The Glitch is the fourth episode of the twelfth series of Midsomer Murders and was originally broadcast on 21st July 2009.
Abrasive Clinton Finn, the head of an American software company based in Midsomer, fumes at the police's inability to catch the Bucket Man, a local who targets speeding drivers from the company, including Finn, and throws red paint over them. DCI Barnaby however has a more pressing case, the murder of schoolteacher Emily Harte, deliberately knocked from her bicycle at night and run over. However Emily had been loaned her cycle cape by boffin George Jeffers, who would seem to be the intended victim. Not only is his ex-wife in a relationship with Finn but he has antagonised the American by withdrawing the extremely costly air traffic control system he designed for Finn's company due to a Glitch.
Tropes:
- Car Fu / Murder by Mistake: Emily Harte is knocked off her bike by a car. The driver then reverses over the top of her, killing her.
- Covered in Gunge: A vandal known as 'the Bucket Man' is attacking cars in a village and dumping paint mixed with glue over them. The murderer pours paint over his last intended victim to try and make it look like the work of 'the Bucket Man'. Ironically, his intended victim was actually the real Bucket Man.
- Dying Clue: Mechanic Daniel Snape leaves a message for a friend indicating he knows who the murderer is, but he's murdered before they can talk. He leaves a cryptic dying clue at least: writing down 'Escort 63' on the palm of his hand. he wrote down the make of car and part of the number plate, and not a year as Barnaby as initially assumes.
- Hero Stole My Bike: Tom steals the murder weapon (a rally car) in order to get to where the killer is about to strike next as fast as possible.
- His Name Is...: Mechanic Daniel Snape leaves a message for a friend indicating he knows who the murderer is, but he's murdered before they can talk. He leaves a cryptic Dying Clue at least.
- Shout-Out: The episode centers around a potentially fatal computer glitch. At one point, the university choir sings the song "Daisy Bell", famously the first song to be sung by a computer. "Daisy Bell" was also featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey — a film about a fatal computer glitch.
- Smart People Know Latin: One academic insists on saying nearly everything twice, first in Latin then in English.
