Death in Paradise: Season 1 [DVD]

It's the small Caribbean Island of St. Marie, hot and sultry. In the city of Honoré, Lord and Lady Solcombe are holding a pool party at their mansion. All of a sudden, a shot cuts the air. Then an alarm rings. Cut to the Honoré police station, where a constable takes a call and tells his coworker that the Solcombe "panic room's gone into lockdown. We've got the codes to open it in our safe."They rush to the house and open the room, only to find the British Chief Detective, their boss, dead on the floor from a bullet. But there's no gun in the room, and no way in or out that wasn't locked down tight.A new temporary Chief Detective is needed, and the London Met sends Richard Poole. Poole makes it clear that this is a temporary assignment, as the sun is too bright, the beach too sandy, the heat too brutal, the police station too antiquated, and, worst of all, about 30% of the people and lots of the culture is still French, from when the island was a French colony. What's an Englander to do? Well, for one thing he insists on wearing his wool suit, buttoned up, shirt and tie and polished shoes. When he has time, he searches for a decent cup of tea.Poole may be initially pedantic and inflexible, but he is also a brilliant policeman. In the first episode, he solves his predecessor's murder. By the end of the 1st season, he and his 3-person staff have learned to appreciate each other and work together well. There are lots of comedic moments as well as good mysteries, and the recurring characters are wonderfully portrayed. The series is filmed on the island of Guadalupe, in the Caribbean's Lesser Antilles, and its vibrant culture is like a fourth cast member.This series is EXCELLENT viewing, highly recommended. The biggest question is - where did they find a lizard with such great acting skills? When you're done with Season 1, start in immediately with Season 2. That's what we did! Death in Paradise Season 2 EDITED TO ADD: Season 3 is now available on DVD Region 1 - Hooray! Death in Paradise Season 3 Season 1 premiered on air in England in October 2011, and took until January 2013 to air in the U.S. There are 8 episodes for a total run time of 466 minutes. It's presented in 16:9 aspect ratio with English subtitles. The show as aired did not have episode names shown, nor do the DVDs. For convenience, I'll give the episodes title names that are popularly used.The Season 1 DVD set has no bonus extras, which is a real shame. You get two DVD discs with four episodes each.PART ONE: Arriving in Paradise.Poole asks the police sergeant to describe the murdered detective. She replies, "Not your typical Englishman. You know, charismatic."Trivia: To explain a MET police officer on the island, they have St Marie be a British territory. However, it's filmed on Guadalupe, a real island that is a French territory. So, vehicle drivers are on the left.PART TWO: Wicked Wedding NightDan and Lisa have a beach wedding at a big resort on St. Marie. Unfortunately, the bride shortly afterwards falls from a 5-story hotel balcony, skewered by a spear gun. Poole's personality and culture clashes are a real irritant to his staff.PART THREE: Predicting MurderAfter dark. Dwayne (Constable Myers) and a lady friend join a group sitting around a fire pit on the beach. An elderly woman stands next to the fire and speaks with a style to raise the hair on the back on your neck - and that's watching it safe from your living room. The party breaks up when she scares everyone with her last words: "The scarred man... He's coming... He's a killer... He's killed before... Silence me. I'm to be murdered. I'm to be MURDERED!"The next day, our heroes are called to a school, closed for break, where an old woman has been killed by cyanide. Yes, it's the same woman as the night before. The Voodoo connection/prophecy makes the very British Poole most uncomfortable. Even when the school headmaster turns out to be the victim's son-in-law. With a scar on his cheek.Detective Camille to Poole: "You are the most annoying man I have ever met."Poole: "Well, it's a small island."PART FOUR: Missing a Body?On a dark beach, a man sneers, "You haven't got the guts. Little mousy Megan. If people only knew. That gun's not even lo..."And the woman holding the pistol shoots him.The next morning, after spending the night collapsed near a pier, she wanders into the Honoré station, saying, "Can someone help me? It's my husband. He's dead. I shot him."Unfortunately, when they take her back to the beach, there's no body. The normally stern Poole almost melts into a puddle at her feet, Megan is so sweet and innocent and soft-spoken. riiiiiiiight!PART FIVE: Spot the DifferenceSt. Marie is too small for an airport. People fly into the near bigger island, Guadalupe, and then take a ferry to St. Marie. Poole is at the Guadalupe airport to meet Vincent Carter, prison guard, and Leon Hamilton, prisoner. Hamilton is to serve the last part of his prison sentence on St. Marie, the place where he defrauded hundreds of people. Poole takes custody of Hamilton by being handcuffed to him, though, to be safe, Carter will escort them to the Honoré jail.Unfortunately, there's a little problem on the ferry, as the Commissioner later booms to the humiliated Poole: "I could understand if he was secretly poisoned. In fact, secretly anything. I could even forgive a gunshot from another boat or a jet-ski or a helicopter. But no. A knife was plunged into his back while YOU were standing next to him, JOINED at the wrists!"PART SIX: An Unhelpful AidCamille is in Paris on an IT course. Poole has come down with tropical fever. It's up to Constables Dwayne and Fidel to figure out how a scuba diver drowned in a few feet of water. This episode has some great comedy with the feverish Poole insisting that he still can work.Trivia: Sara Martins, who plays Camille, was originally a bigger part of the script. Unfortunately, she had an injury and missed most of the filming.PART SEVEN: Music of MurderCamille and Dwayne have dragged Poole to the biggest musical event of the year. The group, The Venerators, hasn't been on stage for 10 years, and this is their big come-back. The excitement is crazy, so crazy that Poole attempts unsuccessfully to escape. But at last, the show is about to start. Just like in the old days, the charismatic lead singer is carried in, inside a closed and decorated coffin. The crowd cheers as the coffin is set upright on the stage, opened, and there he is, in his dance of death make-up. But something's wrong. He's not moving. For a good reason - there's a bullet hole in his temple. Good thing Camille forced Poole to stay.PART EIGHT: Amongst UsIt's a balmy evening, and Poole is relaxing at home in his jammies, doing a crossword with the lizard. In the meanwhile, Dwayne, the charmer, picks up a woman at a bar and walks her home. She invites him in for coffee and this leads to that, etc.Unfortunately, the next morning, her neighbor finds her dead, lying in bed with coins stuffed into her mouth. And Dwayne's police badge under the bed.Other clues point to Dwayne, too, and Poole is hard pressed to figure out who is framing his constable.Trivia: I didn't want to believe it, but Harry the Lizard is 100% CGI. I'm heartbroken.This is a great series with lots of humor and heart and well-plotted mysteries.Happy Reader

Found this when it first came out. Stories follow a particular detective and local staff as they work their way through personal and cultural idiosyncrasies. And even though the format for each episode is the same, the stories have plenty of surprises. Give it a try.

It's a very good series, humorous, murder plots are challenging and fun to try and solve as the shows progress, very good acting, good balance of characters, beautiful scenery, a very fun, uplifting, entertaining series of shows to watch. I've watched all 12 seasons, all shows in all the series, and They've all been great!Including the writing, production, directing, wish there was another season past the 12th --

DEATH IN PARADISE, SEASON 1. This BBC television series, made with the support of the French Caribbean region of Guadeloupe – and filmed there—is a quintessentially British mystery. In a light-hearted, humorous crime drama that has been playing on some PBS channels in the United States, stalwart strait-laced Inspector Richard Poole is a fish out of water when Scotland Yard sends him to the tiny – fictitious-- Caribbean island of Saint Marie to solve the murder of his predecessor. He does so successfully, then finds himself seconded to this small hot island. Unfortunately, he hates the sun, sea, sand and seafood. Nor is he suited to the pace of life on the island.And, at this new post, Poole encounters a very different type of policing than what he is used to: it challenges his more buttoned-up sensibility. His new partner, Camille Bordey, is instinctive, feisty, insightful. The rest of the – fictional, though I suspect it resembles St. Lucia --Saint Marie police force – two cops! has their own unique way of doing things in this police procedural. But, though Poole would never admit it, together, they make a perfect team. The season 1 box set consists of two DVDs, each holding four new mysteries, totaling about 466 minutes of entertainment. And thank goodness, and the BBC, subtitles, for who would want to miss a moment of this delightful lilting Caribbean-accented dialog. Though, wonderfully enough, the sound quality is quite good; even I was able to make out the entire dialog, without shaking the house on the volume meter.The acting is fine, from Ben Miller, PRIMEVAL, playing Detective Inspector Poole, the hapless, yet brilliant detective, to Sara Martins, PARIS, JE T’AIME, as his gorgeous new partner Detective Sergeant Borday. Other series members live up to the high acting standards, including Danny Jules-John as Officer Dwayne Myers; Gary Carr as Officer Fidel Best; Elisabeth Bourgine as Catherine, Camille’s lovely and charming mother and Don Warrington as Police Commissioner Selwyn Patterson. Both series are also packed full of new pretty faces, British and Caribbean. And many, many well-known British stars/supporting players: I clocked, among others Colin Salmon, (PRIME SUSPECT); Adrian Dunbar, (LINE OF DUTY); Robert Pugh, (GAME OF THRONES); Philip Jackson, (POIROT); Sharon Small, (INSPECTOR LYNLEY). Also Gemma Jones, Joanna David, Julie Graham, Phil Davis, Claire Holman, Cherie Lunghi, Nicholas Farrell, Rupert Graves.The episodes are:Arriving in ParadiseDI Richard Poole arrives on the tropical isle of Saint-Marie to investigate the death of a fellow British detective.Wicked Wedding NightA bride dies minutes after her wedding.Predicting MurderA woman predicts her own murder and describes her killer.Missing a Body?A woman confesses to murdering her husband but the lack of a body brings her claim into question.Spot the DifferenceA prisoner is stabbed to death while handcuffed to DI Poole.An Unhelpful AidDwayne and Fidel have to solve a murder without the help of an ill D.I. Poole.Music of MurderA band member is murdered at the band's comeback gig.Amongst UsDwayne is framed for a murder. An homage to Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes’ The Silver Blaze, a short story, famously known for the plot point of the dog that didn’t bark in the night, when it should have.The scenery is, of course, to die for, looking hot-hot-hot on the screen, and I adore the soundtrack, as I have apparently always adored Caribbean music. You can any time give me an interlude of doing the Rock Steady to Blondie’s “The Tide is High,” of which we hear snatches here. The mysteries: well, they’re not down, dirty and depressing in the latest British style, more old-fashioned fun Agatha Christie’s Marple and Poirot style. Some might consider them a bit clunky. But rather original, some even unique in my experience. And I’ve been noticing that some of the most charming interludes, local color mostly, have been trimmed from the broadcast versions. Well worth getting.

I stumbled across this series on TV and decided to see what the fuss was about. It started out on BBC and I was a bit worried that it was yet more of the Beeb's constant pushing of its "black agenda" but in fact it is just, as others have said, good entertainment. It works on a lot of levels, too - a perhaps old-fashioned straightforward crime detection, some very funny moments as well, especially with the enormous culture clash DI Richard Poole - stuffy, archetypal suit-wearing, tie-sporting Englishman - finds with his laid-back, relaxed colleagues who can't quite understand him. Then there is the feeling that possibly something may be developing between him and the really very attractive DS Camille Bordey or is it? It is a particular delight to watch Sara Martins in that role as she manages to convey as much or more by gestures and facial expressions as she does with her lines - not dissimilar in a way to the skills of Michael Kitchen - and it pays to watch her closely to pick up all the nuances.I have watched these shows several times now and there seems always something else to discover. Very enjoyable, good value for money.

As a retired Police Officer I find most Police series irritating. Usually the main character, either has demons such as drink or drugs, is subject of a messy divorce or has a wife or other family member that has been murdered. This makes the main character stomp about shouting at his staff. Police procedures shown are always wildly inaccurate.So when I saw that this series is based on a Caribbean island with a high murder rate. The 'hero' is a Detective Inspector on attachment from the Metropolitan Police. The remainder of the island Police force consists of, a Commissioner, a woman uniform sergeant for one episode only, a woman detective sergeant (the glamour) and two PCs. Their vehicle fleet consists of a clapped out Land Rover and a motorcycle and sidecar. The DI is very stiff, awkward with no people skills and very very English. I was not filled with confidence.A ridiculous scenario. But it works on so many levels. The murders and motives are good. It's tongue in cheek and hugely entertaining and every cast member gives a great performance. A feel good series highly recommended.

This is the German version of Death In Paradise Series 1 (Staffel 1). For some inexplicable reason it's over 4 DVD's, two episodes per DVD. It's very basic, each episode has a German and English soundtrack, there are no subtitles in either language and no extras at all. If you are after English subtitles then buy the English version but if you want German subtitles then you are probably out of luck.

When I first saw this programme trailered on BBC1, I had no interest. There are just so many cop shows on telly, all looking for a different angle, and my heart just sinks when I see something that looks like it's just following a well trodden path.I therefore didn't watch series 1. I have to confess, it was my parents who got me into the programme during series 2. I didn't expect to like it but it is great! So based on that, my wife and I bought series 1 on DVD.Ben Miller and Sara Martins are just brilliant, but so are the supporting cast. It really is the characters that make this series, but the storylines themselves are clever, entertaining and funny.Having seen series 2 first, I would have to say that it is better than series 1, but that's not to take anything away from this release. I loved every episode, and it is great to see Miller/Martins relationship develop throughout the series. There is great chemistry between them and it makes the series very watchable.Perfect to watch on a Sunday night.

I am a late comer to Death in Paradise, as when the series was shown on TV I honestly didnt think I would like it, so didnt bother to watch!....What a mistake that was.By accident, I watched the first episode of series 2, and before the end credits, I had logged into Amazon and bought the first series DVD. This is a cracker of a show, with magnificent locations, good performances from all the main characters, and good liberal doses of humour salted throughout the scripts. Its rare a show will grab me as this one has, but my partner and I sat through the entire series in one sitting, only stopping to order a takeaway!. Although Ben Miller is credited with being the "star", this is really a great ensemble show, where even a lizard gets in on the act.Simply put, if you like a show with humour, and a few murders thrown in to boot, then Death in Paradise is the show for you.