2.2 Nocturne Morse’s investigation into the school turns up evidence of its macabre past. Intriguingly, the dagger left by Weiss’s body – not, it transpires, the murder weapon after all – was bequeathed to the museum by the great house’s former owners, the Blaise-Hamiltons, whose money was made from tea plantations in India. On one summer’s day almost exactly a hundred years earlier, almost all the children in the family and their nursemaids were beaten to death with a croquet mallet in the gardens. An Irish labourer was accused of the crime, but died, apparently by his own hand, before he could be tried. Local legend claimed instead that ‘Bloody Charlotte’, the only child to survive the massacre, was in fact responsible; Morse learns that she was quietly committed to an asylum by her father and died relatively young, without heirs. The girls at the school are well versed in a garbled version of the crime, and, along with Miss Danby, claim to have witnessed Charlotte’s ghost stalking the corridors of Blythe Mount. When shy pupil Bunty Glossop (Nell Tiger Free) vanishes one night, it seems that their fears may just be legitimate. Stephen Fitzowen, writer of a book on the Victorian crimes, agrees to help Morse mount a ghost hunt in the school, but the dreadful events they witness that night will instead reveal a real, and very dangerous, threat to the safety of its pupils. The last direct descendant of the Blaise-Hamiltons is still at large, and his bid to assert his claim to the family estate is the thread that links the bloodbath of 1866 with Weiss’s demise in the present day. As usual with Endeavour, fine character work adds to the impact of the mystery. Morse’s tentative romance with nurse Monica (Shvorne Marks) is put in jeopardy by an ill-advised decision to go on a double date with Strange, but a touching scene between him and his unexpected companion for the evening, his boss’s daughter Joan (Sara Vickers) helps resolve his doubts. Pathologist Max DeBryn (James Bradshaw) can usually be relied upon to bring a touch of wit to proceedings, but even his composure fails when schoolgirl Maud is killed. Bradshaw, Evans and Anton Lesser as the usually composed Chief Superintendent Bright skilfully convey the horror of the young girl’s death with few words. Director Giuseppe Capotondi evokes an unforgettably bleak atmosphere in this place of buried secrets, wringing every ounce of tension from what is undoubtedly one of the darkest episodes of Endeavour to date. Read Gem’s review of the previous episode, Trove, here.
