Don Gilet shines as Death in Paradise’s new lead sleuth – even if his first case makes no sense

There are moments when this Christmas one-off, which tries to do too much at once, threatens to lose its footing like Santa slipping on a dodgy roof tile

Gilet makes his debut as the lead detective (BBC / Red Planet Pictures / Lou Denim)

History is made in BBC One’s latest Death in Paradise Christmas special, as Don Gilet becomes the first Black actor to play the lead role of a British police detective parachuted into the sleepy (and entirely fictional) Caribbean island of Saint Marie. But as he dons the droopy green sun hat of DI Mervin Wilson, he has his work cut out in a fun, feature-length instalment that tries to pull off several demanding tasks simultaneously.

Firstly, the episode must introduce DI Wilson as a fully rounded replacement for the departed Neville Parker (Ralf Little). Secondly, it has to serve up a distinctive dollop of Christmas cheer on a weekend when the primetime schedules heave under a dead weight of tinsel and season’s greetings. Oh, and it has to deliver a satisfying murder mystery with the inevitable loose ends tied up by the closing credits.

That’s a tall order – too tall perhaps. There are moments when this Christmas one-off threatens to lose its footing and tumble head over heels like Santa slipping on a dodgy roof tile. The good news is that Gilet is a great addition to the series. His phlegmatic, crotchety persona harks back to the OG Death in Paradise policeman abroad, Richard Poole (the harrumphing Ben Miller).

Poole was forever grumbling about life on a glorious tropical island. DI Wilson has some of that same Columbo-esque energy, complaining early on that visiting Saint Marie is “like stepping back in time”. But there’s deep sadness under that glum exterior, and it is revealed that he came to the island hoping to connect with his mother, whom he had never known. He also seems not to have any friends back in London – revealing to DS Naomi Thomas (Shantol Jackson) that he always volunteered to work at Christmas because he didn’t have much else on.

The episode also brims with yuletide conviviality. As it was no doubt filmed months ago, in sunny Guadeloupe, conjuring the season’s charm must have been a challenge. But it pulls it off, with a heart-warming subplot in which Danny John-Jules’s officer Dwayne Myers pulls out all the stops to spend 25 December with his ageing dad Nelson (Ram John Holder), who he suspects may not have too many more Christmases left in him. Dwayne follows this up by announcing he is stepping down as a policeman so that he can have more quality time with his father (it is Jules’s second exit from Death in Paradise after he previously took time away in 2022).

Where the instalment falls down is in its manically convoluted murder plot. You know that internet meme from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, in which a wild-eyed Charlie Day stands in front of a cork-board map criss-crossed with red lines? That is what this Death in Paradise storyline feels like, as the holidaying Wilson is asked to delay his return to London to help the local police investigate the double killing of two men, both dressed as Santa.

The two have seemingly been killed with the same gun – at the same time. Oh, and there is another near-victim, again done up as Father Christmas and pinged with a bullet at the very moment his fellow Santas were shot dead.

Gilet as DI Mervin (BBC/Red Planet Pictures/Philippe Virapin)

Untangling the mystery is a tremendously fiddly undertaking, and I’m still not sure I entirely understand it all. I won’t spoil it here – suffice to say it’s a bonkers combination of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express and Oliver Stone’s JFK, with several potential culprits and enough deep-fried red herrings to stock a chipper on Christmas Eve.

It’s all quite baffling, and not even DI Wilson appears to fully understand it as he breaks down the details of the murder. But then, the crimes – and the idea they need to make any sense at all – have always taken a back seat on Death in Paradise. Far more important is the fact that the new DI strikes up an instant connection with the support crew of DS Thomas and police chief Commissioner Selwyn Patterson (Don Warrington).

The chemistry is great, the sunshine a balm at this time of year – and the Christmas spirit appropriately festive. You could go down a tropical rabbit hole trying to unravel the complicated plot. But bah humbug to that. What is really important is that Death in Paradise has a compelling new lead detective. To grumble about the twisting, turning story would be to indulge in criminal levels of nitpicking.