CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews Saint-Pierre: Death In Paradise meets Shetland… with an ‘odd couple’ double act

Saint-Pierre (U&Alibi)

Rating: Four out of five stars

The patron saint of murderers is Julian the Hospitaller, a fourth-century pilgrim who was cursed from birth to murder his own family.

Trying to escape her fate, she ran away from home. One day he went hunting and came home to find two strangers sleeping in his bed. Enraged, he stabbed them to death.

Guess who they turned out to be?

Remorseful for killing his mother and father, Julian decided to open a hospice and spent the rest of his life helping terminally ill patients ‘cross the river’… a euphemism that also explains how he became the patron saint of boatmen.

If you’re looking for a more suitable saint to intercede for psychopaths, I’d suggest Saint-Marie, the name of the island where Death in Paradise takes place.

And now we can add Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, a string of islets off Canada’s Atlantic coast from which locals are removed on a weekly basis.

Saint-Pierre portrays Josephine Jobert as deputy police chief Genevieve ‘Arch’ Archambault. It’s been raining a lot in Newfoundland, but Arch found an anorak that doubles as a gabardine coat so he can stay dry while looking like a detective.

Exiled to the islands after a scandal, her new partner Donny ‘Fitz’ Fitzpatrick doesn’t know the dress code. He wears a suit and sunglasses, to the delight of his bilingual colleagues. They taunt him in French… until he inevitably reveals that he understands every word.

If you’re looking for a more suitable saint to intercede for psychopaths, I recommend Saint-Marie, the name of the island where Death in Paradise takes place.

The tale of misfits in suits has been a staple of Death in Paradise since its inception with Ben Miller in 2011, along with, of course, a host of leading actors. There’s a bit of that here, too, as Fitz disappears on his way back to his boarding house and turns green every time he steps onto the boat.

But at the core of the show is the ‘odd couple’ double game he plays with Arch. He is prickly, suspicious and reluctant to reveal his feelings. She is intuitive, prone to sleepwalking, and misses her children after a messy breakup.

So far there was a grudging respect between them, with just a hint of each realizing that the other didn’t look bad.

But neither of them is exactly a super detective. He was shot in the head while examining the beekeeper’s body

In a picturesque wooden church, they didn’t realize the boy was spying on them until the boy built a bolt for him. Even then they didn’t ask him if he saw the murder.

Featuring shades of Death In Paradise as well as Shetland, this promising series has a hint of darkness to balance the cozy sweetness.

You will recognize Josephine from her two roles as DS Florence Cassell in the Caribbean show. His character was permanently erased: He was pursued by vengeful drug traffickers, entered a witness protection plan, and disappeared.

Could Arch really be Florence with her new identity? They definitely look alike…