British Network Television & Radio
Are D.I. Richard Poole’s deaths in paradise solving days numbered?
‘Death in Paradise’: S2.E8. “A Deadly Party”…
Alrick Riley’s “A Deadly Party”, televised in the British Isles on Tuesday, 26 Feb. 2013, serves as the second season finale. The episode, with a teleplay penned by Death in Paradise series creator Robert Thorogood, reached an estimated seven and a half million viewers.
Riley’s “A Deadly Party”, respective of the lead character Detective Inspector Richard Poole, serves as Ben Miller’s last episode as a member of the regular cast. Miller, in the 2014 third season premiere episode “Death of a Detective, guest stars as D.I. Richard Poole.
“A Deadly Party”, one of the best Death in Paradise season finales ever televised, sees Lucy Davis, Sean Pertwee, Julie Graham, Lucien Laviscount, and Jamie Davis respectively guest star as Vicky Woodward, Malcolm Powell, Jen Powell, Duncan Wood, and Mark Grainger.
Poole, not something he had opted to do voluntarily, is seen attending a charity fundraiser. The host of the fundraiser, local conservationist and philanthropist Malcolm Powell, is soon discovered dead. He’d been shot. Vicky Woodward, Powell’s secretary, adamantly believes the killer is someone she knows… a man that goes by the name Jack Roberts.
Curiously, despite Woodward’s assertions, it initially appears no one else on the island has ever heard of this Jack Roberts. He seems to have vanished into thin air. It is soon discovered, after careful digging, Powell had fled to the Caribbean from England after having defrauded many investors of their lifesavings.
Interestingly, tying Roberts to the crime, evidence of a considerable sum of money is discovered in a burnt out car. Poole immediately suspects blackmail could be involved. Events take an odd turn when it is found Roberts had died some three years earlier.
It is suggested, with Roberts having been dead for three years, someone on the island is masquerading as Jack Roberts. Logic suggests the use of the Jack Roberts name is an attempt to cover up their involvement in Powell’s murder. Poole, soon thereafter, uncovers a complex conspiracy.
Meanwhile, on a more personal note for both Poole and Officer Fidel Best, we find the team taking some time to celebrate. Best has passed his sergeant’s examinations. The celebrations are cut short when Poole is temporarily recalled back to London.
The team members, D.S. Camille Bordey, Officer Dwayne Myers, Best, and of course Saint Marie Police Commissioner Selwyn Patterson, fear the possibility Poole might not want to return to the island once he has landed back in London.
Returning home is the one thing Poole has wanted to do ever since he first arrived on Saint Marie. His only reason for being on the island, if you recall the episode “Arriving in Paradise”, was to investigate D.I. Charlie Hulme’s murder. Could this be the end of the road for D.I. Richard Poole’s Caribbean adventure?
Music Used in Alrick Riley’s “A Deadly Party”…
- Wonderful World, Beautiful People performed by Jimmy Cliff