring many others, including Mrs. Reynolds and her daughter. Burkitt knew it would happen all along, but he still showed no concern and only tried to keep his good reputations stable.
• When Frazil questioned about the Cranmer House's potential danger prior to its collapse, and when Morse asked him about Hollis Binks' identity, Burkitt was evasive towards both of them and made flimsy explanations. He claimed to Frazil that the collapse was caused by gas explosion, and lied to Morse that Binks resigned long ago.
• Burkitt tried to used their own connection in the city police, the seemly righteous ACC Bottoms, to persuade Bright into joining their business in exchange of leaving the traffic division.
• After finding out that Fred Thursday's brother was involved in debt cause by crimes of fraudulence, he and Burkitt forced Box to take Thursday to them. Burkitt threatened Thursday into turning Morse in.
• Later, Burkit and McGryffin later sent their minions to beat up Dr. DeBryn and had him kidnapped, not long after he had discovered the possible identity of Page's killer, who was revealed to be McGryffin's henchman.
• After Jago's death and his entire criminal ring's downfall, Burkitt immediately betrayed all of his partners after being arrested and testified against them, only as a coward attempt to shorten his span of imprisonment.

Trivia

• The collapse of Cranmer House is clearly suggested by the real-life tragic collapse of Ronan Point, a London tower-block in the Canning Town district. It partially collapsed in May 1968, about eighteen months before the events in this Endeavour story take place. Four people died and another seventeen were injured in the collapse.
  • Like Cranmer House, the Ronan Point collapse was initially ascribed to a gas explosion, but later its chief cause was found to be alarming structural deficiencies. As a result of the Ronan Point tragedy, laws were changed and made more stringent.
• The actors of both Burkitt and McGryffin were previously cast in Lewis.
• Like his partners, Burkitt's role in the Thames Valley corruption corresponded to one of the criminal leaders in the Blenheim Vale tragedy from "Neverland". In Burkitt's case, he is similar to Gerald Wintergreen.
  • Both Burkitt and Wintergreen are greedy and heartless politicians, who valued their profits and good names above all else, and tried to conceal their crimes in order to keep their publicity. Both also threatened Thursday to stay away from their business.
  • However, Burkitt went even further than Wintergreen that he exploited Thursday's dreadful situation with what happened to the latter's brother, and asked Thursday to keep Morse quiet as well. On the other hand, Wintergreen merely threatened Thursday but was killed before he could carry on more plans.