The Sword of Guillaume is the second episode of the thirteenth series of Midsomer Murders and originally aired 10th February 2010.
Tom Barnaby joins the Causton Chamber of Commerce trip to Brighton as he is suspicious of dodgy mayor Hicks' plan to buy coastal land on which to build cottages, luckily for Tom his cousin DCI John Barnaby heads up Brighton CID so a visit would be justified. Also opposed to the plan is Lady Matilda William, who has received threatening letters, as has the local vicar, oily property developer Hugh Dalgleish, and hotelier Jenny Russell. Lady Matilda is descended from Richard of Guillaume, a ruthless contemporary of William the Conqueror, and believes that her son Richard, last of the line and confined to a wheel chair because of a head injury twenty years past, was the victim of jealousy. In Brighton, Dalgleish was murdered with a sword stolen from Guillaume's tomb, and Hicks is eventually arrested for fraud. Having learnt how Richard came by his accident, Barnaby was convinced that Richard and not the property scam is the cause of another victim being claimed by the sword of Guillaume.
Tropes:
- Artistic License – Chemistry: The murders are committed with the eponymous sword, which dates back to the Norman Conquest and has been inside a tomb for centuries. In real life, the sword would've rusted to such a degree that it would be useless as a blade.
- Cut Himself Shaving: Played for Laughs when these very words were offered as an "explanation" of the victim's decapitation.
- The Eeyore: The Reverend Giles Shawcross
- Gory Discretion Shot: This episode averts the trope to the point of horror.
- Heir Club for Men: The murders ultimately stem from Lady Matilda's bizarre attempt to secure an heir for her son, who is a brain-damaged quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair following an accident. The plan involved arranging a marriage then extracting sperm to impregnate the wife.
- Off with His Head!: The first two victims are beheaded with a medieval longsword.
- Innocuously Important Episode: This episode introduces DCI John Barnaby, Tom's younger cousin who replaces him at Causton CID in the next series.
- It Runs in the Family: The Cousins Barnaby, it's lampshaded to hell that the cousins ended up in the same profession and have the same rank.
- Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter: The gloomy vicar. Naturally (for this programme), he's given a sign just at that moment.
