Who Should Head to Saint-Marie Next for 'Death in Paradise'

The charming Caribbean island of Saint-Marie in Death in Paradise has a murder rate that equals the fictional Midsomer County’s, keeping the Honoré police department extremely busy. For thirteen seasons now, Death in Paradise has followed a tight format of murder in the opening credits wrapped up in each episode, after we’ve been given a wealth of clues and red herrings woven in with the characters’ personal adventures. Timed to air in the UK each new year, the return of Death in Paradise is a welcome diversion from the cold, dark British winter, allowing audiences to dream of tropical escape, sun, and sea. Season 14 has been greenlit, but there’s a problem: Detective Inspector Neville Parker (Ralf Little) has left the series to join his love interest, DS Florence Cassell (Joséphine Jobert).

Little is the longest-running actor as DI in Death in Paradise, having clocked up four seasons, from the middle of Season 9 through the end of Season 13. As the fourth lead the show’s had, this is not the first time they’ve switched detectives, though it is the first time it’s happened at the end of a season. What will the show do? Invite back one of his predecessors?

The original DI, Richard Poole (Ben Miller) (Seasons 1 to the beginning of Season 3), is out of the running. He met a grisly end at a Cambridge University reunion at the hands of a former student who stabbed him to death with an ice-pick when he threatened to expose an identity theft. (Besides, Miller happily stars in Professor T.) The second, DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) (mid-Season 3 to mid-Season 6), is also out. Fans loved him galumphing around, charming and annoying his colleagues with his unorthodox approach and enthusiasm for his work; however, he fell deeply in love with his colleague DS Martha Lloyd (Sally Bretton), and the two now headline Beyond Paradise, where Humphrey alarms and delights yet another bemused police team in a small town in Devon.