Death in Paradise (TV Series) Death of a Detective (2014) User Reviews

An Agatha Christie fan and no mistake

[ginea25 · 9/10 · 17 June 2017]

Robert Thorogood, the creator of Death in Paradise, first came across crime fiction through the works of Agatha Christie. Peril at End House, if I remember correctly. It's not surprising therefore to see many little homages to her work in his.

This episode, however, takes it to another level. It's a veritable love letter.

In The ABC Murders, one of Christie's most celebrated novels, Hercule Poirot recounts his notion of a truly enjoyable murder to solve:

Four people play bridge while a fifth, the odd man out, sits over by the fire with his back to them. At the end of the game, they find that he had been murdered. One of the players had gotten over to him without the others noticing and killed him. One must now figure out who and how.

This episode, therefore, with a few adjustments (no bridge and no fire in the Caribbeans), is Poirot's very own murder-à-la-carte.

It lacks a bit in emotional depth, hence 9/10 and not 10/10, but all in all it's a clever bit of writing and a very nice homage.

What the ......

[gjenevieve · 7/10 · 24 November 2015]

I have been watching this series on Netflix. I liked it from the beginning. I liked how DI Richard Poole (Ben Miller) solved the crimes. And the old throw back of assembling all of the suspects together and unfolding the story, pointing out the guilty person(s) was nice.

I have loved the lizard that has been in the story from the start. I even liked how DI Richard Poole and DS Camille Bordey (Sara Martins) seemed to be heading towards a more personal relationship in addition to their working one. I was really looking forward to seeing them become more involved.

Then this episode they kill off DI Richard Poole! What???? I was not at all happy about that. That means that Richard and Camille can never get together now. Okay, I was really unhappy about that, but was willing to continue watching as they brought in a new inspector, DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) just to see how he compared to the previous character and actor.

I must admit, that for the most part, I do not find English actors to be much to look at. However, I did not mind Ben Miller's looks. They replace him with Kris Marshall, who, I must say, is pretty much like most English actors, not that much to look at. I was willing to put up with that as well, plus this character had the added bonus of being married. I was looking forward to that. I felt that would be a refreshing change since it was no longer possible for Camille and Richard to get together. But, just as the episode ends, DI Humphrey Goodman gets a voice message from his wife telling him that she is not coming and never intended to come. She does not love him and has not for quite some time. Seriously? What rubbish.

I plan on continuing to watch as I do like the story lines and I really like DS Camille Bordey, Sergeant Fidel Best (Gary Carr), and Officer Dwayne Myers (Danny John-Jules). We shall see if the show can continue to hold up, but the whole turn of events has me quite frustrated and not at all happy.

If helen baxandale is in it

[SamPamBam · 9/10 · 12 March 2020]

Then you can believe she is the guilty party. She only plays bad people. Was she not the most awful person ever to guest on Friends? Yep, got to be her

I cried!!!!!!

[bangel3322 · 10/10 · 12 February 2021]

I loved Ben Miller in this show and it was such a shame his character was killed off instead of him returning to London or being promoted somewhere else. It gives me some comfort that he left the show of his own accord rather being replaced by production. I did get a bit emotional, however the storyline was one of the best I've seen on the show it was very clever and well done. And Kris Marshall is brilliant comedic actor so I'm sure he'll do well in the role.

New Detective

[ctyankee1 · 5 June 2014]

A murder is committed at a college reunion. DI Poole is uncomfortable as usual around people and wants to do his own thing.

Poole was invited by a woman that has been in love with him since college. She is still in love with him.

Five people are attending this party. One of them gets murdered. DI Humphrey Goodman is brought in to help solve this crime. He is funny, clumsy and very considerate.

This episode is different from the others but is very good. There is also very beautiful scenery on this island as usual and a friendly lizard named Harry.

Some of the things I do like about this series is that it is funny and no swearing, a lot of respect for each other and total obedience as a police. They follow orders and rules they may not agree with but are proper procedure.

The police characters, Camille, Fidel and Dwayne are also polite and kind. Camille sends her feelings to co-workers with her eyes and when they think something is funny or not right they just look at each other in a funny way that they agree. Camille does vocalize some of her feeling with sarcasm. There seems to be a real respect for each other in this series.

No way!!!!!

[Sleepin_Dragon · 10/10 · 30 November 2020]

Having never seen some of the earlier years, I now know why people laughed when I said I'd love to see Richard Poole return.

There's a new detective in town, the only parallel I can draw is from Doctor Who, the scene where Tom Baker, the best for many, regenerates into a younger, fresh faced Peter Davison. I felt that year, I would come to like Davison in time, same with Marshall.

It's actually a terrific mystery, it's just a bit hard to take in after THE event.

A really good cast, they went with some cast experience for Series three's opener.

Kris Marshall is very likeable, he's a bit of a tool in this episode, falling through windows and walking into things, but he did a grand job, and didn't overplay it.

Excellent, 10/10.

With friends like these...

[safenoe · 10/10 · 17 March 2024]

I remember Helen Baxendale as Ross's English girlfriend in Friends, and also of course from her leading role in Cold Feet. Anyway, here this episode is Ben Miller's swansong as Richard Poole, although he does appear in a dream-type sequence many seasons later. It's a shame the writers decided to eliminate Poole in a very final way, just like the way the Dallas writers got rid of Bobby, and look where that got them, talking about dream sequences init. Anyway, I am a big fan of Death in Paradise and for me, the Poole era is probably the best. The current DI, Neville Parker, got off to a bad start with his itchy and scratchy persona, which thankfully got shelved after his first season at the helm.

Why screw it up

[jerseygirl49-674-599559 · 9/10 · 7 January 2022]

I'm very upset what was the point Poole hadalotmoreto do sucks! Well I guess adios and too bad! Couldn't they pay Det Poole more good lord! No grief from Camille unbelievable. I hate this!

The weirdest thing to do to your audience

[Rob-O-Cop · 6/10 · 9 April 2024]

I know we tune in each week to watch the crew solve yet another murder in a small island community, and that there is something inherently mawkish in enjoying this as entertainment if it was the real world and this many murders were happening it would be terrifying, but we're not really tuning in for the murder, we're tuning in for the cast and the mind gymnastics they perform to solve the mystery and the small talk and comradery they make on the journey.

We quickly grow to like the characters, even though they're fictional, but then to kill the central on off is no small thing, especially because this is not game of thrones. It's a small british/french comedy thriller.

Add to that the complete lack of impact it had on the other characters, it was insulting to humanity, and to the audience and the respect for us as much as it was for DS Camille Bordey, Officer Dwayne Myers, and Sergeant Fidel Best and their characters.

We've been enjoying the show (not for the murders but for the characters) and we hated what they did to DI Poole, and to us.

Yes I know it's fiction, but we're not.

The end of an era!

[harrykivi · 7/10 · 29 May 2020]

"Death in Paradise" has been a blast so far. I was not a huge fan of the show, when began to watch it, but after few episodes I have fallen in love with the series. "Death of a Detective" ends Ben Miller's character with his murder and his replacement DI Goodman comes in to solve it. For me, this episode was good, but not great at all- though could and should have been.

Let's start with good, shall we?

. The production values are great as always. The episode is shot well, sounds good as well. The performances are mostly good. Helen Baxendale, Tim Dutton and Sophie Thomson were solid in particular. Kris Marshall does okay in his first try in "Death in Paradise". It is lovely that he's much different character than Richard Poole (socially active and caring), but Marshall was not so good in the serious parts as Miller and his performance got a bit cringe-worthy at times.

. The mystery in "Death of a Detective" is mostly compelling with good twists, turns, suspects. There are some throwbacks to Poole, which were emotional. The solution (there are two killers here) was satisfying too.

But...

. I really wish the story could have been a lot more emotionally impactful. The throwbacks to Poole were nice, but I wanted to cry and badly want Goodman to get the killer, but did not get it here at all. DI Goodman's also on the team very quickly as if the death of Richard was already gotten over.

. Now that Miller is gone, some of the magic of the show has gone with him in my opinion. It's not as funny, witty or balanced as it used to be.

Overall, good, but should have been a great episode.

7/10 HK

Welcome to the island, Mr Marshall

[studioAT · 5/10 · 10 February 2017]

You can imagine the panic when Ben Miller announced that he was leaving this show, which was only gaining momentum in terms of ratings and the public's affection. The casting of his replacement would be crucial.

Step forward Kris Marshall. A man best known for his contribution to the four best years of sitcom 'My Family', the Richard Curtis rom-com 'Love Actually', and if we're being unkind...those BT adverts.

And to be fair he's great in this. Quirky, thoughtful. He not only manages to steady the ship, but take it in a completely different direction. The fact that the ratings went up after he joined is telling too.

This is a fun show, albeit one that relies heavily on the persona of the detective in charge. In Marshall they found a great replacement.

Deja Vue

[ygwerin1 · 7/10 · 24 October 2019]

The episode commences with DI Richard Poole attending a college reunion, and the non party animal is surprisingly murdered. Yet another British police inspector DI Humphrey Goodman is brought in to investigate the murder.

Rather deja vu from the program's very first episode and the series completed a full cycle.

Goodman is seen as a rather cack handed and awkward personally, a married bloke he arrived to start anew. On his first day expecting news of his spouses arrival, she sends him a "Dear Humph" message. He has hesitantly said that he is married and his wife will join him, and doesn't want to have to explain that its gone pear shaped.

Kris Marshall (DI Goodman) is not someone I am acquainted with, as I have not seen anything he has been in on TV. This is the only program that I have actually watched him in. Looking through his filmography the only thing that I had actually seen, was the film Love Actually. Marshall played someone who as I recall was rather gormless, at least he certainly acted that way.