When your friend brought you home the other night, I didn't see a coward — just a man beat up too often and for too long maybe. You're not yellow; you're just blue.
The beauty queen episode. First broadcast 30 March 2014.
May 1966. After several months spent recuperating on light duties with the County force following the events of "Home", Morse returns to Oxford and witnesses a pageant, held to mark "nine hundred years of history", disrupted by two events. The first is when feminist Kitty, daughter of by-election candidate Barbara Batten, sprays beauty queen Diana Day with red paint, the second is when an unknown man falls to his death from a roof. Initially deemed a suicide, the deceased had a host of fake identity cards and had scrawled a message on a motel notepad, D DAY FRIDAY 98018.
When Bernard Yelland comes to Oxford in search of his runaway step-daughter Frida, Morse believes that FRIDAY actually reads FRIDA Y, while D DAY could refer to Diana Day. A diversion from these mysteries is provided by the theft of an Anglo-Saxon jewel, the Wolvercote Trove, from an exhibition at Beaufort College. The dead man is revealed to have been a London-based private detective, Pettifer, who was not above blackmailing his clients and may have been involved in the burglary. Morse, meanwhile, works out the significance of the figures and exposes secrets of the great and good to discover who killed Pettifer and Frida.
This episode contains examples of:
- Added Alliterative Appeal: Barbara Batten and Diana Day. Deliberately invoked in the case of the latter, given that it’s a Stage Name.
- The Alcoholic: Thursday expresses concern about Morse's drinking. It won't be the last time he does this.Thursday: I'm all for a beer at lunchtime. There's nothing wrong with that. But when you're on duty with me, you'll lay off the spirits. I've seen too many go that way.Morse: What way?Thursday: You think I missed all the bottles around your flat? In six months, you'll have enough off the empties to put down for a second-hand car. Booze can be a good servant, Morse, but it's a lousy master.
- Always Murder: Come on, did you really think that Pettifer's death was a genuine suicide, or that the investigation into Frida Yelland's disappearance would not result in the finding of her corpse? The fact that Morse, being Morse, doesn't believe for one minute that the former was suicide is lampshaded by Jakes.Jakes: Not back off light duties five minutes and already thinks it's foul play. Just like old times.
- Always Someone Better: Matthew Copley-Barnes thinks he can get away with being patronising towards coppers who don't know as much Anglo-Saxon history as him. He's reckoned without Morse.Copley-Barnes: [patronisingly] Strangely enough, I can't imagine that a working knowledge of the Historia Ecclesiastica looms large in the Hendon curriculum.Morse: I can't imagine it would do us very much good if it did.Copley-Barnes: I beg your pardon?Morse: The Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, to give it its full title, appeared 335 years before the events with which this exhibition is concerned took place. Venerable the Bede
may have been, but not clairvoyant. [Copley-Barnes looks annoyed that he has met someone who knows even more than himself, while Jakes smirks in the background] - Ambiguous Situation: Is Val Todd sleeping with Diana Day? Probably not, as they both deny it when asked, in addition to which Diana is seen to be sleeping with Val's assitant, Tony Frisco. Nevertheless, Muriel (Val's wife) was suspicious enough to hire Pettifer to see if there was any truth in this. He then followed Val, and witnessed the murder of Frida Yelland as a result. Sticking with this trope, we cannot be sure how much of Frida's murder he saw or understood, but when he tried to blackmail Val Todd over it, his days were well and truly numbered.
- Artistic Licence – History: Morse himself is guilty of this when he tells Kitty Batten that the Rokeby Venus was vandalised by a suffragette in 1913; that actually happened in 1914.
- Artistic Licence – Politics: In Real Life there is not, and never has been, a Parliamentary constituency called Oxford North — it, like the many fictional Oxford University colleges, was invented for the show. For the time period in which this show is set, there was one constituency for the whole city (called, rather unsurprisingly, Oxford). It was a Conservative seat until the 1966 general election when it elected a Labour MP; at the next general election in 1970, a Conservative was elected. There was no by-election in that constituency between those two general elections.
- Bait-and-Switch: Kitty Batten shoots a gun at Diana Day. Turns out, it's a water pistol (albeit one which looks very much like a gun), containing red paint. Kitty's attack on Diana as a whole counts as an example of this too, given that it's happening at the same time as the murder of Pettifer.
- Batman Gambit: Morse's messages to Val Todd and Archie Batten to meet "you know where", given that he had not much actual proof of their complicity until they both showed up at the disused holiday camp. Especially so in the case of Archie Batten, as he wasn't there the night Frida was murdered and may not have even known where Val and Tony carried out the murder.
- Beauty Contest: These play a significant part in this episode. Diana Day, the model who is attacked by Kitty Batten, has recently won the Miss Great Britain contest. A regional one, Miss Oxfordshire, is organised by Val and Muriel Todd; Frida Yelland had taken part in one of the heats and is revealed to have met Archie Batten there, he being one of the judges. To say that Morse is not keen on these is an understatement; while attending Miss Oxfordshire, he compares them to a 'best cow' contest at a county show he was taken to as a child.Morse: The winner got a rosette, the loser a bolt in the head.Dorothea Frazil: It's only a bit of fun, Morse.Morse: Oh, yes, it's all fun. Till the music stops.
- Bittersweet Ending: Barbara Batten wins the by-election, but finds out the unsavoury truth about her husband as a result of him getting arrested for conspiracy to murder. She does appear to reconcile with her daughter, though.
- Blackmail: Pettifer, the private detective, was not above using the information he found for this purpose. Rather than go to Mallory's wife with evidence of her husband’s adultery, he went to Mallory and tried to blackmail him. Mallory would've given him the beating that he actually gave to Morse, had Pettifer not been murdered first due to a case of...
- Blackmail Backfire: Pettifer was killed by Tony Frisco because he blackmailed him and Val Todd over the murder of Frida Yelland.
- Brotherhood of Funny Hats: Freemasonry is heavily implied to be the reason why Archie Batten gets the charges against his daughter dropped, and is later outright stated as the link between Batten and Val Todd. Despite these sinister undertones, Strange joins the Masons, thinking it may help his career (what with him recently having failed his sergeant's exam). Morse disapproves.Strange: I've been invited to a meet and greet this evening. With a view to being initiated into a certain ancient fraternity. We haven't all got your brain, matey. Never will have. Some of us need a leg up.Morse: A man can't serve two masters note . Sooner or later, you'll have to choose. Just don't lose your way. It's easily done.
- Call-Forward: A few.
- Morse encounters (and, to the delight of Jakes, verbally gets the better of) arrogant academic Matthew Copley-Barnes, who appears in the original series episode "The Infernal Serpent". He is not nice. Towards the end of the episode, Thursday warns Morse that a man like Copley-Barnes "won't forget" that Morse falsely accused him of murder, but Morse is dismissive of this, claiming that an egotistical jerkass like Copley-Barnes probably will forget that. Given that in "The Infernal Serpent" Copley-Barnes acts like he has never met Morse before, Morse is right — thus providing an in-universe explanation for what could otherwise have been a minor continuity snarl between Endeavour and Inspector Morse.
- One of the main pieces in Anglo-Saxon exhibition is named as the Wolvercote Trove, which forms part of an Anglo-Saxon belt buckle. Its corresponding part is the titular jewel in the original series episode "The Wolvercote Tongue".
- A sign in the museum informs us that the missing trove is usually housed in "the A.L. Macullen Room". The name "A.L. Macullen" is a punning reference to Alma Cullen, the TV writer whose credits include four episodes of "Inspector Morse" — including "The Infernal Serpent", in which retribution (of a kind) is finally visited upon the unpleasant Matthew Copley-Barnes.
- Morse and Thursday both drink Radford's beer. Radford's is the name of the family-run brewery in "Sins of the Fathers".
- One of the judges of the beauty contest (who's also shooting an advert with Diana Day) is racing driver Danny Griffon, whose family is at the centre of the plot of the pilot episode of Lewis.
- This episode deals with Strange's first brush with Freemasonry. He goes along with it, thinking it could be good for career advancement. Given that he goes on to rise higher in the police than the more capable Morse, it will be. Morse, meanwhile, finds the very idea of Freemasonry distasteful, thanks to the fact that it provides a link between Archie Batten and Val Todd. Morse's dislike for Freemasonry will continue.
- Car Cushion: Pettifer lands on a car.
- Cigar Chomper: Val Todd.
- Continuity Nod: A few examples.
- Oxford North, the constituency being contested in the by-election, had previously been the constituency of Sir Richard Lovell, the Corrupt Politician who was forced to retire from public life at the end of the pilot episode.
- Kitty Batten is a student at Lady Matilda's, an all-female (fictional) Oxford college which features or is referred to in several episodes of Endeavour, as well as Lewis. Based on St Hilda's College, it's named for the Empress Matilda, a claimant to the English throne during the 12th-century civil war known as the Anarchy who was for a time imprisoned in Oxford Castle.
- Beaufort College, another of the Morseverse's fictional Oxford colleges, previously featured in "Girl" (Sir Edmund Sloan was a don there) as well as the original series (notably "The Infernal Serpent", in which Matthew Copley-Barnes is shown to have risen to the position of Master there). It's named after Henry Beaufort, a bishop and politician who served as Chancellor of Oxford University from 1397 to 1399.
- When welcoming Morse back, Bright alludes to the "opera lunatic case" which was the main plot of "Fugue". Dr De Bryn alludes to the climax of that episode when he notes Morse's queasiness about heights when they are investigating Pettifer's death. Morse's dislike of heights is well established in the original series, but this is the first time it's mentioned in the prequel.
- Morse interviews Diana Day at the Rudolph Hotel, which is where Prince Nabil was staying in "Rocket".
- Creator Cameo: As Morse and Thursday walk away from Beaufort College after investigating the scene of the trove heist, they pass Colin Dexter sitting on a bench.
- Deadpan Snarker: Max De Bryn.Morse: Anything suspicious?De Bryn: Only you.
- Dead Person Impersonation: Archie Batten turns out to be a case of this. As a soldier during the war, he was on long range patrol with his commanding officer when the latter was killed. Seeing a chance to escape his unhappy family life at home, he stole the officer's rank and identity. In this episode, it comes back to bite him when he has sex with Frida Yelland, who turns out to be his daughter; they met at a beauty contest and she got talking with him because she was trying to find out more about her biological father, who as far as she knew was killed in the war while serving in Batten's unit — and, as she used her stepfather's surname, Batten didn't make the connection until she mentioned her actual father's name just after they'd had sex.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: Both Frida Yelland and Pettifer were in fact murdered by Tony Frisco, Val Todd's assistant. He was acting on behalf of Todd and Archie Batten for the first one, just Todd for the second.
- Election Day Episode: There's a by-election going on. Barbara Batten is the Labour candidate.
- Foreshadowing: A couple of good ones.
- When the Battens visit the police station to get their daughter released, Fred Thursday makes a comment about Archie's regimental tie, foreshadowing the revelation about what happened to him During the War.
- Early on, Tony Frisco mentions that he used to work in pest control. Later, we hear that Beaufort College had a rat infestation thanks to the sewer that runs under it. The two are connected — that was how Tony knew of a secluded place where he could hide Frida’s body.
- At the very end of this story, an unidentified person (whose face is not seen) is shown examining the missing note-book, a hint that the Masons are, as Val Todd threatened, going to monitor Morse's activities in future episodes.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: When Tony Frisco shakes hands with Morse, it looks like he could be using a Masonic handshake; Morse curiously glances down, and nothing is said.
- Gilligan Cut: Thursday, seeing that two bad guys have roughed up Morse, threatens to beat them up. Cut to ... Thursday beating the crap out of both of them.
- Grammar Nazi: Morse picks up on Archie Batten's poor punctuation. Which gives us a hint that Batten may not be all he claims to be.
- Hard Work Hardly Works: Despite studying hard, Strange, now back in uniform, failed his sergeant's exam. Morse had not sat his due to his father dying and him getting shot in the leg. Seeking alternative means of career advancement, Strange joins the Masons.
- He's Back!: Since getting shot in the leg at the end of Series 1, Morse has spent several months on light duties with the County force. After passing the medical, he returns to Cowley police station.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Something of a bonus for eagle-eyed viewers; two gold torques that were among the items stolen from the exhibition are clearly visible on the model's arms when Thursday and Morse visit the photography studio. Their focus, though, is on Delfarge and not the photo-shoot which is happening in the background.
- Hospital Hottie: Monica Hicks, Morse's new neighbour, is a nurse.
- Jerkass: Matthew Copley-Barnes. The fact that he is one is probably what makes Morse so sure that he had something to do with the death of Frida Yelland.
- Leave No Witnesses: The reason why Pettifer had to die, as he witnessed the murder of Frida Yelland and tried to blackmail Val Todd over it.
- Ms. Fanservice: Being a beauty queen, Diana Day is treated as one of these in-universe, as are the young ladies taking part in the Miss Oxfordshire contest.
- Mundane Solution: The Anglo-Saxon exhibits were stolen from Beaufort College by the photographers, one of whom was a former student at the college who would have known about the sewer that ran under it and the fact that students used to use it to gain access to the college after curfew. Morse is distinctly unimpressed, feeling that there has to be more to it than that. He's wrong, although the revelation that the college theft has nothing to do with the murders helps him to focus on working out just who killed Frida Yelland and Pettifer.
- Never One Murder: Two murders, this time. As is standard for an ITV cop show, the second body is found just before an ad break. The twist is that this was the first murder.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Fred Thursday becomes worried about Morse when he doesn't play along with the Running Gag about what's in his sandwiches.
- Papa Wolf: Thursday's violent tendencies in this area extend to being protective of Morse, as evidence by his encounter with two low-level baddies who've just given the latter a brutal beating.Thursday: You and your pal had a rare old time at the expense of one of mine. Suppose you could tell me what that was all about.Baddie: Suppose we don't.Thursday: Then I'll have to take off my hat.[Loud battle cry as Thursday takes on and beats both of them]
- Parental Incest: Unintentionally so, as Archie Batten didn't realise that Frida Yelland was his daughter until shortly after they'd had sex. His immediate reaction was to throw up.
- Police Brutality: The two thugs who beat Morse up under the impression that he’s Pettifer are actually CID officers; one of them, Mallory, had got wind of the fact that Pettifer had been hired by his wife to find out if he was having an affair.
- Red Herring: Contrary to what Morse thinks, Matthew Copley-Barnes had nothing to do with the theft of the artefacts from Beaufort College or the deaths of Frida Yelland and Pettifer. The notion of the theft being connected with the murders is also one of these; turns out, the only link between the two is the fact that the sewer in which Frida's body was hidden just happens to be the means by which the thieves gained access to the college.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Barbara Batten mentions in a speech that it is a couple of months since the general election of March 1966, in which Harold Wilson's Labour government increased its majority. She also mentions that Oxford North was won by Labour on a very slim majority in that election, although the winning candidate, one Tom Duggan, died soon afterwards — thus explaining why there's a by-election so soon after a general election.
- Running Gag: Not for the first or last time, Morse is tardy when it comes to standing his round in the pub. By the end of the episode, normal service is resumed with regards to him correctly predicting what’s in Fred Thursday’s sandwich.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Archie Batten is able to get his daughter Kitty released without charge after her attack on Diana Day thanks to this. Jakes and Thursday later discuss it.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Downplayed; Thursday is concerned that Morse is suffering from what would now be termed post-traumatic stress disorder.
- Ship Tease: Invoked between Morse and Kitty Batten by Matthew Copley-Barnes, albeit mainly to show off the latter's Jerkass tendencies.
- Shout-Out: For the second series, writer Russell Lewis really gets going with these...
- When Morse is following up a clue in London, he sees a sign for "R. Duck, Theatrical Agent, Fourth Floor." Withnail's Uncle Monty names his first agent as "Raymond Duck. Four floors up on the Charing Cross Road."
- In the same scene, there's a sign for Pacific All-Risk Insurance which is the firm that Fred Macmurray's character works for in Double Indemnity.
- Grimsby Pilchards, as advertised by Diana Day, was the subject of an unsuccessful attempt at advertising in an episode of Hancock's Half Hour. Furthermore, the poster's ongoing defacement over the rest of Series 2 and its and eventual replacement is a reference to the Philip Larkin poem "Sunny Prestatyn" which is about poster vandalism.
- Val Todd has phone calls from two interesting individuals...
- "Mr White from Play-Tone", which is interesting as the name Diana Day sounds a lot like Diane Dane, a supporting character in That Thing You Do!.
- "Lane from SCDP", which is accurate for the timeframe of Mad Men note . It's also appropriate that a shout-out to Mad Men should come in this particular episode, given that Archie Batten has basically done exactly what Don Draper did.
- A poster is seen for a closed-down holiday camp by the garage whose staff members wear bright yellow blazers; the first letter of the camp's name is obscured, but the rest reads "aplins" note . Val Todd mentions that he used to be the entertainments officer at a holiday camp, but doesn't name it.
- The photographer, Delfarge, has an assistant named Thomas — the name of the photographer protagonist of Blow Up, which was released in 1966, the year in which this episode is set.
- The situation with the garage-cum-motel, for which business has been bad since the by-pass was built (resulting in a big drop in passing trade) echoes the Bates Motel's situation in Psycho.
- One of the judges at the beauty contest is called Robert Danvers. That's the name of the main character in Terence Frisby's 1966 play There's a Girl in my Soup, which was made into a film in 1970 starring Peter Sellers.
- Shout-Out to Shakespeare: Bright's "Once more unto the breach" line is a quote from Henry V.
- The Show Must Go On: Stated word-for-word by Val Todd after the attack on Diana Day.
- Slumming It: Thomas, Delfarge's assistant, is actually the son of a marquis.
- Smoking Hot Sex: Tony Frisco and Diana Day indulge in this.
- Smooth-Talking Talent Agent: Val Todd comes across as one of these, justifying the percentage he takes from Diana Day's earnings by saying that "it's show business, not show friendship".
- Smug Snake: Matthew Copley-Barnes. Even his students don't like him much, if Kitty Batten is anything to go by.
- Stage Name: In-universe, Diana Day’s real name is Betty Jones.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The Todds.
- The Frida Yelland murder occurs as a direct result of Val inviting his fellow-Mason Archie Batten to be a judge for one of the Miss Oxfordshire heats. Had Val not invited him to do so, Archie would never have met Frida, who would not have been murdered.
- If Muriel had not hired Pettifer to follow her husband, he (Pettifer) would not have witnessed the Frida Yelland murder, would not have tried to blackmail Val and so would not have been murdered.
- Women Are Wiser: Alluded to, as Val Todd tells Thursday and Morse that his wife Muriel is actually the brains behind his talent agency.
