The violin episode. First broadcast 26 February 2023.
Spring 1972. After a period of extended leave at a drying-out clinic following the events of the previous series, Morse returns to Oxford at the same time as the celebrated Oxford Concert Orchestra, led by illustrious composer Sir Alexander Lermontov. The discovery of a body in a college garden leads Morse and Thursday to the orchestra's door, and when a second tragedy hits, they uncover a web of secrets. Meanwhile, grisly London business turns up in Oxford, with a criminal from Thursday's past brutally murdered in a derelict warehouse. As the mystery unfolds, the Castle Gate team realise that there are some unsettling ties to a case that everyone had hoped was long since behind them.
This episodes contains examples of:
- Always Murder: Three of them in this episode, all unconnected and two of them still unsolved by the end. There is also a suicide from over twenty years ago; Morse is able to deduce what (and who) drove the young victim to take her own life.
- Always Someone Better: For Margaux Quincannon, the lead violinist in the Oxford Concert Orchestra, it's guest soloist Christina Poole, who she tries to intimidate with a bullying tactic she used on another rival at school (which drove the poor girl to suicide). In turn, Margaux is this to supporting violinist Mabs Portman.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Margaux Quincannon, who is nice to Christina Poole's face but is secretly behind the bullying campaign against her.
- The Bus Came Back: As the last series begins, some old faces return.
- Ronnie Box, last seen getting shot in "Deguello", is now working as a private detective. How he managed to avoid the long prison sentence one would expect for the crimes he committed is not stated, although given his Heel–Face Turn (he being the one who shot Alan Jago) he might have got a lighter sentence by way of a full confession and a guilty plea.
- Sam Thursday, last seen in "Colours" and last heard of as having gone absent without leave while stationed in Northern Ireland in "Terminus", returns to Oxford, having been kicked out of the Army and (briefly) sent to prison for desertion. As far as those outside of the Thursday family (like Morse) are concerned, he's merely left the Army. Truth in Television, as a dishonourable discharge from any branch of the armed forces would have been seen as very shameful back then (it still is today), and the family would want as few people to know about this as possible.
- DS Jakes also appears, albeit only in a flashback from "Neverland".
- Busman's Holiday: Or rather, Busman's Orchestra Recital. Morse is enjoying an evening of classical music when one of the violinists drops dead. Played even straighter when the orchestra manager asks if there is a doctor present, and it turns out that Max is in the audience.
- Call-Back: Morse returns to Blenheim Vale; there are also several flashbacks from that episode, including footage of a distraught Jakes and Thursday getting shot.
- Call-Forward: A big one to the original series, given that the dead man found in Beaumont College went by the surname Lewis and was from the North East of England.
- Comically Missing the Point: When Morse refers to Hardy when talking of his recent trip to Dorset, he obviously means Thomas Hardy. Strange, though, thinks he means Laurel and Hardy.
- The Con: As the manager of the Oxford Concert Orchestra, Fischer has been fiddling the books to make it look like the various hotels the orchestra stayed in while touring Europe were charging more than they actually were, and pocketing the difference. Margaux found out about this and was threatening him about it at the time of her death.
- Continuity Nod: Lots.
- When Bright mentions to Thursday the prospect of the latter getting promoted to Detective Superintendent, he adds that this would mean a transfer to Carshall Newtown, the place where Morse was transferred from in the pilot episode.
- The taxi is the same model and colour as the ones used by Speedy Taxis, the cab firm in "Scherzo".
- Flood's personal effects include a card for the Ostrich Fanciers' Club, the front for the porn distribution ring in "Scherzo".
- The tea-lady at the concert hall mentions that Mimi, the pop singer from "Canticle", had performed there the previous week.
- A subtle one as it's not referred to by name, but going by the design on the tin, the biscuits served with the tea during the orchestra's practice are from Cresswell's, the confectionery factory from "Confection".
- Morse refers to his having taken part in an Oxford Scholars' Choral Association performance the previous year; his performing with this group got him in the paper in "Fugue".
- Bright could be referring to several episodes when he makes the following comment:Bright: Gang business. London business. Here in Oxford? Never ends well.
- Andrew Lewis's mother worked for several Oxford-based companies that have been the subject of police enquiries in this show, among them British Imperial Electric (the arms manufacturer in "Rocket") Richardson's (the supermarket in "Arcadia") and — more ominously — Landesman Construction (the corrupt building firm in "Neverland").
- Morse's enquiries into Andrew Lewis's death lead him to Burridge's, the department store in "Sway".
- The bullying campaign against Christina Poole (consisting of a single, insulting word written on her mirror in lipstick) is reminiscent of the one-word letters that Sir Edmund Sloan received in "Girl". She even consults the same person (Morse) as Sir Edmund did about it.
- Creator Cameo: A poster advertising "Dexter's Satchels" appears on the wall in Burridge's; it features a photograph of Colin Dexter.
- Deadpan Snarker: Max DeBryn is on good form, as usual.DeBryn: We can probably assume he wasn't lying dead in the middle of a drinks reception, Sergeant. People tend to notice that sort of thing.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Margaux, Mabs and Christina all went to Madame Belasco's school for musically gifted children, although the latter was there a few years after the other two.
- Going by the Matchbook: Thursday finds that his surname and phone number have been written on a matchbook that was among Mickey Flood's personal effects.
- Headscratchers: A couple.
- Why would Mickey Flood waste valuable time looking for Fred Thursday's number in the phone book when he had it written down in his matchbook?
- Was anyone going to tell Morse about Joan and Strange getting engaged? He only found out because Joan had to rebuff his latest attempt to ask her out.
- Does Strange not have anyone other than Morse who he can ask to be his best man?
- As Strange points out, he and Morse have been through a lot together and he regards him as his best friend. Also, Morse being Morse, he's never made his feelings for Joan Thursday known to anyone — including the woman herself.
- He's Back!: Since the events of "Terminus", Morse has gone to a drying-out clinic followed by a holiday in Dorset. Everyone comments about him having come back from a period of extended leave.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: Two examples.
- After being released from the military prison, Sam Thursday asks his father to take him to a pub before they go home. Later on, Morse comes across him in a drunken state.
- What pushes Morse back to the booze is the revelation that Joan Thursday and Jim Strange are engaged, added to which, Strange wants him to be the best man.
- Is There a Doctor in the House?: Shouted out word-for-word when Margaux Quincannon collapses mid-performance. It so happens that Max is there, but he cannot save her.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: Christina, a very talented violinist since she was a schoolgirl, expresses this.
- Jerkass: Sir Alexander has his moments.
- Meet Cute: Invoked with Morse and Christina, who meet when he catches her when she trips over. Nothing comes of it, though.
- Missing Mom: Andrew Lewis came to Oxford to track down his mother, Brenda, who has not been seen since 1962.
- Picky Eater: Margaux Quincannon is seen by most people who know her as one of these. The fact that she has a severe nut allergy (which not everyone knows about) may well have a lot to do with this.
- Plot Allergy: Margaux's allergy to nuts is used against her by Mabs, triggering a fatal allergic reaction mid-performance.
- Previously on…: The episode begins with one of these, a first for the Morseverse.
- Rule of Three: The newly sober Morse refuses the offer of a drink from three people — Dorothea Frazil, Max DeBryn and Ronnie Box, all of whom react in a surprised way when he turns them down.
- '70s Hair: Somewhat downplayed; the two men in the orchestra have ponytails, and Strange is sporting a pair of sideburns.
- Shout-Out: A few, as ever — although they're somewhat subdued compared to the ones of recent series.
- Thursday's time at Cable Street gets another nod.
- One of the men in the orchestra uses Alan Partridge's "Nevertheless, I had the last laugh" line to end an (unseen) anecdote.
- Sir Alexander Lermontov shares his surname with an equally controlling character in The Red Shoes.
- When Morse visits Burridge's, mention is made of a "Young Mr Burridge", further emphasising the similarities between that department store and the one in Are You Being Served?, in which the store's owner was always referred to (despite his age) as "Young Mr Grace".
- Margaux's hotel bill is from the Englischer Hof Hotel in Meiringen, Switzerland — the hotel where Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson stay before the former's final encounter with Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls in the "The Adventure of the Final Problem".
- Weaponized Allergy: Margaux Quincannon, the lead violinist in the Oxford Concert Orchestra, suddenly chokes to death during a performance. Max concludes she died from a fatal reaction to a nut allergy, but the police struggle to determine how she was killed as she hadn't ingested anything before the performance. Morse eventually figures out the killer ground the nuts into powder, then embedded it in the rosin that was used to prepare her violin bow. Thus during the performance as she played the dust came loose and she was unwittingly inhaling it.
