Death in Paradise, review: 100 episodes in and the tropical idyll needs a Little refresh
It is the 100th episode of Death in Paradise (BBC One). To mark this milestone, the BBC trumpeted that it was bringing back a much-missed actor. Ooh! Could it be Ben Miller? Danny John-Jules? No, it’s… Sean Maguire, who appeared in the first episode in 2011 playing a thief at a yacht club. Now he’s back and managing the yacht club.
This is the sort of character development you get in Death in Paradise. Best not to think about it too deeply. The plot here was a big one: a shooting at the yacht club, and the victim is none other than Commissioner Selwyn Patterson (Don Warrington), at a lunch to commemorate his 50 years of police service.
Luckily, he survived. In no time at all, a suspect had been identified and tracked down. He even confessed. But that happened 15 minutes before the end, which meant there was going to be a twist.
Cathy Tyson was a guest star in this episode, as the victim of blackmail. And, for long-term fans, a brief return for Camille (Sara Martins), appearing via FaceTime in the throes of giving birth.
It was, in many ways, vintage Death in Paradise: lovely tropical views, gentle comedy, terrible attempts at Caribbean accents, jeopardy so low that the NHS could prescribe a weekly episode to combat hypertension. It provides some much-needed escapism at this time of year, and we should be thankful for some light-hearted TV when so many detective dramas are horribly dark and graphic. The show remains so popular that it still brings in millions of viewers every week and has been licensed to 230 territories. But isn’t it time for a change of lead?
Ralf Little’s character, DI Neville Parker, had a quirk when he first arrived – he was allergic to everything, including sand, which made him a comical fish-out-of-water. But now he’s deathly boring and Little plods through his lines with all the subtlety of someone in a school play. The actor was a gem as Antony in The Royle Family and early in his career had an Olivier Award nomination for a play at the Royal Court. He needs to get out of formulaic filler like this and rediscover his talent.
