Marshall To Replace Miller In Death In Paradise

Kris Marshall is to replace Ben Miller as the lead detective in the third series of BBC One crime drama Death In Paradise, it was announced today.

Miller has played the character of fish-out-of-water Detective Inspector Richard Poole since the Caribbean-set show began, and was seen returning to the island at the end of the last episode of the second series, having had to take a captured killer to London. The details of how and when his character will leave are under wraps. The show had an average of almost eight million viewers tuning in to each episode of the second series.

Joining series regulars Sara Martins (who plays Detective Sergeant Camille Bordey), Danny John-Jules (police officer Dwayne Myers), Gary Carr (newly-qualified Sgt Fidel Best), and Don Warrington (Commissioner Selwyn Patterson) when filming starts on Guadeloupe (doubling for the fictional island of Saint-Marie) next month, Marshall will play the bright but rather disorganised and gawky Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman, who is stuck in a mid-life rut and looking to find a new life and fresh start.

Marshall, whose previous work has included Lightfields, My Family, and Citizen Khan, said: Miller stated: Co-executive producer Belinda Campbell, from Red Planet Pictures, commented: Ben Stephenson, the BBC's controller of drama commissioning, added: The third series will air next year.