Send in the Clowns is the sixth episode of the twentieth series of Midsomer Murders and was first aired through Acorn TV streaming service to the U.S. on 3rd May 2018. It was later transmitted in the UK on 14th January 2020.
Barnaby must face his fear of clowns when the Ferabbees Circus brings clown sightings and deadly circus acts to Midsomer.
Tropes:
- Accidental Murder: The third murder turns out to have been accidental—the murderer triggered an alarm system while snooping around a slaughterhouse and jostled a heavy wagon while trying to hide when the victim, Curtis Ferabbee, came around. The wagon went rolling and knocked Curtis on the automatic slaughter line (and left him too dazed to move away before the line went to the gassing room where he is asphyxiated with carbon dioxide).
- Afraid of Clowns: In this episode it's revealed that DCI John Barnaby suffers from coulrophobia.
- Artistic License – Medicine: Fleur suggests exposing Barnaby to clowns would be 'aversion therapy'. It's not. Aversion therapy is to build a dislike of something. This would be 'exposure therapy'.
- Broken-Window Warning: Ashley Denton receives a threatening note written in pig's blood tied to a brick and thrown through the window of his restaurant.
- Circus Episode
- Couldn't Find a Pen: Ashley Denton receives a threatening note written in pig's blood tied to a brick and thrown through the window of his restaurant.
- I Just Shot Marvin in the Face: The episode opens with Les Morrison trying to prank Terry Bellini during a performance with a prop gun, only for Bellini to be fatally shot through the heart. Everything appears to point to Morrison having grabbed a loaded gun without realizing it. However, a forensic report reveals that the bullet was indeed blank — the round that killed Bellini was from a rifle, which was shot simultaneously with Morrison's handgun and at a similar angle to give the illusion that he had a live gun.
- Monster Clown: Midsomer is terrorized by sightings of a scary looking clown roaming the streets carrying a bunch of balloons (or a lollipop) in one hand, and a machete in the other.
- Murder by Mistake: Ashley Denton is killed due to a retractable sword - used in a magic act as part of a circus - being exchanged for a real one, resulting in him being stabbed during the act. Problem is, the person who was supposed to be doing the act (the intended victim) volunteered Ashley, a friend of his, to do the act instead as part of a publicity stunt, being none the wiser.
- Not-So-Fake Prop Weapon: The killer sabotages the retraction mechanism in a trick knife used in a sword cabinet routine, resulting in the volunteer from the audience being fatally stabbed.
- Subverted earlier in the episode, where it appears that Terry Bellini has been shot dead as a result of a prop gun being replaced with a real one — but it turns out that this was only done to scare Terry, and the gun was loaded with blanks. The real killer, who had learned about this plan, used it as cover by shooting Terry with a rifle at the same moment.
