DEATH in Paradise shocked with a gritty #MeToo storyline tonight as a TV star sexually assaulted his staff before murdering a whistleblower.
The hit BBC drama returned for its 10th series tonight, with Ralf Little back as DI Neville Parker on the fictional island of Saint Marie.
*Spoilers ahead for episode one, series 10 of Death in Paradise*
Despite the sunny climate, the show didn’t shy away from dealing with a topical issue in its first episode, as the island’s top TV anchor was revealed to be a sexual predator and murderer.
Former Casualty star Patrick Robinson played Garfield Tourné, the lead anchor on ‘Today with Tourné’.
After TV reporter 25-year-old Melanie Sharpe was found dead in her pool, DI Neville and the newly returned Florence Cassell (Josephine Jobert) quickly suspected Garfield was involved in his colleague’s death somehow.
As the episode progressed, it was revealed Garfield had visited Melanie’s home on the morning of her murder, but had been live on air at her time of death.
Initially stumped, Neville and Florence eventually discovered that Melanie had been working towards exposing Garfield as a sexual predator, after he had made unwanted advances towards her.
She wasn’t alone, as the police discovered the high turnover of female runners on the show was down to the fact Garfield had done the same thing to them, and worse.
Melanie had been conducting interviews with the women, and wanted to blow the whistle on Garfield’s behaviour, but the anchor made sure he put a stop to it by murdering her in her home before storing the body in her sauna.
Then, while he was on air, he got his daughter Heléne Tourné – who is also a reporter on the Saint Marie channel – to pretend to be Melanie arriving home so her driver would see her, and then dump the body in her pool for him to discover moments later.
Once Neville had gathered all the evidence, he confronted Garfield and his daughter (Shalisha James-Davis) in the TV studio, where they confessed to their crimes, failing to realise it was being broadcast live around the island.
The episode mirrored events of the last few years which saw high profile men in the media, such as Harvey Weinstein, brought to justice after brave women came forward and shared their stories as part of the #MeToo movement.
It was revealed earlier today that Death in Paradise has been recommissioned for a further two series.
Death in Paradise continues on Thursday, January 14 at 9pm on BBC One.
