For fourteen seasons, the sun-drenched island of Saint Marie has served as a stage for mortality and reinvention, and Death in Paradise returns once more to explore both. A new detective inspector steps forward, a beloved sergeant comes home briefly, and a cyclist's ambiguous death reminds us that what appears accidental rarely is. The show endures not merely as entertainment, but as a ritual of continuity — familiar faces anchoring the new, and the new giving the familiar fresh purpose.
Death in Paradise Series 14 Returns with Returning Stars and Fresh Cast
Death in Paradise is home. It's a second home for me.
Mark
So Tobi Bakare left the show in 2021 after seven years, and now he's back. What made him come back so quickly after appearing in series thirteen?
Mimi
He was hesitant about it, actually. He worried that coming back so soon after his last appearance would look like he was just trying to keep getting work from the show. But he said when a storyline makes sense, an actor serves the story. And he clearly loves the place—he called it his second home.
Luke
That's a nice sentiment, but we should note he's only in the first episode. So this isn't a full return to the cast. It's a guest appearance, which is different from what the headline might suggest to someone skimming.
Mark
Right. And his original departure—he said it came from a preacher mentioning the number seven in a church during filming. That's an unusual reason to leave a show.
Mimi
It was a spiritual moment for him. He realized he'd been on the show for four years at that point, and he'd have three more years until he hit seven years total. Something about that number clicked for him, and he told his wife. She prayed on it and called him back saying "2020"—which was exactly when seven years would be complete.
Luke
That's a personal decision, and it's his to make. But it's worth noting that's his explanation for why he left. We don't have independent confirmation of whether that's the full story or just how he's chosen to frame it publicly.
Mark
What about the new guest stars? Mark Holden sounds like he has an interesting background.
Mimi
He does. Before acting, he was a police officer in London in the early 1980s, then worked for the Edmonton Police Service in Canada. And in the mid to late 1980s, he competed in bobsledding for both Great Britain and Canada. He was a track and field athlete before that.
Luke
That's a lot of careers. Do we know how long he spent in each one, or is this just a list of things he's done?
Mimi
The source gives us the timeframes for some of it—early 1980s for the Met, mid to late 1980s for bobsledding. But it doesn't specify how long he was with the Edmonton Police Service or when he transitioned to acting full-time.
Mark
And the other guest stars—Michelle Greenidge, Stephen Odubola, Anthony J. Abraham—they're all playing characters connected to Benjamin Brice, the returning police officer?
Mimi
Greenidge and Odubola are, yes. They're playing Paulette Brice and Karlus Brice, relations of Benjamin. Abraham is playing a new police officer, so he's not necessarily connected to that family.
Luke
So we have a returning character in Benjamin Brice, and the episode is bringing in his relatives as guest stars. That's a narrative choice—it gives the episode a thematic focus. But we don't know yet what role those characters play in the actual mystery.
Mark
What's the case that kicks off the series?
Mimi
A cyclist's death that appears accidental at first but turns out to be something else. It's Wilson's first real test in his new role as DI.
Der Puls
- DI Mervin Wilson, poised to leave Saint Marie after the Christmas special, finds himself pulled back in by a murder that refuses to let him go.
- Tobi Bakare's return as JP Hooper carries its own quiet tension — he nearly declined, uneasy about returning so soon after his last appearance, yet the pull of a meaningful storyline proved stronger than his hesitation.
- The guest cast brings unexpected depth: Mark Holden, who plays Damon Clark, is a former Metropolitan Police officer, bobsled competitor for two nations, and son of a Nigerian vice president — a life stranger than most fictional characters.
- The premiere balances nostalgia and novelty carefully, with Bakare's arc deliberately contained to a single episode, signaling the show's awareness that too much familiarity can blunt the edge of mystery.
- Series 14 lands as a confident reset — new leadership at the station, returning emotional anchors for loyal viewers, and a case complex enough to test whether Wilson truly belongs where fate has kept him.
For fourteen seasons, the sun-drenched island of Saint Marie has served as a stage for mortality and reinvention, and Death in Paradise returns once more to explore both. A new detective inspector steps forward, a beloved sergeant comes home briefly, and a cyclist's ambiguous death reminds us that what appears accidental rarely is. The show endures not merely as entertainment, but as a ritual of continuity — familiar faces anchoring the new, and the new giving the familiar fresh purpose.
Death in Paradise opens its fourteenth series with Saint Marie's police force in quiet transition. Don Gilet steps in as the new detective inspector, while DI Mervin Wilson — who had been on the verge of leaving after the Christmas special — finds himself drawn back by a murder disguised as an accident. A cyclist's death, seemingly unremarkable, becomes the first real test of whether Wilson is where he's meant to be.
The premiere's emotional center belongs partly to Tobi Bakare, returning as Sergeant JP Hooper. Bakare left the show in 2021 after seven years — a departure he had foreseen with unusual precision. During filming in a church in season seven, a preacher's mention of the number seven struck him as a sign. He called his wife, told her he had three years left, and she confirmed it through prayer: 2020 would be the year. He honored that instinct. His return now is brief — one episode only — and he admits he wrestled with it, worried the proximity to his previous comeback would look like a revolving door. In the end, he trusted the story. "Death in Paradise is home," he said. "It's always going to be a privilege to be asked back."
The guest cast adds further texture. Mark Holden, playing Damon Clark, brings a biography that reads like fiction: former Metropolitan Police officer, bobsled competitor for both Great Britain and Canada, track athlete, and son of Nigeria's late former Vice President. Michelle Greenidge joins as Paulette Brice, connected to a returning officer, with credits spanning After Life, Code 404, and It's A Sin. Stephen Odubola, known for Blue Story and The Sandman, plays another Brice family member. Anthony J. Abraham rounds out the newcomers as a fresh recruit with roots in The Acolyte and Bad Education.
The series holds to its long-tested formula — enough returning warmth to feel like homecoming, enough new faces to keep the island's mysteries genuinely unpredictable. Thirteen seasons in, that balance remains the show's quiet art.
Death in Paradise is back for its fourteenth series, and the island of Saint Marie is getting a fresh look at its police force. Don Gilet is now officially stepping into the role of detective inspector, taking the helm at the station while DI Mervin Wilson—who had considered leaving at the end of the Christmas special—finds himself anchored to the island by a new murder case. What appears at first to be the accidental death of a cyclist becomes something far more complicated, and Wilson's first real test on the job is proving whether he belongs there.
The premiere brings back a familiar face in Tobi Bakare, who returns as Sergeant JP Hooper. Bakare had left the show in 2021 after seven years, departing at the end of season ten when Commissioner Selwyn Patterson offered him a position elsewhere. He made a brief appearance in series thirteen, and now he's back for the opening episode—though he won't appear in the second, suggesting his return is a contained arc. When asked whether he needed convincing to come back so soon after his last appearance, Bakare acknowledged the hesitation. The proximity between his two returns felt uncomfortably close, and he worried about the optics of repeatedly returning to the show. But he also recognized that when a storyline serves the narrative, an actor's job is to serve it. "The show is phenomenal," he said. "Death in Paradise is home. It's a second home for me, so it's always going to be a privilege to be asked to come back."
Bakare's original departure in 2021 came from an unexpected source of clarity. While filming in a church during season seven, a preacher mentioned the number seven in his message. Something about that moment struck Bakare deeply—a realization that he had three more years left on the show, and that those three years would bring him to exactly seven years total. He called his wife in the UK and told her he knew when he would leave. She prayed on it, called him back the next day, and said "2020." The exact moment when seven years would be complete. That was the decision.
The episode also introduces Mark Holden, who plays Damon Clark. Holden's résumé is unusual for an actor. He's the son of Admiral Augustus Aikhomu, the late former Vice President of Nigeria. Before acting, Holden worked as a police officer with the Metropolitan Police Service in the early 1980s and later as a full-time officer with the Edmonton Police Service in Canada. Between those careers, he competed in bobsledding for both Great Britain and Canada in the mid to late 1980s, having previously been a track and field athlete specializing in the 200-meter and 400-meter races. He now lives in London with his wife Patsy and their twin boys, and has two older daughters from a previous relationship; one of his daughters, Sienna, has followed him into acting.
The guest cast for the premiere also includes Anthony J. Abraham, who appears as a new police officer and is known for roles in The Acolyte, Jack Whitehall's Bad Education, and Black Cake. Michelle Greenidge, recognizable from Ricky Gervais's Netflix series After Life, from the comedy-drama Code 404 where she played PC Williams, and from Channel 4's It's A Sin where she portrayed Rosa Babtunde, joins the cast as Paulette Brice—a relation of Benjamin Brice, a returning police officer. Stephen Odubola, known for his work in Blue Story, Netflix's The Sandman, and Boiling Point, plays Karlus Brice, another relative of Benjamin Brice.
The series maintains its formula of weaving returning cast members with fresh talent, keeping the island's police station populated with both familiar and new faces. The first episode sets the tone with a case that pulls Wilson deeper into his role, while Bakare's brief return gives longtime viewers a moment with a character they've missed. It's the kind of balance the show has relied on for thirteen seasons—enough continuity to feel like home, enough change to keep the mystery alive.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
When a storyline makes sense, an actor serves a story. Death in Paradise is home. It's a second home for me, so it's always going to be a privilege to be asked to come back.— Tobi Bakare on his return to the series
A preacher mentioned seven years in a message, and it just clicked. I knew when it was going to be time for me to leave the show.— Tobi Bakare on the spiritual moment that led to his 2021 departure
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