British Network Television & Radio

Could there be a dirty British detective on Saint Marie?

‘Death in Paradise’: S2.E6. “A Dash of Sunshine”…

Everyone, even Detective Inspector Richard Poole, has a past. Poole’s past, after wheelchair-user English tourist June Anderson is discovered strangled, comes to Saint Marie in the shape of Detective Inspector Doug Anderson.

The visiting detective inspector, Anderson’s husband, is Poole’s primary suspect. The crime scene where Anderson’s wife had been discovered, noting how Poole rarely forgets anything pertinent to a case any case, recalls an unsolved case with similar circumstances.

Anderson’s presence on the island, not something Poole is willing to overlook, is all the justification the detective inspector needs to go after his former colleague. Their working relationship, back in the day when they were London cops, wasn’t exactly on the friendliest of terms. Anderson, with no respect for Saint Marie’s detective inspector, persistently refers to Poole as ‘Dick’.

“A Dash of Sunshine”, directed by Alrick Riley from a teleplay penned by Colin Bytheway, first came to television screens in the British Isles on Tuesday, 12 Feb. 2013. The episode, drawing an estimated seven and a half million viewers, sees Neil Pearson and Kim Thomson respectively portraying Detective Inspector Doug Anderson and June Anderson.

Riley’s “A Dash of Sunshine”, further to Pearson and Thomson, also features Michele Austin, Ralf Little, James Murray, Matilda Ziegler, and Hannah Spearritt. Austin, Little, Murray, Ziegler, and Spearritt, in this second season episode, respectively portray Estelle Du Bois, Will Teague, Ronnie Stuart, Janice Palmer, and Lily Shaw.

Little, beginning with the 2020 ninth season episode “Switcharoo”, returned to Death in Paradise. This time, for no fewer than 33 instalments, Little could be seen playing Detective Inspector Neville Parker.

Unfortunately for Poole, not something that pleases Saint Marie’s detective inspector, Anderson has an air-tight alibi. The heir to the family fortune, not Anderson himself, is Janice Palmer. Palmer, the person responsible for Anderson’s wheelchair-bound condition, initially missed out of their father’s fortune.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Officer Dwayne Myers has his own issues. Estelle Du Bois, Myers’ clingy ex-date, regularly stole from the rented villa. This stealing included the fish that apparently poisoned her cat. It’s the same fish that gave her young English employers food poisoning.

Poole isn’t the only person with a connection to Anderson. It soon turns out Du Bois’ employers, ex-cons Will Teague and Ronnie Stuart, are metaphorically in bed with the visiting detective inspector. Poole, only after doing a little digging, discovers what connects Anderson to both Teague and Stuart.

The detective inspector, with help from Myers, sets a trap for Anderson. Anderson, always looking for a dirty-tricks angle to resolve every situation, falls into Poole’s trap.

Previously…