Death in Paradise is a comedy crime television series created by Robert Thorogood, starring Ben Miller (Series 1-3), Kris Marshall (Series 3-6), Ardal O'Hanlon (Series 6-9), Ralf Little (Series 9-13) and Don Gilet (Series 14-present). The program is set on the small fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie. The premise is that a British Detective Inspector is dispatched reluctantly to the island to solve the murder of a policeman and remains to solve further crimes against his will, in conjunction with the local police. In subsequent seasons further British detectives replace the original, usually with a similar degree of reluctance. The plots combine gentle murder mystery with primarily culture clash comedy. The show is broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom, France 2 in France, PBS in the United States, Prime in New Zealand (with repeats on BBC UKTV) and Foxtel's BBC First channel, ABC, 9Gem in Australia, with repeat episodes on Atreseries in Spain. The series was inspired by a real-life event when Bob Woolmer, the coach of the Pakistan national cricket team, died under suspicious circumstances in Jamaica during the 2007 Cricket World Cup and British policeman Mark Shields of the Jamaica Constabulary Force led the murder investigation. Since its 2011 debut, Death in Paradise has enjoyed high viewing figures and a generally positive critical reception, leading to repeated renewals. The show is currently set to air until at least 2028. A spin-off series, Beyond Paradise, began airing in 2023 with Marshall reprising his role of DI Humphrey Goodman, while a second spin-off, Return to Paradise, began airing in 2024.
Synopsis
Detective Inspector Richard Poole (Ben Miller) is sent from the Metropolitan Police in London to investigate the murder of Charlie Hulme, a British police officer on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie, a British Overseas Territory with a French colonial history. After he finds the murderer (later revealed to be Sergeant Lily Thompson), he is ordered by his supervisors to stay on as the Detective Inspector (DI) of the island, much to his dismay, solving new cases as they appear and being the object of many fish-out-of-water jokes. At the start of series 3, Poole is himself murdered while attending a 25th anniversary party and clumsy London DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) arrives to investigate the death of his deadpan predecessor. After he finds the murderer (later revealed to be Helen Reed), he stays on the island permanently after learning from his wife, Sally, that she is leaving him. In the second half of series 6, he resigns so he can start a new life in London with his new girlfriend Martha Lloyd (who he later marries), after forming a relationship with her while she was staying at Saint Marie on holiday. Goodman's replacement on Saint Marie is DI Jack Mooney (Ardal O'Hanlon), a recent widower grieving the loss of his wife and who assisted the team on a case in London. Mooney embraces island life and remains on Saint Marie until mid-way through series 9, when he decides he is ready to face the memory of his deceased wife and returns to London to be with his daughter Mooney's replacement is DI Neville Parker (Ralf Little), who, like DI Poole before him, initially dislikes being on the island and has severe allergies, especially to bug bites. He comes to the island only because the team needs a British detective to sign off on a case and is forced to stay longer after a period of illness renders him temporarily unfit to travel. However, he decides to remain on the island and eventually warms to the island lifestyle. He stays until series 13, when he departs to travel and be in a relationship with former Detective Sergeant (DS) Florence Cassell (Joséphine Jobert), who joined the team initially as an Officer after Sergeant Fidel Best departed following series 3. During the Christmas 2024 special, Commissioner Selwyn Patterson (Don Warrington) calls London for yet another replacement DI to lead investigations in Saint Marie. Mervin Wilson (Don Gilet) happens to be visiting the island on holiday. As he is boarding the aircraft to take him away from the 'slow-paced' island, he receives a telephone call from his superior ordering him to stay and solve the murder. Although Wilson is annoyed by island life (much like DIs Poole and, initially, Parker before him), a personal connection to Saint Marie spurs him to remain there.
Episodes
Format The show is known for its formulaic approach to its plots with each episode roughly the same in length, style and narrative structure. Each episode begins with a pre-credits sequence showing the events leading up to a murder and often the discovery of the body afterwards; this sequence also serves to introduce that particular episode's guest characters. The police force of Saint Marie is subsequently informed of the murder, preliminary investigations and interviews take place to establish the suspects, and photographs of the suspects and crime scene are placed on the whiteboard at police headquarters.
The crime often presents an apparently impossible feature, with a closed circle of suspects, all of whom have motive but none of whom appear to have had opportunity. They either present what seem to be airtight alibis for the time the crime was believed to have committed, or the crime is a locked-room mystery, with the victim being found in circumstances that appear to make it impossible that anyone could have entered or left the location without being observed.
Often towards the end, the lead DI will have a moment of realisation, perhaps brought on by something that someone says or does, or by some occurrence. At this moment, the how, why, and who of the murder are comprehended by the DI, but are not revealed to the audience. The suspects are then gathered, and the DI talks through the evidence; often, flashbacks are used to show what happened. The murderer and the motive are revealed in the dénouement of the episode. Gathering the suspects, going through the events and finally identifying and arresting the murderer is based on the technique Agatha Christie uses in the Miss Marple stories and some of the Hercule Poirot ones.
Normally, each episode ends with a comedic scene or a celebratory trip by the police officers to Catherine's bar. The final episode of most series has included a subplot wherein the lead DI is tempted to return to the UK by the prospect of a job offer or personal relationship, but in the end, he decides to remain on the island.
This format was subverted in the sixth series, when the two-part storyline in the fifth and sixth episodes saw the team travel to London to follow up on a current case, resulting in Goodman deciding to remain to be with his new girlfriend, Martha; Mooney travelled back to Saint-Marie, initially as a holiday to help escape the memory of his recently deceased wife, but decided to remain as the new detective inspector of the island. This format was also subverted in the ninth series; Mooney decided to return to Britain mid-way through the series as he felt that he was ready to face the memory of his dead wife, with the new inspector (DI Neville Parker) initially coming to the island just to sign off on a particular body but kept for a few weeks for health reasons before he decided to remain to face a new challenge. Parker remains the DI on the island until the end of Series 13, when he departs the island to go travelling with his former DS Florence Cassell. His replacement, DI Mervin Wilson, initially just ended up working with the team by chance in the 2024 Christmas special as he was on holiday on the island when a difficult case came up, but he was subsequently convinced to sign a three-month contract to remain on the island that he later chose to extend.
While Death in Paradise has continued to be in the top three most popular programmes on British television, critics have called the crime drama "unremarkable" and "an undemanding detective show, with nice Caribbean scenery."
Setting Saint Marie
Death in Paradise is set on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie, described in episode 3.3 as a "pretty island" that is "situated in the Eastern Caribbean Sea". In episode 4.5, it is mentioned that Martinique is "a good 70 miles". Saint Marie is "one-tenth the size of its north-west neighbour Guadeloupe"; this would make Saint Marie about in size. Saint Marie is a British Overseas Territory, but about 30% of its people are French, due to its previous history, with the language still widely spoken.
The back-story appears to be a blend of two real-world islands near Guadeloupe, with size and location aligning with Marie-Galante and history and language aligning with Dominica. In the TV show, the fictional Saint Marie island has a volcano, rainforest, sugar plantations, a fishing harbour, an airport, a university, a convent, approximately 100 public beaches and a Crown Court. It also has its own newspaper, The Saint Marie Times, a radio station, Radio Saint Marie, and a television station, Saint Marie Broadcasting Corporation (SMBC). Its vehicles have French number plates, and motor vehicles drive on the right. Police uniforms are also French, not British. The police hierarchy is a blend of French and British, as the Detective Inspectors are British and the Commissioner reports to the Chief Commissioner in Jamaica (formerly a British territory), while the Internal Affairs team is from France.
Honoré, the name of the main town, is a reference to St Honoré, the setting of A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie. The town has a leisure/commercial marina, market, bars and restaurants as well as the police station. The neighbouring town to Honoré is named Port Royal. Saint Marie's main economic ties are to Guadeloupe, the UK and France. The island's main religions are Catholicism and Voodoo, with several religious festivals featuring in the programme, including the Saint Ursula Festival (in reality, a major festival of the Virgin Islands) and some Voodoo festivals.
Other locations Series 3, episode 7 is largely set on an islet just off Saint Marie; it is privately owned and relatively small. This episode was actually filmed on the island of Kahouanne, around off the northwest coast of Guadeloupe where the series is normally filmed. It can often be seen in the background from a beach on Saint Marie. Series 6, Episodes 5 and 6 are largely set in London, when Goodman, Cassell, and Officer Myers form a liaison team with Mooney in order to track down suspects in a murder investigation in Saint Marie and later to investigate the murder of one of the suspects. Season 15 episode 6 takes place mainly on the (real) island of Antigua
Other fictional islands (Saint Felix, Saint Helene, Saint Barnabas, and Saint Auguste) have featured throughout the series, with the Saint Marie police responsible for overseeing their local law enforcement.
Characters
Main Ben Miller as Detective Inspector (DI) Richard Poole (series 1-2; guest series 3, 10) Sara Martins as Detective Sergeant (DS) Camille Bordey (series 1-4; guest series 10, 13) Danny John-Jules as Officer Dwayne Myers (series 1-7, 13, 2024 Special; guest 2021 Special) Gary Carr as Officer/Sergeant Fidel Best (series 1-3) Don Warrington as Commissioner Selwyn Patterson (series 1-present) Élizabeth Bourgine as Catherine Bordey (later mayor of Honoré, the main town of Saint Marie), Camille's mother and owner of Catherine's Bar (series 2-present; recurring series 1) Kris Marshall as Detective Inspector (DI) Humphrey Goodman (series 3-6) Joséphine Jobert as Officer/Sergeant/Detective Sergeant (DS) Florence Cassell (series 4-8, 10-11; recurring series 13) Tobi Bakare as Officer/Sergeant Jean-Pierre "J.P." Hooper (series 4-10; guest series 13-14) Ardal O'Hanlon as Detective Inspector (DI) Jack Mooney (series 6-9) Aude Legastelois-Bidé as Detective Sergeant (DS) Madeleine Dumas (series 8-9)