ABSTRACT
By the mid-nineties, the British media had woken up to the fact that the nation contained two societies: the traditional leisure culture of alcohol and entertainment (spectator sports, TV) versus the more participatory, effusive culture of all-night dancing and Ecstasy. The clash between old Britain and young Britain was dramatized to hilarious effect in an episode of Inspector Morse entitled "Cherubim and Seraphics." The plot concerns a series of mysterious teenage deaths that appear to be connected to a new drug called Seraphic. Despite its overt "just say no" slant, the episode mostly works as an exhilarating advert for Ecstasy culture. (Literally, insofar as Morse's remark to his detective partner — "it's a rave, Lewis!" — was sampled and used by a pirate station.)
