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Death in Paradise... problematic?

The spinoff series Betond Paradise, whilst still having dumb plots, is at least based in Cornwall so at least there are no problematic themes. It starts Kris Marshall, who I have a soft spot for, and who was for a while the Chief Inspector in Death in Paradise and then returned to Blighty.

The same kind of bland shite as Father Brown: extremely bland content your elderly aunty loves to watch, but which I find myself happily watching when your brain has shut down of a weekend and just want some background visuals on the telly.
 
tim said:
Isn't it problematic that people can remember the names of the interchangeable white guys who play Ace Detective but don't know the great Don Warrington's name and can't be bothered to check?

Danny John-Jules is also has more screen presence than his costars.
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Oi, steady on. I've no idea of the interchangeable white guys' names... though I know one of them was in the Royle Family.
 
Serge Forward said:
Oi, steady on. I've no idea of the interchangeable white guys' names... though I know one of them was in the Royle Family.
Click to expand...

The interchangeable white guys aren't in the same league as Don Warrington. Caroline Ahern and Ricky Tomlinson were in the Royle family but you wouldn't just dismiss them as the bloke in the armchair and his daughter.
 
tim said:
The interchangeable white guys aren't in the same league as Don Warrington. Caroline Ahern and Ricky Tomlinson were in the Royle family but you wouldn't just dismiss them as the bloke in the armchair and his daughter.
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True, but I've no idea of the name of the lad who plays the young son, and he's the one in this bloody programme :rolleyes:
 
Serge Forward said:
Oi, steady on. I've no idea of the interchangeable white guys' names... though I know one of them was in the Royle Family.
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Go to IMDB and check the main character leads season by season. You will see that there’s English inspector after English inspector taking over when the previous one leaves. We must be on the fourth or fifth one now.
 
Oriole said:
It's Scooby-doo for grown ups.
The main appeal of it is that it's set somewhere nice and is broadcast when the UK weather is grim. I don't think anyone watches it for the plots.
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More Bergerac rechauffe.
 
Oriole said:
It's Scooby-doo for grown ups.
The main appeal of it is that it's set somewhere nice and is broadcast when the UK weather is grim. I don't think anyone watches it for the plots.
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Inexplicably popular, though. It’s no better than Father Brown, yet somehow there’s been thirteen bloody seasons already.
 
It's the fact that there's been a series of white leading actors that's most troubling. The fact that each time they change it doesn't occur to the people behind the show to think 'maybe we should try putting a local in charge for once'. It's almost hammering home the same 'you still can't solve your own problems without some white help' message over and over again.
 
Although the inspector is white all the DS are black, female. The other officers are black male and female. The bar owner is French black female. The Commisioner is black male. Apart from the inspector and often, but not always, the perpetrators and victims are white.

The black French female actors are often known in France, it's a UK France coproduction.

I enjoy it, it's chewing gum for the mind. It requires no thought beyond enjoying the scenery. It requires nothing from me but to enjoy it for what it is, light comedy entertainment for the pleasure of being light entertainment.

As an aside, Cat in Red Dwarf had an alter ego, Duane Dibbley, Danny's character in this is Dwayne.
 
nightowl said:
It's the fact that there's been a series of white leading actors that's most troubling. The fact that each time they change it doesn't occur to the people behind the show to think 'maybe we should try putting a local in charge for once'. It's almost hammering home the same 'you still can't solve your own problems without some white help' message over and over again.
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It's the opposite of what you suggest.

This is a British/French programme, made to appeal to audiences of a certain demographic. What they've done is to lever a single white character (who's socially awkward, absurdly English, and has a black boss) into a main cast of primarily black actors. The transient players are of course, largely white, because it's used as a vehicle to guest-star a load of European has-been (reasonably cheap) actors who are familiar on British and French screens. The show would draw a fraction of its European audience if it had an all black cast.

The setting is the primary draw of the show. A large proportion of the audience will watch it just for that and forgive the fact that the rest of it is banal shit. A Caribbean island is a strong magnet for UK audiences who are getting rained on in the winter, but ALL of the Caribbean islands have been colonised, and colonial settings do interest people from a historical perspective. It's filmed on Guadeloupe, so the French theme fits the background shots for signage, vehicles and names etc., and all of the characters; from the ridiculously hot French female Sergeant, to Don Warrington's familiar Chief of Police, are caricatures, with parts written for specific actors, and designed to appeal to segments of the target audience.

It's ultra-lightweight, formulaic pap for European retirees and their kids to watch together with no danger of unexpected swearing or shagging. It's also one of the most successful whodunnit shows ever made, and has probably done more for the Caribbean cruise industry than all of their advertising combined.
 
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Spymaster said:
The setting is the primary draw of the show. A large proportion of the audience will watch it just for that and forgive the fact that the rest of it is banal shit.
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raises hand
It loses its magic once the weather outside gets nice. Aside from Don Warrington, I don't think any of the other actors matter at all. The sodding lizard is more popular than the inspector.

I was tempted to go back and see if Danny John-Jules was quite as hammy in his old episodes as he is now, but decided I couldn't inflict that sort of suffering on myself now that the weather is nice.

I've zero interest in the spinoff. I know what Cornwall looks like and, more significantly, what the weather is like. And I'm a weirdo who doesn't mind Kris Marshall. (I thought "My Life in Film" was excellent)
 
I wonder if Death In Paradise has ever had a Black British (or Black French) actor playing the incoming Inspector
 
There's also some incredibly hammy acting/directing for a couple of the detectives and a couple of other characters (Wayne and the little recruit). .
 
Chz said:


I've zero interest in the spinoff. I know what Cornwall looks like and, more significantly, what the weather is like. And I'm a weirdo who doesn't mind Kris Marshall. (I thought "My Life in Film" was excellent)
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I’ll give it a go. Hoping for Doc Martin with more killing.
 
For the cricket fans here. It's actually based on what happened to Bob Woolmer in 2007.

www.theguardian.com

Murder mystery: how Death in Paradise quietly became one of TV's biggest hits

Mocked by critics, the tropical-island crime drama has been attracting a large and appreciative audience for a decade. It’s time it was reassessed
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

When Death in Paradise creator Robert Thorogood came up with the show, he was 35 years old, a screenwriter with no credits, who had been trying and failing to bring a script to TV for 15 years. Nothing had even made it to pilot. His wife was supporting him financially. He was, effectively, a failure. “I’d go to parties,” Thorogood tells me, “and people would ask me what I did, and when I told them I was a screenwriter, they’d ask me whether they’d seen any shows I’d worked on. When I said, ‘No you haven’t’, I’d feel like such a fraud.”

And then, in March 2007, Thorogood read about the suspicious death of English cricket coach Bob Woolmer during the World Cup in Jamaica. The British authorities suspected foul play, so they sent a Metropolitan police detective out to investigate. Huh, Thorogood thought: “There’s a murder mystery show here.” He had been trying to get a job in the Midsomer Murders writing room for years, so he had three murder mystery episodes already written – and they became the first three episodes of Death in Paradise. He entered a screenwriting contest run by Tony Jordan at Red Planet Pictures in 2008 (the production company still makes the show to this day) and the rest is history. “I tried so hard for so many years and failed for so long,” he tells me. “And then, lo and behold, it happened. I still pinch myself. I can’t believe I get to write a TV show.”
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It's a common trope though isn't it. The outsider detective. Both figuratively and literally.

Putting them on a Caribbean island is just obviously going to look a bit white savior but its been done several times. Cracker did it years ago in Hong Kong too (I know... he was a criminal psychologist).
 
Petcha said:
For the cricket fans here. It's actually based on what happened to Bob Woolmer in 2007.

www.theguardian.com

Murder mystery: how Death in Paradise quietly became one of TV's biggest hits

Mocked by critics, the tropical-island crime drama has been attracting a large and appreciative audience for a decade. It’s time it was reassessed
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
Click to expand...

I didn't know that but thinking about it, Woolmer's death would've made an ideal episode of DIP.

Shady gangs, match fixing, poisoned in his hotel room ...
 
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