While there isn\u2019t any tinsel on the palm trees, or snow falling from the sky, nor a Brussel sprout in sight, the Boxing Day feature-length episode of Death in Paradise<\/a> \u2013 the series\u2019 first-ever Christmas special \u2013 nonetheless has a yuletide feel as DI Neville Parker (Ralf Little) and his team set about solving the latest murder on the island of Saint Marie.<\/p>\n In the days leading up to Christmas, a down-on-his-luck London cabbie named Colin (Ghosts\u2019<\/a>\u00a0Mathew Baynton) receives a Christmas card with the words \u2018Philip Carlton was murdered\u2019 written inside. Meanwhile on Saint Marie, wealthy Mr Carlton has indeed been found dead at his own Christmas party, but a video message on his phone and the discovery of his body with a gun in his hand initially lead Neville and Commissioner Patterson (Don Warrington) to assume he committed suicide, before deducing it could actually be murder.<\/p>\n As usual, there are an assortment of suspects including Carlton\u2019s ex-wife (Juliet Stevenson) and his spoiled daughter, Carlton\u2019s new young wife, and his long-serving assistant Bruce (Stanley Townsend), and there is the added mystery of just who<\/em> sent Colin the murder confession, and why.<\/p>\n With DS Florence Cassell (Jos\u00e9phine Jobert) heading off on a family holiday, the team are one member down, but retired police officer Dwayne Myers (Danny John-Jules, who left at the end of season seven) comes to the rescue when he arrives on the island as part of his round the world voyage. He teams up with trainee officer Marlon Pyrce (Tahj Miles) and the pair put their heads together to help solve the crime.<\/p>\n Despite the longer running time, the 90-minute special keeps to the usual formula regular viewers know and love: a crime takes place, the team investigate until someone has a revelation, which shifts all of the plot twists and clues magically into place, with the culprit subsequently confronted \u2013 complete with enjoyable guest turns from Baynton, Stevenson and Townsend.<\/p>\n While a Caribbean-set murder mystery doesn\u2019t sound particularly festive, there are plenty of little nods to Christmas, from Warrington and Miles dressed as Santa and an elf to entertain the local children (and us), to a Caribbean version of \u2018Jingle Bells\u2019 on the soundtrack, and Neville predictably grumbling that sun, sea, sand and lobster don\u2019t feel seasonal to him. Instead, he\u2019s dreaming of grey skies, English drizzle and turkey (Neville, if you ever fancy a swap, call us).<\/p>\n The best Christmas present for loyal Death In Paradise fans, however, is John-Jules\u2019 return. He\u2019s got a sparkle in his eye and brings a sparkle to the show as well. And his pairing with relatively new cast member Tahj Miles is the high point of the episode as the characters bicker and bond while trudging around the rain-soaked streets of Guadeloupe.<\/p> They\u2019re so<\/em> much fun in an otherwise likeable but average instalment of the show that you start wishing for a Marlon and Dwayne spin-off series, and almost forget that there\u2019s a murder to solve \u2013 and a romantic cliffhanger between Florence and Neville to revisit, too.<\/p>\n Yes, those who have been wondering what happened following the end of season 10 back in February, when Neville dashed to Florence\u2019s house to reveal his feelings for her, do finally<\/em> get their answer in this episode.<\/p>\n Even though Florence is sadly packed off on her holidays early on, the truth of that encounter is covered in a way that leaves even more questions to be answered for our fish-out-of-water detective inspector when the next series returns in January.<\/p>\n The Death in Paradise Christmas special airs tonight at 7:30pm on BBC One. <\/strong>Find out what else is on with our TV Guide<\/a>. Visit our\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0hub for all the latest news.<\/strong><\/b><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Jo Berry Published: Sunday, 26 December 2021 at 12:00 am 3.0 out of 5 star rating While there isn\u2019t any tinsel on the palm trees, or snow falling from the sky, nor a Brussel sprout in sight, the Boxing Day feature-length episode of Death in Paradise \u2013 the series\u2019 first-ever Christmas special \u2013 nonetheless […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":9244,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/death-in-paradise-review-christmas-comes-to-saint-marie-for-shows-first-festive-special-scaled.jpg",2560,1707,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/death-in-paradise-review-christmas-comes-to-saint-marie-for-shows-first-festive-special-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/death-in-paradise-review-christmas-comes-to-saint-marie-for-shows-first-festive-special-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/death-in-paradise-review-christmas-comes-to-saint-marie-for-shows-first-festive-special-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/death-in-paradise-review-christmas-comes-to-saint-marie-for-shows-first-festive-special-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/death-in-paradise-review-christmas-comes-to-saint-marie-for-shows-first-festive-special-1536x1024.jpg",1536,1024,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/12\/death-in-paradise-review-christmas-comes-to-saint-marie-for-shows-first-festive-special-2048x1365.jpg",2048,1365,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Jo Berry Published: Sunday, 26 December 2021 at 12:00 am 3.0 out of 5 star rating While there isn\u2019t any tinsel on the palm trees, or snow falling from the sky, nor a Brussel sprout in sight, the Boxing Day feature-length episode of Death in Paradise \u2013 the series\u2019 first-ever Christmas special \u2013 nonetheless…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/9243"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""Death\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/12\/23553271-high_res-death-in-paradise-s11-f0ffdb0.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"Death\\"\/")
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