Men in uniforms. Incomprehensible rules. Nothing happening for hours at a time. Everyone taking it very seriously. Not my idea of a good time.
The cricket episode. Written by Anthony Minghella (based on an idea by Colin Dexter) and first broadcast on 18 January 1989.
Morse meets up with an old friend, Anthony Donn, who has returned to Oxford for a cricket match at Arnold College which is to be followed by the old boys' team going on a European tour. Also involved with the cricket team is Roland "Roly" Marshall, another old friend from Morse's student days who is now confined to a wheelchair. Hours after meeting with Morse, Donn dies by electrocution. The death looks like a suicide — the live wires were placed in his mouth — but Morse has his doubts. So does his wife Kate, who is surprised to learn that her husband had in his possession a loaded gun. Lewis goes undercover as a college porter and joins the cricket team. He learns that a couple who are staying at Arnold College, the Fosters, may not be who they claim to be. When a second murder occurs at the cricket match, Morse learns what the Fosters were actually up to, and begins to unravel the mystery.
This episode contains examples of:
- Always Murder: The main plot has two deaths, both acts of murder — although they were committed by different people and for different reasons. There are also three deaths as a result of the bookshop fire, but this has nothing to do with the plot and is unresolved at the end, although as the fire was clearly arson the deaths were acts of manslaughter at the very least.
- Baseball Episode: Cricket, actually. Lewis, a keen cricketer, goes undercover as an Arnold College employee in order to take Donn's place on the Clarets, the college's old boys' cricket team. In the match, he only manages to score one run before being deliberately run out by a team-mate, but later takes a catch and gets a wicket. A murder, that of Peter Foster, takes place in the pavilion during the match. Colin Dexter came with with the idea for a cricket-centred episode after learning of Kevin Whately's love of the game.
- Batter Up!: When Lewis follows Foster to the cricket pavilion at night, he ends up getting knocked out with a cricket bat.
- Brief Accent Imitation: Done (and combined with Actually Pretty Funny) by Morse, partly out of surprise on learning that Lewis uses the phrase "y'know" as a euphemism for going to the toilet.
- Brand X: This episode adds Arnold College to the list of fictional Oxford colleges in the show; Anthony Donn and Roly Marshall are former students there and are both members of the Clarets, the college's old boys' cricket team. The Real Life Pembroke College was used as a filming location for the college scenes.
- Casting Gag: Sharon Maughan, who plays Kate Donn, was well-known at the time for appearing in a series of adverts for Gold Blend coffee with Anthony Head. Her character was therefore given a line in which she says she hates coffee.Kate Donn: Ugh! I hate coffee. It gives me a headache.
- Comforting the Widow: Morse is not averse to a little flirtation with Kate Donn, whose husband (a friend of his) has just died. She has an ulterior motive, though, as she was responsible for her husband's murder and is trying to throw him off the scent.
- Creator Cameo: Colin Dexter can be seen in the background when Roly tells Lewis about Vince Cranston's adulterous ways.
- Everyone Went to School Together: Morse, Anthony Donn and Roly Marshall were all students at Oxford University at the same time — although Donn and Roly were at Arnold College, as opposed to Morse who was at Lonsdale. Morse and Donn were briefly housemates.
- Evil Cripple: Roly Marshall is a somewhat downplayed example, having turned to a life of crime since becoming confined to a wheelchair. Unable to play cricket, a game he loved, he retained control of the Clarets (quite possibly by eliciting sympathy for his disability from his team-mates) and organised overseas tours which he used as a front for drug smuggling. The contraband itself is hidden in his wheelchair, which he (correctly) figured would not be subject to much by way of examination when travelling abroad.
- Foreshadowing: When Donn asks Roly when Vince Cranston will be arriving at cricket practice, Roly comments that he's "probably saying a long goodbye to someone else's wife". Turns out, Cranston's having an affair with Donn's wife.
- Hypocrite: After telling a uniformed constable off for listening to the cricket on the radio while at work, Lewis confiscates the radio ... which he uses to listen to the cricket while at work.
- In-Series Nickname: Lewis is amused to learn that when he was a student, Morse was nicknamed "Pagan" on account of him not telling anyone his Christian (first) name. He even cheekily addresses Morse as "Pagan" while working undercover.
- Jerkass: In addition to having an affair with the wife of one of his team-mates, Vince Cranston objects to Lewis playing for the Clarets — the Arnold College old boys' team — on the grounds that he's a college employee (or so Cranston thinks); it's implied that this is the reason why he deliberately runs Lewis out during the cricket match, and later drops a catch off the man's bowling. Roland Marshall also counts, as he's using what was once his beloved team as a front for a drug smuggling operation.
- Men Can't Keep House: Morse is, shall we say, somewhat unfamiliar with his kitchen.Anthony Donn: Do you cook or something? Or is there somebody at home you're keeping a secret?Morse: I did live with a microwave for a while but, err, we argued.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Donn makes an astute observation about the similarities between his own profession and that of his old friend Morse.Anthony Donn: Ironic, really. You get a policeman and a lawyer together. They know how to ask the questions, but they're not very good about answering them.
- Red Herring: As was the case with "The Last Enemy", two unconnected murders are for a time mistaken for the work of a single killer.
- Shear Menace: Jamie Jasper murders Peter Foster by stabbing him in the chest with a pair of scissors.
- Shout-Out: Anthony Donn had been reading his wife's copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance before he died. Morse later figures out that the clue to uncovering what happened to Donn lies not within the book itself but in the rather flowery dedication, which was written by Cranston, Kate's lover.
- Sleeping Single: When the Fosters were allocated a college room to sleep in, it had twin beds, which the scout pushed together to make a double — only to find they'd been pushed apart again.
- Undercover as Lovers: An interesting variant as one of the couple in question, Peter Foster, is using his own name. Philippa, however, is not really his wife — they are in fact customs officers who are investigating a series of drug-smuggling operations that have coincided with the Clarets' overseas tours. They really are onto something here, as the tours are being used by Roly and his nephew Jamie as cover for the smuggling, but Peter is killed by Jamie when he gets close to finding out the truth.
- Undercover Cop Reveal: Lewis is eventually revealed (in-universe, of course) to be a Detective Sergeant rather than a college porter.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Anthony Donn is an old friend of Morse's, and their interractions, especially when they eat chips together in the park, give the viewer a hint of Morse's background and personal history. Donn is killed shortly afterwards.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We do not find out if anyone was arrested for the fire at the left-wing bookshop which killed three people. Hell, we never even find out who the victims were.
- Wheelchair Antics: Roly uses his wheelchair to smuggle cocaine and heroin across international borders.
- Wrong Assumption: For a time, Morse believes that Donn and Foster were killed by the same person.
