Death in Paradise, created by Robert Thorogood

Hello!

Some sweet little lambs to cheer us all up -- and my mum, saying hello to them

This week, I will be reviewing a TV show, called Death in Paradise -- the reviews will not be limited to books!

The core cast of the first 2 series, plus the next two leading detectives. Left to right: back row is Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman in the denim jacket, Detective Seargeant Camille Bordey and |Officer Fidel Best. Middle row is Officer Dwayne Meyers and Detective Inspector Richard Poole. Front row is Detective Inspector Jack Mooney.

Death in Paradise is a crime procedural show -- a crime procedural show being a show where people run around solving crimes, generally murders, as we are gruesome as a species. It's set in the Carribbean, hence the name; it's a dual Anglo-French project, which has produced nine series so far. It's a very good show -- my family has been watching it (available on BBC Iplayer, as well as Netflix) since lockdown started. It's also got a lot of silly and funny moments, cunningly interplayed with dramatic or serious moments -- a big example is in the first episode of series 3 when the opening credits start up, having just revealed the murder victim of the week to be [REDACTED -- BIG, BIG SPOILER]. 

The first episode of the show has Detective Inspector Charlie Hulme wind up being killed -- as he's a British national, a British Detective Inspector has to be flown in to help solve the case. So along comes the grumpy, unpleasant, but secretly caring and kind Richard Poole. He's like Severus Snape like that -- heart of gold hidden under layers of meanness. Wait, that's not right -- Snape's an arrogant, bitter bully, while Poole genuinely cares about other people deep down., and, in fact, despises bullies. Anyway, back to the review. Also, Hulme's death isn't much of a spoiler -- he's dead in the first 5 minutes, and the audience doesn't really get to know him well. Detective Seargeant Camille Bordey makes an early appearance as well; Poole catches her snooping around a boat that's under suspicion for involvement in human trafficking, so he locks her in the police cells. She then mocks him for being uptight. It later transpires that she's an undercover police officer -- that's why she was snooping around the boat. Another bit I like in that episode is a section where Poole rejects a female suspect as the killer; this prompts his  Detective Seargeant (not Camille -- she joins a bit later) to ask if he thinks women can't be killers. When he later catches the killer (who is female), her reaction is along the lines of "Why would I kill him?" Poole then references the Seargeant's words from earlier, asking if she's saying that women don't commit murders.

The latest team, minus one changeover -- left to right, Officer Ruby Patterson, her uncle Selwyn Patterson, Commissioner of Police, Detective Seargeant Madeline Dumas, Detective Inspector Jack Mooney, Officer J.P. Hooper, and Catherine Bordey, Camille's mother. (She's also mayor of Honore from the end of series 8)

Ratings

"My Best Friends Really Like Each Other But Can't Seem To Spit It Out" Levels: So named for Harry Potter's experiences with best friends who most like flirting by bickering; inspired by last week's blog. OFF-THE-CHARTS in the first two series -- Camille and Richard Poole bicker their way through cases, with many an eye-roll and exasperated sigh between them, but lots of tender scenes between them as well. Indeed, I can think of only one other fictional couple who bicker as much, and they inspired the rating! Less so in later seasons, because both Richard and Camille leave; there are some elements of simmering passion in Camille's relationship with Poole's replacement, but not as much.

Would you survive if you travelled to this world?: For the sake of argument, what this rating refers to is being dumped in the setting of the show or book -- for example, for Death in Paradise, anywhere except the Caribbean and you have the same chance of survival as in real life. In fairness, the same mostly applies for the setting itself -- most of the murders in the show are personal, as opposed to random. 

Magic versus science: Firmly on the side of science -- stuff like voodoo is brought up, but magic is mostly irrelevant to the murders.

Sarcasm levels: Here's a rating I should have thought of for Harry Potter! Speaking of, I'd give Harry Potter a good 9/10 for that. Anyway, for Death in Paradise, there's healthy levels of sarcasm, as many of the characters are either French, British, or some combination thereof; I'd say around 8/10.

Crime levels: Only really relevant for crime story books or police-type shows, for obvious reasons. Here I think around 30%; there's not much in the way of theft or other crimes, that we see; something else I've noticed is that when the team are trying to solve a murder case, they rarely have to devote attention to catching petty thieves and the like. I like to think that's because the police department is so small, most citizens of Saint Marie (the island the show's set on) abide by the law, just so the police don't get completely swamped. Why? Because it's funnier to imagine that.

Overall ranking: 8/10 It's genuinely a good show -- I would absolutely recommend it! It's available on Iplayer, and  series 1-7 are available on Netflix. There's also several books available.