User Reviews

A wealthy businessman is killed at his own party, with Florence away, an old hand is drafted in to help.

I absolutely loved this, I was a little sceptical, initially I worried that they may have just plonked Christmas dressings around a regular episode, but in fairness to the team, The Christmas theme felt organic, and wasn't over done.

The story was excellent in its own right, I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and The British twist, how nice to see Mathew Baynton in a role outside of Ghosts, and he did a fine job. Very light as usual, and very entertaining.

A great cast, including Anthony Calf, Juliet Stevenson and the velvet voiced Stanley Townsend, all were excellent, one was seriously underused.

The main talking point however, the return of Dwayne, the worst kept secret of 2021, his return was plastered everywhere. Jules skirted straight back in, and was perhaps the best one in it.

It has been a shocking Christmas for TV, perhaps the worst imaginable, arguably this was the one great show (apart from Shaun The Sheep) on. I hope this was a ratings success, and I hope this wasn't the last feature length episode we get to enjoy.

Loved it, 9/10.

I always enjoy DIP. It is corny and cheesy and I love every minute of it. This story had an interesting twist. I will admit I still think Kris Marshall was the best but I guess Neville will grow on me. It was also wonderful to see Dwayne again. His character is a little cartoonish and over the top but he does it so well. Love the new guy Marlon. He is going to do great! Cant wait for the next series.

Christmas specials often fail. They are usually extended with a gap writers struggle to fill to the same standard and are full of snow and tinsel.

Ok, there is no snow here, and, seemingly being filmed at a different time of year from the norm, the scenes aren't as cloudless as the cheery views of the regular series Christmas specials are often contrived and, here we have a returning character replaces a regular cast member.

Despite being on the show together for several years, they don't do any scenes together, not evening acknowledging each other at the end when the special guest leaves and the regular cast member returns (possibly because a stand in was probably used for the couple of seconds the two characters were on screen together).

The Dwayne character despite being over the top as he always was does seem out of touch here for much of this special, probably taking time to get back into the character with a cast that is strange to him.

The plot is quite good with twists and turns as usual and a good support cast helps too.

The last episode left us on a knife edge but here we are returned to a will they, won't they scenario which is most frustrating.

A good effort for a first Christmas special but it should never be extended to 90 minutes of film.

Death in Paradise is fun like Midsomer Murders used to be but this is no Vera, Grace or Endeavour but a lot stronger than the modern Midsomer Murders or the the quirky McDonald And Dodds.

Let's hope the new series is not the death knoll for a great show that has managed to get through so many series and retained a high standard but does seem to be waning with Ralf Little at the helm.

Not quite a festive feast but a great watch.

I find this Festive Crime Drama Special is Very Good, Because it is very Interesting, The main Protagonist is a Northern English Detective Inspector Neville Parker, Who is Portrayed by Ralf Little from The Royle Family and Two Pints Of Larger and A Packet Of Crisps, He is solving the mystery of Who has murdered the person, Who is pretended to be Philip Carlton, It's turned out to be the Surprising Antagonist is Mrs. Natasha Carlton, Who have murdered the man, Who is pretended to be Mr. Philip Carlton, and She is behind bars by the Saint Marie Police Force, It is a Sunny and Tropical Christmas at Saint Marie, Caribbean Islands, The English and French Language is very Good, I'm giving this a 10/10, Joyeux Noël and Merry Christmas.

Even though it lasted about a half hour too long. The writers really stretched it all out to the extreme. But it was still amusing and had a few laughs along the way.

I'm going to wait until season 11 is completed before watching any more. The romance can wait.

There's a lot of complaining about plot holes and padding of the overly long script. But this has been an interesting mystery series and light-hearted entertainment for 10 years and has earned the right to give up one episode to exploring the personal lives of the characters. No, it wasn't a great whodunit episode, but I can appreciate one episode like this in deference to years of quality production.

A couple complaints of my own however. One thing that really diminishes the experience of watching a show that you're fond of is when bad actors appear. The actress playing the new wife of the murder victim is really bad. And as an American, I am not tolerant of British actors who feign horrible American accents, which this one does (I always imagine English viewers never notice this). That, and the fact that her character is horrible in every respect makes it unbelievable that one, let alone two, other humans would be in love with her. That's a huge plot problem.

But otherwise, I'm perfectly happy letting the show's writers, producers and actors having a Christmas "special" episode.

The story was weak, the dialogue was silly but none of that really mattered. Just the fact that we got to see another episode for Christmas was a treat. Can't wait until the full series resumes.

I am afraid - despite the Christmas necessary goodwil we should allow for - I cannot rate this episode higher than a four.

The story was weak, full of holes and definitely wasn't worth a 90 minutes episode. The story was padded out somewhat with overlong sequences. And, some of the acting was not up to scratch for this usually wonderful series and at times embarrassing.

The reintroduced character and the temporarily absent one, who were supposed to be standing together at the end (as mentioned in the previous review) were clearly not, as the shot passed back and forth from a cloudy day to a sunny one in the same sequence. This is poor continuity

Hopefully the new series, due to start shortly, will be back to its usual high quality entertainment level.

At last. Death in paradise gets a Christmas Special.

Philip Carlton is a wealthy businessman who is discovered dead. Thought to be suicide.

At the same time. A young man in London gets a christmas card stating that Carlton was murdered. He decides to fly into the Saint Marie.

Also returning to the island is Dwayne Myers who is brought in to cover for Florence who has gone on holiday.

An enjoyable and diverting murder mystery. It was good to see Dwayne back and team up with Marlon.

DI Parker figured some people connected to Philip Carlton lived a life of lies. It might have been rather far fetched.

It was good to see Saint Marie in a festive mood.

I have watched this series through all, but the last DIs amd loved it. But this Christmas special was a disaster. Over-complicated and riciculous plot, padded out with "comedy" scenes with the return of Dwayne, and a ludicrously soppy encounter between the new DI (Ralf Little) and Florence. It hadly deserves a rating.

I lost interest in DiP with the exit of Kris Marshall but was excited to watch the Christmas special, especially since Dwayne was returning and also stellar guests such as Juliet Stevenson and Anthony Calf. As others have stated there were plot holes and fillers ie the bonding in the church and the sad father story went on for too long. The new inspector lacks personality and charisma, there was little chemistry between him and his cast members let alone a romantic one with Florence. I am not sure whose idea it was to choose the dull new inspector but a couple of choices I can think of are Laurence Fox, Alan Davies and even Daniel Casey reprising his Sgt Troy role (upgraded to Inspector Troy). I wonder how long this series will continue for.

The first Christmas special during the 10 year seasons and probably should be the last.

Stretched to 90 minutes by padding with far too much wokeness and interpersonal bonding. The writers lost the plot on this one.

This series has always been as much of a comedy as a mystery which has been the basis of it's success. If the tone of this special is an indication of the direction that the series is now taking, we are probably seeing the beginning of the end.

It's amazing the BBC didn't realise that they could milk a mega hit like 'DiP' for a Christmas Special before.

So, here it is now, with Dwayne's return oddly relegating Florence to appearing at the start and end really only.

I enjoyed this, I thought it was good, entertaining stuff, but like many specials was probably a bit padded out to fit the scheduled time.

I wouldn't like this to be a regular festive tradition, but as a one off attempt this was ok.

Firstly, I adore this programme normally! But this episode didn't work. The much heralded return of Dwayne was a damp squib with the actor patently taking the money and reciting the lines and looking completely out of place. Even his hat didn't actually fit him! The new lad is similarly terrible. The, will they, won't they, between the two main characters is being padded out to keep the viewers interested but it could end up backfiring. Overall, this was a shockingly poor episode and, as others have said, a poor script, appalling acting from some of the cast and continuity gaffs galore.

And sadly this is one of them - i have been a big fan of this crime and quirky show from day one -with the English always being outa place and whinging bout home and bing in uncomfortable surroundings -and i thought this would be a cracker at 90 mins but it didnt work- there was 0 chemistry with any of the actors and the script has to be one of the worst this show has ever produced with more plot holes than swiss cheese - i have always liked how they pieced the murders together but this one was really stretching credibility and painfully had me checking my watch once or twice to see how long this had to go -hopefully when this returns to its normal format in January things will get back on track and they will be less overacting uggh - i give 0 cares for the will they /wont they subplot -nice to see that harry got a scene.