Don Gilet shines as Death in Paradise’s new lead sleuth – even if his first case makes no sense

Historical past is made in BBC One’s newest Loss of life in Paradise Christmas particular, as Don Gilet turns into the primary Black actor to play the lead function of a British police detective parachuted into the sleepy (and completely fictional) Caribbean island of Saint Marie. However as he dons the droopy inexperienced solar hat of DI Mervin Wilson, he has his work minimize out in a enjoyable, feature-length instalment that tries to drag off a number of demanding duties concurrently.

Firstly, the episode should introduce DI Wilson as a completely rounded substitute for the departed Neville Parker (Ralf Little). Secondly, it has to serve up a particular dollop of Christmas cheer on a weekend when the primetime schedules heave below a lifeless weight of tinsel and season’s greetings. Oh, and it has to ship a satisfying homicide thriller with the inevitable unfastened ends tied up by the closing credit.

That’s a tall order – too tall maybe. There are moments when this Christmas one-off threatens to lose its footing and tumble head over heels like Santa slipping on a dodgy roof tile. The excellent news is that Gilet is a superb addition to the collection. His phlegmatic, crotchety persona harks again to the OG Loss of life in Paradise policeman overseas, Richard Poole (the harrumphing Ben Miller).

Poole was perpetually grumbling about life on a wonderful tropical island. DI Wilson has a few of that very same Columbo-esque power, complaining early on that visiting Saint Marie is “like stepping again in time”. However there’s deep unhappiness below that glum exterior, and it’s revealed that he got here to the island hoping to attach together with his mom, whom he had by no means recognized. He additionally appears to not have any mates again in London – revealing to DS Naomi Thomas (Shantol Jackson) that he at all times volunteered to work at Christmas as a result of he didn’t have a lot else on.

The episode additionally brims with yuletide conviviality. Because it was little doubt filmed months in the past, in sunny Guadeloupe, conjuring the season’s allure will need to have been a problem. Nevertheless it pulls it off, with a heart-warming subplot through which Danny John-Jules’s officer Dwayne Myers pulls out all of the stops to spend 25 December together with his ageing dad Nelson (Ram John Holder), who he suspects might not have too many extra Christmases left in him. Dwayne follows this up by asserting he’s stepping down as a policeman in order that he can have extra high quality time together with his father (it’s Jules’s second exit from Loss of life in Paradise after he beforehand took time away in 2022).

The place the instalment falls down is in its manically convoluted homicide plot. You realize that web meme from It’s At all times Sunny in Philadelphia, through which a wild-eyed Charlie Day stands in entrance of a cork-board map criss-crossed with pink traces? That’s what this Loss of life in Paradise storyline seems like, because the holidaying Wilson is requested to delay his return to London to assist the native police examine the double killing of two males, each dressed as Santa.

The 2 have seemingly been killed with the identical gun – on the identical time. Oh, and there may be one other near-victim, once more finished up as Father Christmas and pinged with a bullet on the very second his fellow Santas had been shot lifeless.

Untangling the thriller is a tremendously fiddly endeavor, and I’m nonetheless unsure I completely perceive all of it. I gained’t spoil it right here – suffice to say it’s a bonkers mixture of Agatha Christie’s Homicide on the Orient Categorical and Oliver Stone’s JFK, with a number of potential culprits and sufficient deep-fried pink herrings to inventory a chipper on Christmas Eve.

It’s all fairly baffling, and never even DI Wilson seems to totally perceive it as he breaks down the main points of the homicide. However then, the crimes – and the thought they should make any sense in any respect – have at all times taken a again seat on Loss of life in Paradise. Way more vital is the truth that the brand new DI strikes up an prompt reference to the help crew of DS Thomas and police chief Commissioner Selwyn Patterson (Don Warrington).

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New subscribers solely. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews till cancelled

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The chemistry is nice, the sunshine a balm right now of yr – and the Christmas spirit appropriately festive. You may go down a tropical rabbit gap making an attempt to unravel the sophisticated plot. However bah humbug to that. What is actually vital is that Loss of life in Paradise has a compelling new lead detective. To grouse in regards to the twisting, turning story can be to bask in prison ranges of nitpicking.