Will Brexit be the one case ‘Death in Paradise’ can’t solve?
(C) Red Planet Pictures – Photographer: Denis Guyenon
As evidenced by the fact that there have now been three major cast changes in six seasons of the BBC mystery series Death in Paradise, filming in the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe has not proven to be ‘paradise’ over the years. Citing his desire to spend more time with his family, Ben Miller starred as DI Richard Poole for the first two seasons before he was murdered at the beginning of series three.
Enter Kris Marshall as DI Humphrey Goodman charged with solving Poole’s murder. After making the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie safe for three and a half series, Marshall decided to leave the island ‘paradise’ citing similar pressures that the filming placed upon his family. Enter former Father Ted star Ardal O’Hanlon as DI Jack Mooney who took over in the middle of series six when DI Goodman returned to London.
As O’Hanlon gets ready for his first full series on Death in Paradise in early 2018, there’s a possibility that Brexit and not the hardships of filming on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe could be the death of Death in Paradise according to series writer/creator Robert Thorogood.
“Guadeloupe is an overseas territory of France, so it’s part of the EU, which makes it really easy to film there,” Thorogood told RadioTimes.com. “If we left the single market, it could make things much harder for us. So, like the rest of the UK, we’re just going to have to wait and see what happens after Brexit”. Series like Death in Paradise and The Tunnel could face production difficulties if required to strike up various contractual and tax deals as opposed to the current ease of being a British production currently filmed in the EU.
“Filming in Guadeloupe works because it is in the EU. Other islands like St Lucia are beautiful – but the complicated arrangements would make it very hard if not impossible,” added a source. “At the moment filming there is the same as filming in London– but Brexit will change all that.”
With filming of series 8 set to begin in April 2018 and, if commissioned, series 9 set to film beginning in April 2019, series 7 of Death in Paradise will return to BBC1 in January with series regulars Josephine Jobert, Danny John-Jules, Tobi Bakare and Don Warrington joining O’Hanlon.
Death in Paradise is expected to return to BBC1 beginning in January 2018.
In: Mystery
