British Network Television & Radio
Why did Carlton Paris have to die?
‘Death in Paradise’: S3.E3. “An Artistic Murder”…
Dusan Lazarevic’s “An Artistic Murder”, having premiered in the British Isles on Tuesday, 28 Jan. 2014, saw guest stars Adrian Scarborough, Josette Simon, Sharon Small, Steven Cole, Vinette Robinson, and Tristan Gemmill join the series regulars for what could be considered one of the best instalments of the third season.
The only episode besting Lazarevic’s “An Artistic Murder”, noting how Detective Humphrey Goodman had been introduced to series fans, is Cilla Ware’s “Death of a Detective”.
Carlton Paris, reportedly one of the island’s few gigolos, is murdered after an art exhibition. D.I. Humphrey Goodman, not long into the investigation, learns Paris had apparently placed a call to the police status mere minutes prior to his untimely death. He had apparently made claims of a woman with a gun that was out to kill him.
Goodman, with a seriously long list of potential suspects, turns his attention to the various women that inhabit the island. Paris, with no shortage of friends or enemies, wasn’t respected on the island. His chosen profession, not exactly looked upon with any high regard, had caused significant issues for Paris in the past.
Sergeant Fidel Best, having once had close personal ties with Paris, felt more than a tad guilty that he didn’t do more to help his friend when he most needed it. Best, focusing on his career as a police officer, felt having a friend such as Paris could be detrimental to his career. Paris was a gigolo and there is no getting around the stigma associated with such a career path.
The team, noting he had only his phone and an old guide book stolen from his residence, soon realises the connections Paris had made were significantly influential. The positions of power these people held, if it were widely known they were frequently in the company of a gigolo, could be in danger. Such a revelation would certainly raise career-ending questions.
Scarborough, Simon, Small, Cole, Robinson, and Gemmill, for this Death in Paradise instalment, respectively portray Leo Pascal, Judge Stone, Dorothy Foster, Carlton Paris, Lauren Campese, and Marc Campese.
The on-screen talent seen in Lazarevic’s “An Artistic Murder” is phenomenal. Simon, portraying Judge Stone, turns in a sterling performance. It’s easy seeing why Simon, a well-established thespian and actress best known for her work with both the Royal Shakespeare Company and Royal National Theatre, was cast.
Noting Simon’s talents, never one to shy away from bringing her best performance to either the stage or the screen, Simon has proved time and again she has what it takes to pull off any character.
Scarborough, having made his presence felt in such big screen films as The Madness of King George (1994), The History Boys (2006), The King’s Speech (2010), Les Misérables (2012) and 1917 (2019), is a familiar face to television viewers.
The actor, further to his film credits, has made numerous guest starring appearances. One of his more memorable guest appearances, in the Father Brown third season finale episode “The Owl of Minerva”, came when the actor stepped into Clive Trueman’s shoes.
Scarborough, like Simon, is no stranger to live theatrical performances. Anyone that has ever seen the National Theatre Live productions will likely know, in three of those said productions, Scarborough is very much front and centre. That pretty much applies to almost everything he does.
He appears in National Theatre Live: The Habit of Art, National Theatre Live: King Lear, and National Theatre Live: The Madness of George III. Where did he go from there? Scarborough, currently the titular character in The Chelsea Detective, is D.I. Max Arnold.