Shocking or slapstick . . . these murders are brilliantly inventive
PoKING fun at its own success, Death In Paradise (BBC1) sent its characters for a walk on a Caribbean beach after seeing them solve their 100th mystery.
dI Neville Parker (Ralf little), the fourth awkwardly brilliant detective in the show’s history, was toying with the idea of writing an online blog, a diary of his adventures on the sunshine island.
officer Marlon Pryce (Tahj Miles) was dismissive of the notion. ‘Yeah, I kinda would think it might be a bit of a boring fantasy,’ he scoffed. ‘No offence.’
That was the attitude of many sceptics when death In Paradise launched in 2011, starring Ben Miller as the first of the British fish floundering out of turquoise waters. his character lasted only one season before succumbing to an ice pick in the back of the neck at a university reunion — any kind of reunion being guaranteed to prove fatal on the fictional Caribbean island of saint Marie.
But he was in situ long enough to establish every detail of this perfect formula, from the buttoned-up shirt and tie to the lonely bachelor cabin with its resident lizard, harry.
above all, the series succeeds because of the brilliant inventiveness of its murder puzzles. each one is cleverly different, playing
outrageous and improbable tricks that never repeat themselves.
some killings are shocking, some are slapstick, a few are poignant, but all of them involve a limited pool of suspects — and all of them are solved. No detective on death In Paradise ever reaches retirement haunted by that one case he couldn’t crack.
Though most of the cast are regularly replaced, don Warrington has been there since the beginning as Commissioner selwyn Patterson. This time, he was the victim — gunned down at his own 50th anniversary party. he survived, making this a murder investigation without a death, until a corpse turned up on a yacht off-screen.
The episode opened with a flashback to the 1970s and the day selwyn sat his police entrance exam. It lasted only moments but looked idyllic, with classic Caribbean Chevrolets on the road and vintage billboard ads inviting us to ‘have a good rum for your money’.
death In Paradise has already spawned a spin-off, Beyond Paradise with Kris Marshall as di humphrey Goodman. Why not a prequel, featuring a young officer Patterson? Think how many murders he must have solved on his own, before the jacket-and-tie brigade arrived.
Bradley Walsh was sporting an extraordinary burgundy jacket and tight trousers that must have been meant to match the magenta lighting on Gladiators (BBC1). he looked like an estate agent on a karaoke night out. and he’s got plenty to sing and shout about, because this revamped 1990s hit has proved more successful than the most optimistic Beeb executive dared hope. on launch night last month, six million viewers tuned in — and another 2.7 million watched on catch-up during that first week.
Better still, more than a million of them were in that 16-34 age group who appeared to have switched off TV forever. luring them back is a huge achievement. at the start of this year, ITV ruled saturday nights with their classic quiz shows plus the allpowerful ant and dec. The best BBC1 could offer was Casualty.
The success of Gladiators appears to be due to its family appeal. It is children’s TV, with superhero characters and cartoon fights, but has an aura of sporting contest that lets adults take it just seriously enough to watch till the end.
The arena audience is full of mums and dads, grandparents and grandchildren, all having a laugh and adding to the feelgood family mood. This Gladiators is a thumbs up!