History Series / DeathInParadise

The series focuses on the police department on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie,[[note]]The show is produced on the French overseas département of Guadaloupe.[[/note]] a British Overseas Territory. While the police commissioner is a local, the operative police work is led by a British[[note]]Or in Jack Mooney's case, Irish[[/note]]
detective, who invariably has to deal with the surprisingly high murder rate while trying to come to grips with the wholly foreign environment he's landed in. He's ably assisted by the local police force while they themselves are trying to figure out [[FunnyForeigner their new boss]].

The series focuses on the police department on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie,[[note]]The show is produced on the French overseas département of Guadaloupe.[[/note]] a British Overseas Territory. While the police commissioner is a local, the operative police work is led by a British detective, who invariably has to deal with the surprisingly high murder rate while trying to come to grips with the wholly foreign environment he's landed in. He's ably assisted by the local police force while they themselves are trying to figure out [[FunnyForeigner their new boss]].

As of April 2023, the show stars Shantol Jackson as DS Naomi Thomas, Ginny Holder as Trainee Officer Darlene Curtis and Creator/DannyJohnJules as Officer Dwayne Myers. The most recent Inspector was Neville Parker (played by [[Series/TheRoyleFamily Ralf Little]]), who left at the end of Series 13.

DI Parker was preceded by DI Richard Poole (Creator/BenMiller) in Series 1 and 2, DI Humphrey Goodman ([[Series/MyFamily Kris Marshall]]) in Series 3 through 6, and DI Jack Mooney (Creator/ArdalOHanlon) in Series 6 through 9.

* TwoDunIt: The murderers in [[spoiler: "The Blood Red Sea," "The Complex Murder," "Murder At The Polls", "La Murder Le Diablé", the 2021 Christmas special,the 2023 Christmas Special, and "Murder Going Down".]]

* ICallItVera: Poole has a telescope he calls 'Lucy'. Camille is incredulous that he named it.

** In [[spoiler:"Lucky in Love," the 'victim' initially faked her death to punish her husband and his mistress. Her plan is to fake her own strangulation, then lure a friend of hers to discover her dead body. She even goes as far as to ziptie her own arm to cut off circulation so she wouldn't have a pulse. When her friend discovers her body, then turns to call the police, the victim gets up, knocks her out, then runs off. Making it appear as though her murderer hid the body somewhere else. The last part of the plan was to run away on a boat later that night. Unfortunately, at that same time, the friend she used discovered her and in a fit of rage strangles her for real]].

** [[spoiler:"Murder in the Stars" opens with the apparent death of an astronomer after he fell off a cliff while watching a rare stellar event. The investigation determines that the man initially faked his death to escape accusations of plagiarism, climbing down the cliffs with a rope-ladder and staging the death for the benefit of the other four people present, but once the three witnesses had left, he climbed back up to rejoin his wife, who then pushed him off the cliff for real due to her anger at him faking his reputation]].
** In [[spoiler:"As The Sun Sets", Ray Saunders and his right-hand man Booker fake Ray's shooting and plan a FrameUp to incriminate Ray's son, newly-released criminal Max. Similar to "Lucky in Love", the plan involves luring a witness (Marlon) to initially discover Ray's body, then knocking out said witness, so when they wake up, it will appear as though the killer took the body elsewhere. It works perfectly, then goes horribly wrong when Max figures out the plan and unexpectedly turns up while Ray's playing dead and genuinely kills his father]].

** In [[spoiler:"Lucky in Love," the 'victim' initially faked her death to punish her husband and his mistress. Her plan is to fake her own strangulation, then lure a friend of hers to discover her dead body. She even goes as far as to ziptie her own arm to cut off circulation so she wouldn't have a pulse. When her friend discovers her body, then turns to call the police, the victim gets up, knocks her out, then runs off. Making it appear as though her murderer hid the body somewhere else. The last part of the plan was to run away on a boat later that night. Unfortunately, at that same time, the friend she used discovered her and in a fit of rage strangles her for real]].

** [[spoiler:"Murder in the Stars" opens with the apparent death of an astronomer after he fell off a cliff while watching a rare stellar event. The investigation determines that the man initially faked his death to escape accusations of plagiarism, climbing down the cliffs with a rope-ladder and staging the death for the benefit of the other four people present, but once the three witnesses had left, he climbed back up to rejoin his wife, who then pushed him off the cliff for real due to her anger at him faking his reputation]].
** In [[spoiler:"As The Sun Sets", Ray Saunders and his right-hand man Booker fake Ray's shooting and plan a FrameUp to incriminate Ray's son, newly-released criminal Max. Similar to "Lucky in Love", the plan involves luring a witness (Marlon) to initially discover Ray's body, then knocking out said witness, so when they wake up, it will appear as though the killer took the body elsewhere. It works perfectly, then goes horribly wrong when Max figures out the plan and unexpectedly turns up while Ray's playing dead and genuinely kills his father]].

** In [[spoiler:"Lucky in Love," the 'victim' initially faked her death to punish her husband and his mistress. Her plan is to fake her own strangulation, then lure a friend of hers to discover her dead body. She even goes as far as to ziptie her own arm to cut off circulation so she wouldn't have a pulse. When her friend discovers her body, then turns to call the police, the victim gets up, knocks her out, then runs off. Making it appear as though her murderer hid the body somewhere else. The last part of the plan was to run away on a boat later that night. Unfortunately, at that same time, the friend she used discovered her and in a fit of rage strangles her for real]].

** [[spoiler:"Murder in the Stars" opens with the apparent death of an astronomer after he fell off a cliff while watching a rare stellar event. The investigation determines that the man initially faked his death to escape accusations of plagiarism, climbing down the cliffs with a rope-ladder and staging the death for the benefit of the other four people present, but once the three witnesses had left, he climbed back up to rejoin his wife, who then pushed him off the cliff for real due to her anger at him faking his reputation]].
** In [[spoiler:"As The Sun Sets", Ray Saunders and his right-hand man Booker fake Ray's shooting and plan a FrameUp to incriminate Ray's son, newly-released criminal Max. Similar to "Lucky in Love", the plan involves luring a witness (Marlon) to initially discover Ray's body, then knocking out said witness, so when they wake up, it will appear as though the killer took the body elsewhere. It works perfectly, then goes horribly wrong when Max figures out the plan and unexpectedly turns up while Ray's playing dead and genuinely kills his father]].

** In [[spoiler:"Lucky in Love," the 'victim' initially faked her death to punish her husband and his mistress, but was subsequently discovered by her old friend as she prepared to leave on a boat and was strangled in a fit of rage]].

** Season 12's [[spoiler:first episode opens with the apparent death of an astronomer after he fell off a cliff while watching a rare stellar event. The investigation determines that the man initially faked his death to escape accusations of plagiarism, climbing down the cliffs with a rope-ladder and staging the death for the benefit of the other four people present, but once the three witnesses had left, he climbed back up to rejoin his wife, who then pushed him off the cliff for real due to her anger at him faking his reputation]].
** In Season 13's [[spoiler:fifth episode, Ray Saunders and his right-hand man Booker fake Ray's shooting and plan a FrameUp to incriminate Ray's son, newly-released criminal Max. It goes horribly wrong when Max unexpectedly turns up while Ray's playing dead and genuinely kills his father]].

* UndyingLoyalty: In the second episode of Season 13, one of the prime suspects in death of Nancy Martin is her former personal assistant, Phillipe Varane, who now manages the care home where she lived. Varane was a former criminal who Nancy took into her employ after she caught him trying to rob her, and Varane was so grateful for this chance that [[spoiler:he helped Nancy try to protect her daughter Oona after Oona stabbed Nancy after realising that Nancy was responsible for the death of Oona's father]].

The show has a revolving cast of regulars, and only one of the four main cast from the first series is still part of the lineup.[[note]]Danny John-Jules left the show after Series 7, guest starred in Series 11, and is now a regular again as of Series 13.[[/note]] Only the supporting characters Commissioner Selwyn Patterson (Don Warrington) and Catherine Bordey (Élizabeth Bourgine) (the mother of one of the original detectives, owner of the bar the main cast hang out at, and later the Mayor of Saint Marie) remain from the premiere.[[note]]There's also Harry the lizard, but he's generated with CGI and therefore isn't a credited role.[[/note]]

As of April 2023, the show stars [[Series/TheRoyleFamily Ralf Little]] as DI Neville Parker, Shantol Jackson as DS Naomi Thomas, Tahj Miles as Officer Marlon Pryce and Ginny Holder as Trainee Officer Darlene Curtis.

DI Parker was preceded by DI Richard Poole ([[Series/TheArmstrongAndMillerShow Ben Miller]]) in Series 1 and 2, DI Humphrey Goodman ([[Series/MyFamily Kris Marshall]]) in Series 3 through 6, and DI Jack Mooney (Creator/ArdalOHanlon) in Series 6 through 9.

The show has a revolving cast of regulars, and none of the four main cast from the first series are still part of the lineup. Only the supporting characters Commissioner Patterson and Catherine Bordey (the mother of one of the original detectives, owner of the bar the main cast hang out at, and later the Mayor of Saint Marie) remain from the premiere.[[note]]There's also Harry the lizard, but he's generated with CGI and therefore isn't a credited role.[[/note]]