Who is Roy Palmer in Death in Paradise? And who is Gerard Horan who plays him?

Roy Palmer (Gerard Horan) in Death in Paradise season 14 episode 7
(Image credit: BBC)

Death in Paradise season 14 introduces us to Roy Palmer, played by Gerard Horan.

Roy Palmer is first seen, although he barely speaks, in episode 6. We see him looking at the poster Mervin has put up asking for information about his mother, Dorna Bray (Judith Jacob). We also see him in the final scene of the episode as Mervin and Naomi chat.

Mervin's talking about wanting to get hold of his mum's phone records and Naomi offers to go through her emails. At that point, Roy serves them two beers.

Naomi goes on to suggest they should make a full search of his mum's house and look for prints. Mervin then says what really gets him is that having spoken to everyone who knew his mum they all said how good, kind, and caring she was, so why would anyone want to kill her? We then see Roy looking shifty at the bar as he cleans a glass...

Who is Roy Palmer?

Roy Palmer (Gerard Horan) cleans a glass in Death in Paradise season 14 episode 6

Roy Palmer looking shifty (Image credit: BBC)

Roy Palmer is the owner of the Fishing Net and he was a friend of Mervin's mum, Dorna. Dorna's late father was a regular at the bar so he got to know Dorna when she came back to look after him, and he got in the habit of checking in on her from time to time after her dad passed away.

Roy becomes a key witness in Mervin's investigation because he was texting Dorna a couple of hours before she died. Mervin's hoping Roy can shed some light on what happened to his mother. But new head boss Sterling Fox wants Mervin to stop his investigation as he thinks it's a waste of time. So, what exactly was Roy's role in everything?

Who plays Roy Palmer in Death in Paradise?

Gerard Horan as Terry and Sophie Thompson as Sheila in Detectorists

Gerard Horan as Terry and Sophie Thompson as Sheila in Detectorists (Image credit: BBC)

Roy Palmer is played by English actor Gerard Horan, who is perhaps best known for playing Terry alongside Mackenzie Crook and Toby Jones in the BBC comedy Detectorists. Those with a really long memory might recall him as firefighter Leslie "Charisma" Appleby in the classic 1980s ITV drama London's Burning. He also appeared opposite Nick Berry in Harbour Lights.

London's Burning cast

Gerard Horan (middle top row) in his London Burning days (Image credit: Shutterstock)

More recently he appeared in Belgravia: The Next Chapter as a character called Enright. Plus he appeared as Aynesworth in the 2017 movie Murder on the Orient Express starring Kenneth Branagh. His other credits include Lark Rise to Candleford, Doctor Who, The Bill and Father Brown. In fact, if you name a long-running TV series from the last 40 years the 62-year-old star has probably been in it.

It remains to be seen how long he's in Death in Paradise as Roy. Death in Paradise continues on BBC One. You can catch up via BBC iPlayer.

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David Hollingsworth
Editor

David is the What To Watch Editor and has over 20 years of experience in television journalism. He is currently writing about the latest television and film news for What To Watch.

Before working for What To Watch, David spent many years working for TV Times magazine, interviewing some of television's most famous stars including Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland, singer Lionel Richie and wildlife legend Sir David Attenborough. 

David started out as a writer for TV Times before becoming the title's deputy features editor and then features editor. During his time on TV Times, David also helped run the annual TV Times Awards. David is a huge Death in Paradise fan, although he's still failed to solve a case before the show's detective! He also loves James Bond and controversially thinks that Timothy Dalton was an excellent 007.

Other than watching and writing about telly, David loves playing cricket, going to the cinema, trying to improve his tennis and chasing about after his kids!

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