We've been a little obsessed with Death in Paradise season eight, which sees Ardal O'Hanlon return as DI Jack Mooney, while joined by our old favourite faces (all except Danny John-Jules that is!), and an exciting newcomer, Shyko Amos, who plays officer Ruby Patterson. Ahead of Thursday's episode, find out some fun facts about the series here...
Where is it filmed?
As much as we'd love to visit the beautiful Saint Marie (despite all of the murders of course), the island is actually just a fiction for the show, boo! Instead, the popular series is filmed in Guadeloupe, while the town of Honoré is actually filmed in Deshaies. Guadeloupe lies between Antigua and Dominica, so we're pretty sure we'd still be keen to visit!
© Photo: BBCHow many series have there been?
Death in Paradise began way back in 2011, and has been on for an impressive eight seasons so far, and usually airs in February. Season eight kicked off on 10 January on BBC, and the finale episode will air on 28 February. Don't worry though, they'll be available on iPlayer for our viewing pleasure!
Who was famous in France before the UK?
Although Joséphine Jobert was well known in France, it was thanks to Death in Paradise that she became a famous face in the UK! Chatting to The Sun about being recognised, she explained: "In Paris I am used to it because I have done many [French] shows. I was shopping for costumes in the UK and took a photo with this guy – he was my first English fan, and I was very emotional!"
© Photo: BBCWhy did Kris Marshall quit?
Kris Marshall played Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman for four series, but eventually quit the show after his son became school-age, and the family needed to stay more grounded. Chatting to Radio Times, he said: "Every year except last year we took Thomas out with us. The only reason they didn't come out last year was because my daughter was born and she was only three months old when filming started. Thomas has basically spent half his life in the Caribbean. Every year he went to the same nursery in Guadeloupe. But now it's time for him to put on scholastic shackles and toe the line… It's something my wife and I discussed three or four years ago. When I was first offered the job, my son was six months old and my wife wasn't working, so it was a very easy decision. We decided I would do Death in Paradise for a few years until it became impractical. It was always quite a finite thing."
Ardal O'Hanlon thinks any of the cast could be replaced
After Ardal replaced Kris as the show's lead detective, he revealed that he thinks the show can continue no matter who is replaced. He told Digital Spy: "We're all dispensable. Absolutely, when I heard that Danny was leaving, I thought, 'Hmm. How will that play? How will the audience take that?' Because he's a very popular character in the show, and he’s been there since the start as well, so there’s that. But we’ve seen time and time again that the show survives these cast changes."
© Photo: BBCWhere is Dwayne Myers?
Although Danny John-Jules left the show to pursue other interests, including a turn on Dancing on Ice, the show explained what happened to officer Dwayne Myers, and it sounds like he is having an amazing time! In the first episode of season eight, it was revealed that Dwayne was away boating with his dad. In the episode, Jack asked JP: "Have you heard from Dwayne at all? How is the epic voyage with his dad going?" JP replied: "I spoke to him yesterday sir. He was just off the coast of Cuba, and he'd picked up a crew whose engine had died." It turns out that a hen party was taking place on the boat he rescued, and Jack jokes: "Typical, the luck of that man – are you sure he's not Irish?"
© Photo: BBC
