If you’re allergic to sun, sand and seawater, it’s murder in paradise
Hollywood calls it a ‘ r e b o o t’ . Psychologists refer to it as ‘reverting to type’. For telly detectives, it’s ‘going back to square one’.
Ralf little stepped off the plane on Death In Paradise (BBC1) and the show returned to its beginning. In 2011, Ben Miller arrived as DI Poole on the fictional Caribbean isle of Saint Marie, perspiring in a jacket and tie, detesting the heat and flies, as he set about tackling the sky-rocketing murder rate.
Poole was irritable, sarcastic, impatient and cantankerous — and that was before the morning heat began to wear at his temper. The more he grumbled, the better we liked him — proof that the public has always expected grumpiness in its great sleuths, from Poirot to Morse.
The writers were so dismayed when Miller announced he would be quitting after just two seasons that they took their revenge on Poole — and killed him off with an ice pick in the back of the head at a university reunion.
But that left them with a problem. They had the perfect formula for a light-hearted crime series in the sun, but they couldn’t reuse it without appearing, well, formulaic.
Kris Marshall took over from Miller, adding a slapstick element as the clumsy DI Goodman. Ardal o’Hanlon followed him, playing the broken- hearted widower DI Mooney — grumpiness replaced by grief.
None of them lasted long. Filming conditions on location in the tropical island of Guadeloupe are said to be difficult: Ardal claimed the racket of the frogs and insects at night was worse than the scalding humidity during the day.
Seven years after Poole’s departure, Ralf little can be the detective that death In Paradise was always meant to have. His anxious, asthmatic DI Neville Parker is allergic to sun, sand, heat, seawater, pollen and dust. when he met Harry, the little green lizard who shares his bungalow on the beach, his shrieks could be heard in Jamaica.
Most of all, he can’t stand sunshine. As he walked out of the aerodrome, the glare made him flinch and cower.
The last character we met who reacted so badly to a blast of vitamin d was dracula. Maybe DI Parker is a vampire. He was brandishing his suntan lotion like garlic. Naturally, he has a supernatural ability to spot clues. His first case involved a woman who had taken a bath with her hairdryer in a locked hotel bathroom: DI Parker ruled out suicide when he spotted that she was wearing a mouthguard. who worries about grinding their teeth in a coffin, he wondered?
It’s delightful to see such a popular show return to its original format. No doubt DI Parker will learn to tolerate the heat, and even love the lizard. But how long will Ralf little be able to stand the noisy nights?
In the more civilised surroundings of the Victoria & Albert Museum’s archives, conservators on Secrets Of The Museum (BBC2) were searching for clues to reveal the history of unseen exhibits, such as a pink dior cocktail dress, once worn by the glamorous wife of the Queen’s private physician. Pin-prick holes in the fabric suggested the dress had once been worn with a brooch.
Its former owner, Pamela Mann, confirmed this was true: her husband william had loved to surprise her with jewellery. How romantic.
The most ingenious sleuthing was done on a 120- year- old stuffed elephant called Pumpey who needed reupholstering.
An Edwardian photo album of the toy on family holidays revealed how he had once looked, on the beach in his sailor costume. Pumpey didn’t mind a bit of sunshine.