Textual Analysis of Death in Paradise

Maybe they mean hot as in the temperature of the Caribbean Islands? I'd agree with that! 

In a way, my interest into looking into Death in Paradise was influenced, like with Victoria, by Doctor Who. In early 2017, Kris Marshall, the lead character in Death in Paradise was a favourite for the next Doctor, so I was intrigued in his work. However, I never got around to actually watching the show till late June this year, when I noticed most of Season 5 was on BBC iPlayer. Noting that it was indeed a detective crime drama, I decided to watch a random episode, S05E04, to see why the show was as popular as was...

...and I don't still have an answer to that. I honestly can't comprehend how the show is even in its 7th season, or why BBC even deems it worthy of a slot on BBC One. However, I don't think it's necessarily the shows fault that I find it so unappealing; after all, it's catering to a much older audience than me as indicated by the age of the cast who are mostly all mid 30s and above. 

The unique selling point of the show is the Caribbean setting, which I (and I'm sure I'm in a very small minority with this) find really quite lethargic. It's just really a bit plain; different doesn't always mean interesting. However, I'm not going to pass a full judgement on the topic of setting because I did only watch one episode, which mightn't have been the best at representing the location. I can't, however, fix that problem; I found just that one episode too unbearable to even consider watching yet another episode.

Unfortunately, the episode I watched has since gone off iPlayer. I can't attach many screenshots of the episode in particular but I can comment on it in general. I don't think there is a lot to note about it really. It's really generic, and I didn't notice anything imaginative done with how the cinematography is done, especially compared to the likes of Broadchurch. The lighting they use (as shown in the first image below) is often very soft and flattering, removing the sense of depth from the setting; distancing the show from reality.

This is the office setting; it's colourful, simple and quite obviously a set

The colourful, bright and obviously foreign environments are emphasised by the sets and locations, like this shot of the beach here.

That obvious dramatism is part of something about the show that makes it feel like a soap. From the rather artificial looking sets to the very, very formulaic plot; it's all really inauthentic, but I think that's sort of the point as well. With magazines describing the show as BBC's "laid back treat" TV show, I'm sure this is intentional and something people ask for from the show. I don't personally like that, but if it's what sells I can see why they'd chose to make it. 

The narrative of the show is also largely uninspiring. Like I mentioned before, it's very formulaic, following the typical Agatha Christie whodunnit structure. The advantage to this as this it requires very little of the audience; you will not be missing much by not concentrating all your attention towards what is happening on screen. Every episode follows the derivative format, so once you've watched one you can expect everything else to be the same; it won't try to take you by surprise. The disadvantage to this is obvious. It's not very engaging, and it's not very rewatchable. At the very least, I would aim to engage the viewers while they're watching my programme. Viewers who expect some brain games as in Broadchurch are probably not going to be very interested in this.

Left to right: Joséphine Jobert, Kris Marshall, Danny John-Jules are the three main characters

The acting in the show... if nothing else can demonstrate how over-dramatised this show is, the acting can. I find it hard to believe that actors with such strong backgrounds in the industry could be so over-the-top and surreal (and bad) without it obviously being part of the characterisations. There are sequences where the dialogue and acting is really quite patronising, even going as far as to sound like it's being read out from a children's book. I recall a scene where Kris Marshall's character breaks down a crime in the most unbelievably evident way, as if he was cracking the enigma code, to a side character. It felt like he was mocking the side character, and maybe even himself. It sounds harsh, but it seemed like really terrible writing. Acting like this can be used cleverly, intentionally, for effect, in the right type of programme; Death in Paradise demonstrates how not to do it quite well. 

Even the music feels out of touch. The structure of the show is created so that every episode opens with a murder, and just as the murder is revealed, the opening credits run. The thing is, the music is a very jovial, fun, reggae tune which pays homage to the Caribbean culture. It doesn't fit at all to the serious tone of the sequence literally just before it. Who let this happen? The more I think about it, the more I think it's just really tongue in cheek, regardless of how the show seems to take itself seriously at times with it's crimes.

To finish this, I really wanted to look at some aspect of this show I find was positive. I wanted to talk about how the show at least tries to pay respect to the Caribbean islands it's set on, and it's people and their culture. But no, alas I cannot. The attempts at bringing to light their music, food and nature are quite unfortunately overshadowed by how the show is written on what seems to be entirely just post-colonial stereotypes of Caribbean people. Paul Gilroy would probably have seizures watching this. It demonstrates exactly the problem that his theory is trying to point out. All of the native people live in simple bliss, being unable to tackle the crimes and struggles of their island, so thank god for the white, British, middle aged police man with his (arguable...) superior intelligence who can come in and save them all! It's really condescending, to say the least.

The reason Death in Paradise is popular as it is, I think must just be because how much of an idealist escapism of a programme it is. It's typically broadcast during the harshest winter months (Season 5 says it was broadcast during February) and I'm going to assume that since it was placed in the primetime 9pm slot where shows of much higher calibre are usually broadcast, millions of Brits simply tune in regardless of whether it's particularly brilliant or not, just as an escape from the bitter cold reality... Kudos to Death in Paradise for getting it so right scheduling-wise at least.