Ralf Little replaces Ardal O’Hanlon in season 9…

Ralf Little will replace Ardal O’Hanlon as the lead of Death In Paradise for next year’s ninth series, which will begin on January 9th at 9pm, the BBC has revealed.

Little’s character, Detective Inspector Neville Parker, is “reluctantly dispatched to the fictional island of Saint Marie to investigate the suspicious death of a woman from his home city, Manchester”….

“It took less than 0.005 seconds to say yes to playing the new DI! How could I not?” Little said in a statement. “Ardal has been wonderful in the last few series and to follow in his footsteps in a place as idyllic as Guadeloupe was a great honour and a dream come true. It is a joy to play Neville and I can’t wait for viewers to see him in Paradise this series.”

The Beeb’s Caribbean crime saga will bid goodbye to O’Hanlon’s Detective Inspector Jack Mooney in 2020, and Little will now go on to star alongside Tobi Bakare, Shyko Amos, Don Warrington, Elizabeth Bourgine and Aude Legastelois when the series returns.

“We’re delighted to welcome Ralf to the team – he’s not only a great actor but also extremely funny and from the moment he stepped on set we knew the show was in safe hands,” enthused executive producer Tim Key. “Neville is a true fish out of water and the island of Saint Marie is going to test him to the core. We’re hugely excited about the future and can’t wait for the audience to meet D.I Parker.”