Death in Paradise - Series 3 [DVD] [2014]

It's a good entertaining product

Season three of the series sees the arrival of DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie. Falling over his own feet and even out of a window in the first episode he is nothing like his uptight predecessor, but just as enjoyable to watch. All other members of the police team return - Camille initially hostile to the new inspector, Fidel now a sergeant, Dwayne as irrepressible as ever, and in charge of the police force Commissioner Patterson.The murder mysteries are plentiful and twisted with colourful characters galore. Add to that Caribbean sunshine and glorious white beaches with swaying palm trees, a goodly dash of humour, and not to forget a scene stealing lizard called Harry and you have a winning combination. Fun to revisit the series, surely one of the more entertaining crime dramas around. Perfect to while away a long wet and socially distanced winter night.

After an amazing first 2 series with Ben Miller as the misfit detective abroad in the Caribbean, like a fish out of water... expectations were very high for a third series. Ben Miller as Richard in the first two was fantastic, quintessentially British... always hunting for that perfect cup of tea, hates the heat, sand, the French! and almost everything else on the island (as an ex-pat abroad I can sympathize with almost all of this, in a funny way).So exit Ben Miller, sadly, and enter Kris Marshall, (Hmmm, very skeptical) but from the first five minutes you like him! Still essentially British, but in a whole new way, embracing the beauty, culture and people of the island.Quirky is the word to describe the whole show.But it is the plots that are truly Agatha Christiesque, which make them so watchable for the whodunnit fans; Bodies in locked rooms, misfitting timelines and always a small cast of suspects; all with a motive to kill, or no motive at all! The devil is in the details and it's usually some niggling little thing that stands out, which turns out to be crucial.And it seems that every great actor in England is lining up for a part in this, the list goes on and you will recognize every face.All the regular characters develop over time and we love them all.A truly magical piece of British drama, bizarrely set in the tropical oasis of the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe. Genius.

Ok, it's an improvement on the first two series - they didn't have any extras at all! But what there is here is sparse and under-developed - a few 'snippets' of behind-the-scenes bits and pieces which would have been so much better as full-length features instead of only lasting a few minutes each. People these days like things like cast commentaries, out-takes (if the participants are ok with their bloopers being exposed to the world, that is!) and things that offer more than the odd glimpse here and there. Whilst I know that's not the fault of the DVD itself (it's up to the BBC to do more for their customers) it is why I can only give four stars (but I'd have given four and a half if I could have!) to this product because there are other DVDs with programme content I've enjoyed to the same extent, but I can enjoy that on TV anyway! DVDs are bought not just to watch any time, but to have 'that little bit extra' to a plain old TV broadcast. And on that count too many BBC DVDs just don't deliver that!However, as a D.I.P. lover who had no problem with Kris Marshall taking over the role of 'lead', I'd certainly recommend considering adding this to your collection!

I suppose that, like most other fans of "Death in Paradise" I was anticipating disaster when DI Richard Poole was murdered and DI Humphrey Goodman took over. However, like other reviwers I very quickly got to like the new Dectective Inspector and had already accepted him before the end of the first new episode. This kind of switch is always difficult in any TV series and must pose all kinds of problems and risks for producers but Tim Bradley got this one absolutely right. I don't pretend to know the secret of this success. It was probably helped by a combination of many things. But keeping to the same classic recipe was certainly one of them. A murder mystery is presented, always with a variety of suspects but always with an elusive final piece to the puzzle. Then the detective suddenly manages to put all of the pieces together and present them in a grand finale to the assembled caste, finally revealing the killer. Sure it's "ham"! That's what makes it so entertaining. DI Goodman is quite different to DI Poole, but also has his own quaint eccentricities in just the right amounts to even further improve the recipe and the continuity of all the other original characters still in their beautiful tropical paradise completes the new series. Harry the lizard remains as a delightful "show stealer". Great family entertainment.

I loved series 1 & 2. I never understood why anyone would ever go to Saint-Marie Island but the way it was written in the classic get everyone together to explain whodunnit at the end style was brilliant and I so wanted to see if DI Poole would ever get it on with the smoking hot Camille (Sara Martins). So when DI Poole is the subject of the first murder of the new series, I'm thinking Noooo!But then in walks (or more approprately stumbles and bumbles) in Kris Marshall. His character takes this good whodunnit show to a new level of enjoyment, because you just don't know what he's going to do next... literally. And its opened up the rest of the cast to become more involved and become more interesting rather than just being in the shadow of DI Poole all the time. As good as Ben Miller was in series 1 & 2, and he was brilliant, Kris Marshall's character is a breathe of fresh air, yes the 'methods' are similar, and the outcome the same... you rarely guess the right answer first time, but it works and its opened up a brighter future for the show I think. I can't wait for series 4, 5 & 6 - I'm just hoping there are enough people left on Saint-Marie for it to last that long!