Sweet reason David Mitchell turned down Death in Paradise lead detective part revealed

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David Mitchell was cast as the original Death in Paradise detective Richard Poole, but quit the part before filming began...

David Mitchell in Death in Paradise if he'd have been cast
(Image credit: BBC)

David Mitchell was originally cast for the lead detective role in the first series of Death in Paradise, its creator has revealed.

However, the Would I Lie to You? star turned down the part because he'd fallen in love with his future wife Victoria Coren.

The whole history of Death in Paradise could have been different then with David, rather than Ben Miller, playing DI Richard Poole in the opening series of the hugely popular detective hit.

Writer Robert Thorogood, who dreamt up Death in Paradise, told OK! Magazine: "David was originally penciled in to be the lead in Death in Paradise. When the show was green-lit, he was attached, but it was about then that he'd fallen in love with Victoria.

"He was very, very polite about it as you can imagine and said: 'I'm really sorry, but I can’t go to the Caribbean for six months. I've just started dating Vicky Coren."

Victoria Coren Mitchell (L) and David Mitchell

Victoria Coren Mitchell (L) and David Mitchell (Image credit: Getty Images)

Robert added: "We were very lucky actually because Tony Jordan — who was one of the masterminds of the show — had been keen from the start to call it Death in Paradise rather than name it after the detective. He said, 'We’ve got to make it so that if a detective changes, we still have a show.

"When David said he couldn't do it, it didn't feel so catastrophic. We just went looking for another person who could play an uptight, white, middle-class, private school-educated, neurotic lunatic and we were very lucky to get Ben to do it. That's worked out well."

Ben Miller suited and booted in sunny Death in Paradise.

Ben Miller ended up playing RI Richard Poole (Image credit: BBC)

It seemed to work out well for everyone. David Mitchell married Victoria in 2012 — one year after the original series of Death in Paradise went out. The couple have two children together, Barbara and June. David has gone on to enjoy huge success with Would I Lie To You? and his game show Outsiders. Meanwhile, Ben Miller turned out to be wonderful as DI Richard Poole, in our opinion the best Death in Paradise detective, and Death in Paradise season 14 will air next year… 

Meanwhile, Robert Thorogood also penned the "Marlow Murder Club" mysteries and The Marlow Murder Club season 2 is on the way, with Samantha Bond again starring. 

David Hollingsworth
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!