Death in Paradise has been a hit once again with viewers this series, with the season finale airing on Thursday night. Having first began in 2011, the show is now in its eighth year, but luckily for fans, it doesn't sound like there are any plans to stop it anytime soon. Chatting to HELLO!, creator Don Warrington revealed: "It depends what life does, doesn't it? That's the best answer I can give. Nothing's forever and so it shouldn't be. What's good about this is that we change the detective. Every detective is someone fresh and it's exciting for us - exciting for the audience."
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Death in Paradise is not likely to stop anytime soon
Producer Tim Key added: "I think there is no - as a production company we'll make it forever - if the BBC commission it. I think the viewers still love it, as a team we enjoy making it, it's the most popular genre in the world so you can always find stories. I think if we got to a place creatively where we thought, 'Alright this has run its course,' then we would have that discussion but right now we could keep going forever! It's a tough show to make to look so easy when you watch it but it's really nice working on a show that audiences love so much. If they don't watch it, their mum does, or their neighbour does, it's a real thrill."
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DI Jack Mooney left the island this series
It's been an eventful series, not to mention the emotional departure of Ardal O'Hanlon's DI Jack Mooney, who left the island after three years of leading Saint Marie's police force. Jack was replaced by Ralf Little, who was cast as Detective Inspector Neville Parker. On Ralf joining the team, Tim revealed that he wanted the actor on board as soon as his name came up, and noted that it was especially good that the actor had been in an episode before, so he knew what to expect from the show. He explained: "As a huge compliment, Ardal's character is very nice and very loveable, so we wanted a character who was a bit more challenging for people to bring a bit of friction into the mix and as we talked about it and who would fit the bill. Ralf's name come up, and we immediately said, 'Oh yeah, he would be great,' and he came and met with us about it and the minute his name was in the mix you think, 'Yes, he'd be perfect for it.'"
Tim continued: "He has the familiarity with the audience but it's an opportunity with that a bit and show him in a different way and because he's been in an episode before he knew the environment, and he knew what to expect which is a big deal - it's good to go into it knowing!" On how Ralf was chosen, Tim joked that it was because the actor had said 'yes', before adding: "We knew broadly want we wanted to do with the character and we knew what energy we wanted the show to have - it's very hard to go, okay we had Ben and we had this then Kris and we had that, then Ardal was something different, he was older and in a different place in his life and we wanted to bring back some of the spike that the earlier series had."
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