by When such a series as Death in Paradise becomes a phenomenon, no one knows enough how to respond. The Caribbean-set detective drama – currently halfway through its 13th series on BBC One – has no hallmarks of what we think of as a contemporary TV crime drama. This is no True Detective or Duty Line. There is no jaded detective haunted by the past. No fraught political intrigue. That’s a serial, despicable story. What we have is one exciting cop who solves a different crime every week. And yet Death in Paradise It was the sixth most watched program of 2023, and the second most watched fiction series behind Happy Glen.
The series follows DI Neville Parker (Ralf Little), who moves to the fictional island of Saint Marie (actually Guadeloupe) to work with a local police cohort. It’s a routine, the kind of TV show that everyone complains about isn’t produced anymore. Most of each episode follows a fairly tight boilerplate, as Parker and co fish their way through a pond of red herrings before circularly identifying the comma and the reason. As a premise, it has already proven extremely resilient, with the series surviving the departure of its lead actor not once, but three times – Few will follow in the shoes of Ben Miller, Kris Marshall and Ardal O’ Hanlon. As a work of dramatic fiction, Death in Paradise it is unspectacular material: the writing is simple and repetitive to a fault, the acting broad and narrow. But there must be a reason people keep coming back in their millions.
To some extent, Death in Paradise is pushing “comfort TV” to its logical end. However, the balmy setting, shot without any flair or sophistication, evokes the kind of sweaty feeling of being on a tropical holiday – a selling point that has worked wonders for shows such as Benidorm and the ITV reality series Island of Love. The fact that there is a lot of it Death in ParadiseWriters from the world of soap operas appeared in the final product. He could share Coronation Street or EastEnders‘, shall we say, a loose approach to the truth, but it is clear that the next episode has the same knack for inserting itself into the audience’s routines.
It’s not like Death in Paradise it is some kind of distortion. Consider Martin Clunes’ medical tweet series Doc Martin, which remained on the air for 18 years before ending in 2022. At its peak, it was seen by 10.6 million people; even his final series, when the numbers dwindled to about half of it, would be considered a victory by most metrics. This was another series that revolved around a kind of generous cheekiness – another testament to the appeal of the innocent.
As a not so flattering comparison, we have Mrs. Brown’s boys, the BBC’s cross-dressing run-of-the-mill sitcom, which received nothing but opprobrium during its 13 years on air. Created by Irish comedian Brendan O’Carroll, the series returns every Christmas, without a doubt, to huge viewing figures – a long and paradigm-shaking reminder of the disconnect between the type of television that “leads the conversation”, and the broadcasts that the millions of people available. of Brits actually choice to watch.
Nor is this a uniquely British phenomenon. In the US, there is an equally fine separation between the actually most watched series – shows like NCIS, F.B.I, Chicago Fire and Blue Blood – and the so-called hits dominate the conversation. (Shows like Succession, The White Lotus, The bear are these conventional shows far behind in terms of audience figures but, of course, you’d never know that by reading most of the press.) Part of this is about access: it’s all the aforementioned shlocky hits are available on the basic terrestrial networks – another thing a Death in Paradise there goes to it.
There are more faults to be found with Death in Paradise than the aesthetic alone, mind you. Some critics have pointed to the troubling racial underpinnings Death in Paradise: Clearly the optics of sending white British copper to a colonial island to show some not-so-competent foreign officials how it’s done isn’t great. It could be a sign of just how entrenched our country’s undying love for empire is – or, more likely, that people aren’t reading it as thoroughly.
in the end, Death in Paradise conceived as an unmitigated success story. Eight million people can’t be wrong. They’ll keep churning out more episodes for years to come, I’m sure – and why shouldn’t they? Death in Paradise it’s just giving people what they want. Whether we should want a little more is another matter.
‘Death in Paradise’ is available to stream now on iPlayer, with new episodes airing on BBC One at 9pm on Sundays
