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Returning: Death in Paradise

100th episode of mystery series set on Saint Marie is fast-tracked next week.

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Season 13 of Caribbean crime drama Death in Paradise, starring Ralf Little as DI Neville Parker, is  fast-tracked to screens next week.

The season produced by Red Planet Pictures will begin with its 100th episode from Monday.

Returning cast include Don Warrington (Commissioner Selwyn Patterson), Shantol Jackson (DS Naomi Thomas), Tahj Miles (Officer Marlon Pryce), Ginny Holder (Trainee Officer Darlene Curtis) and Élizabeth Bourgine (Catherine Bordey).

Kicking off the new series is the show’s milestone 100th episode, in which Commissioner Selwyn Patterson celebrates fifty years of police service, before being left fighting for his life as he’s dramatically shot by a mysterious assassin. As the team and island alike are left in despair, the question remains: will Selwyn survive? The landmark episode also features an array of talented guest stars, including Sean Maguire (The 100) – who becomes the first guest to reprise their role since appearing in the first ever episode in 2011 – alongside Leon Herbert (Outlander), Cathy Tyson (Boiling Point) and Mensah Bediako (Andor).

Elsewhere, across the rest of the series, Marlon confronts his future, Naomi lets loose to double date with Darlene, and Catherine finds herself embroiled in a murder case when an old friend becomes a suspect. New and returning faces arrive on Saint Marie, and Neville faces his biggest decision yet. Will our hapless detective finally get his happy ever after? There’s also a deadly game of bingo, a poisoning at a cookery competition, death during a blackout, and a mystifying murder in a lift.

As ever, Death in Paradise welcomes a host of sizzling guest stars to its sandy shores, including: Academy Award winner Hayley Mills (Unforgotten), Ellie Haddington (Motherland), Kate Robbins (Unforgotten), Pearce Quigley (Detectorists), Ronni Ancona (Last Tango in Halifax), Richard Fleeshman (The Ark), Juliet Cowan (The Power), Shvorne Marks (The Walk-In), Michael Fenton Stevens (Hapless), Ben Wiggins (You), Guy Henry (Holby City), Kevin Garry (Ted Lasso), Taj Atwal (Hullraisers), Emma Naomi (Bridgerton), Gabrielle Glaister (Coronation Street), Ellise Chappell (Poldark), Ali Ariaie (The Great), Eve Ponsonby (Carnival Row), Emma Sidi (Starstruck), Calvin Demba (The Rig), Rachel Adedeji (Hollyoaks), Richard Lintern (Nolly) and more, along with the return of Selwyn’s daughter Andrina, played by Genesis Lynea (Champion).

Offering the perfect cocktail of sun-soaked escapism, shimmering seas and bright blue skies, Death in Paradise continues into its thirteenth year with its much-loved combination of magnificent murder mysteries, mindboggling puzzles and plot twists which leave audiences guessing and on the edge of their seats.

Licensed to over 230 territories across the globe, Death in Paradise is much loved by audiences worldwide often proving to be the best performing drama on its respective channel in each region. It was recently announced that the Death in Paradise franchise has built on its international success and is hitting Australian shores with an original, home-grown spin-off series, Return to Paradise. Coming to ABC in Australia in 2024 and the BBC in the UK, Return to Paradise combines the DNA of the original global smash hit murder mystery series, with a new, unique Australian take.

11am Monday February 5 (repeat 9:30pm) on BBC First and Binge.

5 Responses

  1. I Watched Call The Midwife And Death In Paradise this morning on BBC First between 10:am And Midday both are excellent programs from the BBC in Great Britain well worth watching

  2. This an example of a show that gets a 1st run broadcast at a time that Aussie FTA networks consider to be “dead” or at least “dying”. In the UK, DiP is broadcast on BBC One at 9pm Sunday night & ends at 10pm (8am to 9am Monday AEDT).

    Here in Oz. BBC First has it 1 hour later (11am Monday AEDT) and Binge gets it after the BBC First “broadcast”, ie. 12am Monday).

      1. Agreed. But I wonder how much of the change here in Australia was due to US changing our viewing habits or the networks changing ours. Something along the lines: it’s cheaper for the networks if they no longer worry about starting new entertainment after 9pm. Didn’t the ABC say something like that for new Aussie shows a few years ago? Hasn’t entirely panned out but fairly close.

        I also suspect that streaming made a big difference once the networks stopped putting decent drama to air. The viewing public might have hung around for the reality shows (initially there wasn’t much reality on Netflix & co.) but then turned off in droves because the FTA networks gave up trying to keep them. Hence the 9pm dead zone.

        Oh well, we all reap what we sow.

        1. ABC did make a comment about 9:30 shows some years ago due to budgets, and focussing on earlier. Ratings are quite complex and a lot of people forget that Overnight numbers (or at least as we knew them) include timeshifted viewing up to 2am. So a viewer may watch MAFS then Aus Survivor, or Muster Dogs then 60 Mins. They’re still watching FTA after 9pm just on their own scheduling. But the number is assigned to the initial broadcast, which thus has an affect on later shows that might get Timeshifted on another day. I think you’re safer to compare trends in one market than to overseas where lifestyles can differ. Can you get home faster in Adelaide after than work than NYC? I’d say so…

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