Fans of Death in Paradise who’ve been with the show since the beginning will remember Richard Poole, Ben Miller’s island detective, very fondly – and they’re not the only ones.
Miller, who took on the role for the BBC drama’s first two seasons, has revealed that he does “really miss” playing the detective.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview, Miller said that he feels a sense of “sadness” over never playing the character again.
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“I’ve loved every character that I’ve played. I really miss Richard Poole from Death in Paradise,” he said.
“He’s a wonderful, wonderful character. And inevitably there’s a sort of sadness in me that I’m not going to get to play him again. You miss them.”
While Poole was killed off at the start of season three, perhaps Death in Paradise isn’t the last we’ll see of him – particular since his successor Humphrey Goodman is starring in his own spin-off, Beyond Paradise.
“I just think it’s a brilliant idea. I think it’s a fantastic idea,” Miller said. “And I think everyone misses the character of Humphrey and I think it’s a great idea to bring him back. It’s only right that Death in Paradise should get a spin off series as well.
“It’s been so successful, so popular for over 10 seasons now. And it’s a world we want to explore a little more, isn’t it? I think people really underestimate how hard it is to write and create Paradise because it’s such an easy watch, you think it would be maybe easy to make, but it’s not.”
He continued: “The easier something is to watch, the harder it is to make. It’s very light in tone, they use the expression cosy crime, and everyone talks about cosy crime as if it was a thing that everyone knows about, but before Death in Paradise, it didn’t really exist.”
Miller, who now stars in ITV’s Professor T, previously said that he would “love” to join the Death in Paradise spin-off after briefly reprising the role of Richard Poole on the show last year.
Additional reporting by Abby Robinson.
Death in Paradise is available to watch on BBC iPlayer. Professor T is on ITV on Friday 16th September at 9pm.
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