Tag Archives: Death in Paradise

Quercus – TV Critic

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Things are getting better. I didn’t take any painkillers last night and my hand didn’t hurt overnight. It was also usable this morning. Unfortunately all my other joints were stiffer than usual and getting dressed took a while longer than I would hve liked. That’s the trouble with painkillers, you can come to rely on them. I will just hve to get used to life without chemical assistance.

I watched The Marlow Murder Club this week – a good two part mystery set in the Buckingham town of Marlow. It was very enjoyable – good cast, good characters, reasonable plot, though it did rather depend on a well-worn plot device (which I won’t reveal). I spotted it a little way into the second episode and was able to have a decent go at unravelling it. Do not believe the review behind the link when it says the ending comes as a “genuine surprise” – it doesn’t.

Bear with tools

It’s by the writer who created  Death in Paradise. That annoyed me this week by having a solution that depended on (a) a talking parrot and (b) a solution that depended on you spotting that one item was missing. I felt we didn’t get much of a chance to solve it. I also think that, in line with all the rules/guidelines relating to mysterious orientals, identical twins and secret passages, talking parrots should be banned.

This is the second week where we have avoided The Apprentice, and have enjoyed ourselves much more as a result. The formula is old and dull now, the apprentices are dreadful, Karen and Tim are poor replacements for Nick and Margaret and somebody appears to have told Alan Sugar that he is funny. He isn’t.

Bear in the Garden

Death in Paradise – Review

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I don’t know if you are all familiar with Death in Paradise – if you aren’t I’m afraid this might not be the post for you.

It’s average. The setting, a Caribbean Island, is outstanding, the cast is strong and they work well together, and the lead actors have all been good. Some of the plots have been as good as anything you will find anywhere, others have been weak. Last night’s, I felt, was weak, far-fetched and was on shaky ground ballistically. In these days we have all been trained by  CSI we all expect good science.

The plots are also formulaic, with a set-up, a moment where the Inspector has a revelation, and  gathering of suspects for a Christie style denouement. Unfortunately they often fail to develop character in the suspects and I’m not really bothered who did it, or if there are consequences.

That’s not to say I don’t like the series, I do. It’s pleasant and easy to watch, the plots are mostly acceptable and there are plenty of secondary stories to keep me pleasantly involved.

Regarding the main actors – the Detective Inspectors from London – they have all been slightly quirky and have all been played by decent actors. I like Ben Miller and I like Kris Marshall, and they both played the part well. I was a little concerned over Ardal O’Hanlon as he was a bigger name than the other two, and could well have overpowered it, but he didn’t. I had no worries with Ralf Little coming in because he’s done some good stuff over the years. And I was wrong.

I have no problem with Ralf Little as an actor, and from what I’ve seen and read think he seems like a good bloke, but he has been saddled with such an unbelievable and dislikeable character that it isn’t working for me. And as the formulaic quirky DI begins to creak the whole nature of the programme starts to fail.

This, of course, is just my opinion. I’m not a drama critic, and I set out to write a blog post about medallions, so have been side-tracked again. Did anyone else see it, and if you did, what did you think?

Sorry about the photos – it’s the best I can do, as photos of the Caribbean aren’t really a feature of my work.

Banknote from Suriname

Banknote from Suriname