Episode 1

I don't find this episode tired as someone else said. It's a fun series, not shakespeare, it's meant to be a little silly. Finally Selwyn has to show some emotions. He acts like he's above everyone else. Maybe now he'll act humble, having someone else to think about instead of himself. Love that Darlene is a officer in training. Hopefully she'll calm marlon down a little. It would be nice if Jack would come back for a visit. For the next Christmas special, they should bring all the past regulars back. Except for Richard since he's dead, and he'd probably spoil the festive season anyway. Great series.

A group of five stargazers watch a rare event on The Island, one inexplicably falls to his death, a suicide note indicates he took his own life.

A strong start the new series, I cannot believe this show is now into its twelfth series, credit to all involved, this was as fresh and fun as ever, and how nice in January to see a little bit of sun.

Neville's stargazing hobby felt a little silly, a bit of a lazy plot device, but his romance is interesting, even if it does feel like they're setting up his exit.

They put a very strong cast together for this series opener, including Sarah Woodward, Amit Shah, Kevin Eldon and Christopher Villiers,

I really did enjoy the sparring between Marlon and Darlene, there's a definite power struggle going on there, I can't say I was blown away by Darlene when she first joint The Police, but here I thought she was excellent, I really did enjoy her presence, these two are going to make an awesome duo.

I still feel like Naomi needs a little more character development, she still feels a little anonymous.

8/10.

Great to have DiP back to get us through the winter. Plenty of sunshine, humour, romance here and of course Harry the Lizard is back too. This show has done so well with all the cast changes over the years - Darlene and Marlon are a fun, fresh cross-generational comedy pairing. Love how cross-generational this series is. I enjoy the different eras of DiP - they all bring something new, without losing the style/essence of the show. My Mancunian relatives get a kick out of the Northern references, which is a bonus. In such a real-life time of loss and uncertainty, this really is the familiar escapism I need.