by Andy Lloyd @ScarfmanAndy

Do you like me suffer from those awful British January winter blues? You'll know what I'm talking about if you do. It is the dull, damp freezing weather coupled with it going dark in the evening before 5pm, so utterly depressing. Nevertheless, one thing on the telly last winter helped lift me from my gloomy January state. The programme in question was 'Death in Paradise' on BBC One. This sunny crime/crime comedy drama set in the idyllic Caribbean location of Guadalupe (fictional San Marie in the show), was just the ticket. It has just returned on to our screens for sixth series so I've tuned in again to help lift my soul. Houston, we have a big problem though, I'm now getting a bit bored of it!

My burgeoning boredom comes from each episode having an identical narrative structure. For example, first we get a bit of action, then we get the murder, then Inspector Humphrey Goodman(Kris Marshall) goes around interviewing all the suspects(usually 3 to 5), then at the end we have this overly theatrical summing up and declaration scene about who the one/s are of murder! Throw in a bit of comedy from Officers JP Hooper(Tobi Bakare) and Dwayne Myers(Danny John-Jules), together with Humphrey's Hugh Grant amusing-ish posturing(usually around his love life of late) and that pretty much sums up this show! I moan about all this whilst still liking this drama but as a consequence of it being so formulaic my enjoyment is really waning at present. It has just got too samey for its own good, i.e the narrative structure needs more variation.

Given all what has just been said in the above, then you could describe 'Death in Paradise' as like a fast-food version of 'Miss Marple' or 'Inspector Morse' , i.e. over quicker and less substance. However, perhaps this comparison is a tad unfair. This is because 'Death in Paradise' does not try and be like these two other shows just mentioned. Rather than striving for realism, its strength lies its comedy and its Caribbean Island escapism.

Yet again in the second episode Officer Dwayne Myers was the main vehicle for most of the light-hearted moments, thus he remains the best character. An example of this was when he embarrassingly admitted to the other main characters that he did not know where the local library was(the joke being here, his lack of culture and literary knowledge). It is these comedy moments that make up for its lack of realism.

This episode was about the death of a young academic woman called Esther Monroe(Kemi-Bo Jacobs). She had discovered that the author of a book called 'The Flame Tree' was not in fact the real author after all, i.e fraud. This therefore led to her being murdered and the subsequent investigation into her death. It is the ending of this show that irritates me the most, the grand and dramatic summing up scene.

I have several issues with the summing up bit, where the murderer/s are revealed to us. Firstly, it is too dramatic that you cannot help but be reminded of the fact that this is just a bunch of actors acting, i.e I lose my 'suspension of disbelief' for a time. Secondly, all the suspects freely attend this meeting, but surely if you've just committed murder then you'd be on the next plane out of there asap wouldn't you?

I also find Inspector Humphrey Goodman's crime solving a bit much to take at times too. Yes, he uses evidence to help him but the crimes are more solved by him doing some sort of big mental arithmetic in his head. It is like he has some psychic crime solving superpower. You have to just go along with it all to enjoy the show, place realism below escapism like I have said. It is easy to watch stuff but just don't critically examine it whilst you watch it is my best advice.

As episode two ended I sat there thinking to myself, yep, I am definitely getting bored of this show now. Furthermore, I also noticed cheesy dialogue for the first time. However, at the same time I had quite enjoyed it and will tune in again next week. I have to tune in next week because after all you see, 'Death in Paradise' is the only cure I have for those PESKY JANUARY WINTER BLUES! 3/5.