AXN Asia's Very Special "Sherlock" Screening Marathon on 23 February!

For the last few years, the latest and most comtemporary incarnation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book character Sherlock Holmes has taken pop-culture audiences around the world by storm.

The BBC TV series created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, and simply entitled "Sherlock", stars Brit fan favourites Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.

Red Dot Diva has to be confess: she is not a big fan of the series. Being a hardcore ACD book nerd, she has her own personal reasons for not enjoying the new "Sherlock" as much as she thinks she should. But, there is one thing she cannot fault about the series - the solid acting of Cumberbatch and Freeman (and many of the other supporting/ guest actors).... And the silver foxiness of Inspector Lestrade/ Rupert Graves .... *bites quivering lower lip*

A Hot Inspectory Silver Fox

BBC1's "Death In Paradise" Brings On The Guilty Pleasures

Unlike many other British whodunits that are set in darker, drearier locations like the streets of London, BBC1's "Death In Paradise" is a TV series (created by Robert Thorogood) about a team of police solving crimes in sunny, fictional French Caribbean island of Saint-Marie, just off Guadeloupe.

The show recently ended its second series (that's what they call a "season" in the UK) and has been renewed for a third one. When Series 2 premiered in early January 2013, the growing and appreciative fan-base of "Death In Paradise"  contributed to a whopping 8 million viewers!

Having a paradise isle like Saint-Marie as a base for murders is something Red Dot Diva can really identify with. After all, take away all the swanky or scifi-like architecture, and Red Dot Island is nothing more than one hot little swamp island, not without her own tales of bloody crimes too.

Add in a dash of that crisp British accent, red herrings and puzzles to the tropical setting, and "Death In Paradise" becomes quite an entertaining guilty pleasure. Even if it does fall prey to paradise island-Caribbean stereotypes and formulaic old-skool whodunit story lines with crime-solving so lack of real forensic evidence that one actually misses Horatio Caine's sunglasses. (YEAHHHHH!!!) Also, those *aha!* (cue lightbulb cartoon bubble) moments unfold in a terribly clichéd manner as well. 

Still, it wouldn't kill for Red Dot Diva to admit that the light-hearted series had continued to pull her in - week after week.