And we kick off 2025 with the return of the column that earned me regular gig here at Black Gate. I’m ostensibly the in-house mystery guy around here, though I’m way beyond all over the place. Death in Paradise is a police procedural (it is not, however, a buddy cop show) with a fair amount of humor, and it debuted on BBC1 on October 25, 2011. The show started airing a Christmas special a few years ago, and episode number 109 just aired on December 22, 2024.

The basic premise is that Scotland Yard assigns a DCI (Detective Chief Inspector) to duty on the island of Saint Marie (pronounced ‘San Marie’), located in the Lesser Antilles. Saint Marie was turned over to the British by the French roughly forty years before the show starts. So, it still has a French-Caribbean culture.

There is a four-person police unit, with the DCI (Richard Poole) joined by a local Detective Sergeant (Camille), and two local uniform ‘beat cops’ (Dwayne, and Fidel). There are two other regulars: the female owner of a local bar (Catherine, who is Camille’s mother), and the Police Superintendent (Patterson). Five of the six main characters are island natives, so this is a classic fish-out-of-water scenario.

DCI Richard Poole is played by Ben Miller, who was great as Rowan Atkinson’s competent helper-agent in the Johnny English spoofs (the first one is a classic). Miller refuses to take off his jacket or loosen his tie while barely enduring the heat: Stiff upper lip and appearances and all that. He’s constantly miserable, and I love him in the part.

Episodes are an hour long, and the plots are complex. The fictional Saint Marie is near the real-life archipelago (isn’t that a fun word?) of Guadeloupe, which is where it’s actually filmed. The island and its culture are as much a fixture on the show as the actors are.

MINI SPOILER!!! – Just move down to the next paragraph if you don’t want to learn something about the cast. You have been warned.

This show changes cast members more frequently than the Pittsburgh Steelers win a playoff game (though that ain’t saying much). The four main police characters turn over nearly a dozen times. With one notable exception, the new characters brought in work well. Nine actors have appeared in at least 30 episodes (which is about three-plus seasons). Two more actors should break that mark in 2025. So, you get attached to a character at your own risk.

END SPOILER

I think that this is a terrific police show. The British DCI, the local officers, the island setting – it all works. Seasons are short in the typical British fashion (the idea of a 26-episode season must put British TV-makers in shock). It’s also one of several British dramas that has taken to airing a one-off Christmas episode (sometimes sort of a mini-preview of the upcoming season), and I look forward to this one every year now.

BritBox has all seasons, and I recommend going back to the pilot and watching from the beginning. It’s worth every minute.

HERE BE DRAGONS! (and Spoilers)

If you haven’t seen the first two seasons, and this episode, you should probably stop reading this, if you plan to do so. There’s a major cast change in the opener of this episode. I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise. Read on at your peril.

Since the episode is titled Death of a Detective, you might be able to guess what happens. The actor playing the British DI of the moment spends a significant part of their year in Guadalupe, filming. Ben Miller (DI Richard Poole) wanted to be back home in England. It was rumored he would be leaving after season two. The season finale had him escorting a prisoner back to England, and Camille was certain he couldn’t resist remaining there. It looked like he was off the show, but he reappeared at the very end of the episode.

So, I was excited to see him start off the next episode. I thought he would be around for at least one more season. Except, in the first segment, they found him on a chaise on the deck at a college reunion party on the island; with an ice pick in his chest. They killed him off!!! This episode still is a kick in the nuts for me. When they show the body; and there’s a silent, slow-mo montage with the other police there with the body. It’s a really powerful scene.

Now, they set the tone for main characters of the show in the pilot, with two main characters being removed (this wasn’t recasting after testing the pilot – it’s plot). But Poole had been the center of the show for the first two seasons, and I took this as quite a blow.

So we will move on from DCI Richard Poole, but his death scene remains etched in my TV-viewing memory. Don Warrington plays Commissioner Selwyn Patterson. He’s the boss, though he mostly runs things from afar. He sometimes weighs in with the ‘political and social realities’ of things. He’s rather humorless, and he isn’t enthralled with misfit Scotland Yard inspectors, but he’s a good guy overall, if rather stiff.

He comes into the station and we meet Poole’s replacement, DCI Humphrey Goodman, played by Kris Marshall. Humphrey is a different kind of fish out-of-water. He takes awkward to nearly epic levels. His first scene, arriving at the Honore police station in a cab, as the Commissioner and team watch him from the portico, really captures his essence.

There’s a really well-done scene in which he walks over to Richard’s empty desk and says “Uh. This is me, is it?.” It’s set apart, and kind of ‘looks out over’ the rest of the room, including the other three officers’ desks.

He stops and looks back as they watch him. Clearly seeing another DI about to sit at Richard’s desk is raw at this point. The scene is extended for a second or two and it’s quite poignant.

He clears his throat awkwardly a few times (everything about him is awkward, constantly), and instead walks to a small desk at the far side of the room. He sits down and says, “Actually, this will be great.”

The chair clicks down and you can only partially see him behind his bag on the desk. He lifts it back up and sits there…yes, awkwardly. I’m not over-emphasizing this, trust me. The team is clearly not impressed with this introduction.

But we have absolutely captured the essence of Humphrey. You’ve got the awkward part by now. Both physically and we’re guessing, socially (though Richard was reserved British socially inept). He’s thoughtful and not brash. He won’t be aggressively confronting suspects. His good nature is built on throughout this episode. The Commissioner has said that London touts him as a good detective, and we will see about that shortly.

Humphrey is constantly looking in his pockets for some scrap of paper to take notes on. I recall he is given a notebook or has one a time or two, but it simply doesn’t work for him. Early on, he pours the coffee out of a cup, flattens it, and starts taking notes on the cup. It is odd to watch. It’s a little thing, but it’s so him.

Fidel and Dwayne try to give him the benefit of the doubt. It’s not easy to do, as Humphrey tries to sit on a ledge at the crime scene and falls out the window while talking!

As the scene ends, with a disapproving look on his face, Dwayne says “Am I seeing things, or did he fall out of the window?”

Fidel looks resigned and says “Yes. Yes he did.” Dwayne shakes his head and walks away. A little later, Dwayne is complaining about Humphrey, and Fidel is telling him that Richard would want them to give him a chance. Even though Fidel is trying to get around how unimpressive the new man has been.

Camille wants nothing to do with him, and she’s a far cry from friendly. The next scene is Humphrey and Camille walking on the beach, and Humphrey can’t stop uncomfortably talking, and being a goober.

He finally says, “You really don’t want me here do you?

“No.”

Humphrey stops walking. “I’m not here to take his place. I’m not here to be him. I don’t expect anything. Any consideration. I’m just here. And while I’m here I promise I will do everything I can to find out what happened to your friend. ‘Cause that’s what he was. Not just your colleague. I’m sorry for your loss. I truly am.”

It’s sincere, and he may be a goober, but we like him. It’s impossible not to.

“But the thing is, I have a feeling I may need some help, and a great deal of it. You can decide if you like me afterwards.”

Camille is not exactly thawing. “And if I don’t?”

Humphrey has a good smile, which even conveys self-deprecation. “Good point. I don’t even have an answer for that.”

He looks down and sees that the surf has come up and his shoes are immersed. It fits his lack of ‘cool’.

“There’s a whole list of things I’m not very good at. But, I am a good detective And right now more than anything, I want to catch the person who murdered your friend. So maybe, just for now, it’s enough that we both want the same thing.”

Camille is looking at him like a surly teenager who has to listen to a parent. But she looks down and says You’re wet”

“Yes I am.”

“Your shoes will dry as we walk.” She says this with maybe the slightest hint of a smile (I’m honestly not sure), turns, and they go on.

There’s a lot of humor around the British CDIs not fitting in. Though one, who is Irish, actually seems like a rather normal person! But this episode really leverages the emotional impact of Richard’s death, in multiple ways. This is a pretty compelling scene that helps us adopt Humphrey quickly.

The assigned CDIs have their different hangups. Along with a marked SUV, the other official vehicle is a motorcycle with a sidecar. Dwayne drives. Richard hated being in the sidecar. But Humphrey finds it “splendid.” This just makes Dwayne shake his head.

If you follow me on FB, you know that I periodically play ‘I Know that Actor,’ where I snap a pic of some actor I know from another show or a movie. I started this years ago with all the great cameos on Columbo. And I do it with shows like Pysch, Monk, and other episodic ones I watch. Murdoch Mysteries is great for Canadian actors, and I do it with Death in Paradise. In this episode, one of the four suspects is Helen Baxendale. She was’ Ross’ British wife Emily, on Friends. She also had the lead on Curtain, the final Hercule Poirot story. I’ve talked about the FANTASTIC series with David Suchet, here.

I’m not going to give away the solution. This is one of those shows where the main detective solves the case without revealing anything, and the suspects are then gathered together for the denouement. This was established with Richard, but Humphrey is put off by the approach. “In front of everyone??” He doesn’t want to do it, but he likes it!

The solution reveals that Richard’s keen intellect, observational skills, and ability to solve a puzzle, led to his murder. It’s a nice farewell to the show’s star.

They actually brought Miller back for a sort-of-dream sequence, in season ten, as he gives advice to a character. It’s a very low-key, powerful scene. I only picked up on one neat element when I re-watched these first two seasons.

Back at the station, Humphrey finds his desk bare. He’s puzzled, looking for his stuff. Camille has set him up at Richard’s old desk. He is the new DCI. It’s nice closure. Humphrey does not join the gathering at the bar. He feels an intruder as they say goodbye to Richard in their own way. He takes a taxi home, but he and Camille have a bond.

The show ends with a voice mail from his wife, who is still behind in England wrapping things up. She is divorcing him. This episode has packed SO much emotion in one hour, from start to finish.

Marshall would stay on the show for three seasons, before the inevitable casting change. I’m not exaggerating when I talk about the turnover. The latest DCI was introduced in the new Christmas special.

In 2023, a new spinoff show was created, Beyond Paradise. Humphrey is in Devon (Southwest England). He’s still ‘himself’ (another fitting opening scene). The show is as much about his relationship with his girlfriend, as about the crimes. I like it well enough, and it’s been renewed for a third season (they just had a new Christmas special), but I’m not that invested in it.

I NEVER solve the case on Death in Paradise (which i always a murder, I believe). It’s always convoluted. I think they do a decent job with fair play, but I don’t even try to figure it out anymore. I just enjoy the show.

Series creator Robert Thorogood wrote three Death in Paradise novels, set in the Richard Poole era. I just finished the first, and started the second. They’re okay. No surprise that he has the characters down, and he plays out Richard’s characteristics and his hating living there. But they read slooooow. It took me awhile to complete the first one. It was good enough to continue on, but these aren’t the Monk novels. Or even the Psych ones.

I 100% recommend watching Death in Paradise. It has remained a good show, with no shark jumping. The cast changes work (though there was one police officer I was hoping would be shot in the line of duty – beyond annoying). I hope this keeps rolling along. Check it out.

UPDATE!

I did not mention a recent Australian spin-off, Return to Paradise. I haven’t seen it, and from what I could tell, it didn’t actually have anything to do with the original show.

However, I see that DI Jack Mooney (the Irish CDI for four seasons on Death), appeared in two of the six episodes. YAY!!!! I need to watch this show now.

Some previous entries on things to watch:

What I’m Watching: October 2024 (What We Do in the Shadows, The Bay, Murder in a Small Town)
What I’m Watching – November 2023 (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, A Haunting in Venice)
What I’m Watching – April 2023 (Florida Man, Picard – season three, The Mandalorian)
The Pale Blue Eye, and The Glass Onion: Knives Out
Tony Hillerman’s Dark Winds
The Rings of Power (Series I wrote on this show – all links at this one post)
What I’m Watching – December 2022 (Frontier, Leverage: Redemption)
What I’m Watching – November 2022 (Tulsa King, Andor, Fire Country, and more)
What I’m Watching – September 2022 (Galavant, Fire Fly, She-Hulk, and more)
What I’m Watching- April 2022 (Outer Range, Halo, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans, and more)
When USA Network was Kicking Major Butt (Monk, Psych, Burn Notice)
You Should be Streaming These Shows (Corba Kai, The Expanse, Bosch, and more)
What I’m BritBoxing – December 2021 (Death in Paradise, Shakespeare & Hathaway, The Blake Mysteries, and more)
To Boldly Go – Star Treking – (Various Star Trek incarnations)
What I’ve Been Watching – August 2021 (Monk, The Tomorrow War, In Plain Sight, and more)
What I’m Watching – June 2021 (Get Shorty, Con Man, Thunder in Paradise, and more)
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
What I’ve Been Watching – June 2021 (Relic Hunter, Burn Notice, Space Force, and more)
Appaloosa
Psych of the Dead
The Mandalorian
What I’m Watching: 2020 – Part Two (My Name is Bruce, Sword of Sherwood Forest, Isle of Fury, and more)
What I’m Watching 2020: Part One (The Adventures of Brisco County Jr, Poirot, Burn Notice, and more)
Philip Marlowe: Private Eye
Leverage
Nero Wolfe – The Lost Pilot
David Suchet’s ‘Poirot’
Sherlock Holmes (over two dozen TV shows and movies)

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Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every summer since.

His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).

He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’

He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories — Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.

He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.