Death in Paradise was supposed to star unlikely TV legend – but he turned it down after finding loveDeath in Paradise burst onto BBC One back in 2011 with Ben Miller – who starred as neurotic detective Richard Poole – becoming the first of many actors to lead the show. However, a very different British star was originally cast as DI Richard, show creator Robert Thorogood has revealed. The screenwriter and novelist, who is promoting the latest book in his Marlow Murder Club series The Queen of Poisons, revealed in an exclusive chat with OK! that Would I Lie To You panellist and Peep Show star David Mitchell was originally cast as Richard Poole. However, David dropped out of the project to pursue a romance with his now-wife Victoria Coren-Mitchell. “David was originally pencilled in to be the lead in Death in Paradise,” Robert said. “When the show was green lit, he was attached, but it was about then that he’d fallen in love with Victoria.
Death in Paradise creator Robert Thorogood has revealed that David Mitchell was originally cast in the role of Richard Poole
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Ben Miller starred as detective Richard Poole for series one and two
(Image: Denis Guyenon)
“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.’ So he threw over his work to pursue his love life. “I’m not sure that I’ve asked him [to go on Death in Paradise] since because he’s been so busy. He’s now a lead detective in his own cosy crime TV show, which is coming out sometime or other,” he added, referring to BBC One’s upcoming series Ludwig. David and Victoria married in November 2012 and now share two daughters – Barbara, nine, and June Violet, eight months. Robert went onto say that signing up David as the original lead helped to get Death in Paradise greenlit. “The way you get stuff made is you try to attach as much talent as possible and when I was coming out up with Death in Paradise, I had no track record at all, no provenance to speak of,” he said. “So although people liked the idea, they wanted to believe that it could actually get made and one of the things you do is if you’re lucky enough to know a star, you say, ‘Can I attach your name to this? Because one, I think it’d be great in it, but it will help sell it to the channel.’
David gave up the role on Death in Paradise to pursue a romance with his now-wife Victoria Coren-Mitchell
(Image: WireImage)
“He was very happy to say that back then and we got all the way to the green light and when it came to the actual dates, he just rang me and said, ‘Look, would it cause a problem?’ We were very lucky actually because Tony Jordan – who was one of the masterminds of the show – has 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.'” He continued: “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.” Since leaving Death in Paradise, Robert has written The Marlow Murder Club book series – which follows 77-year-old Judith Potts as she teams up with other ladies in Marlow to solve murders in the quaint Buckinghamshire town. The novels have been adapted into a TV drama by UKTV, with series two on the way. “You feel like a part of a massive team and that’s really enjoyable,” he said. “The script department is so clever – you get all the mistakes you made in the book pointed out to you and you get a chance to amend them so that’s absolutely wonderful!” Robert Thorogood’s novel The Queen of Poisons – the third book in The Marlow Murder Club series – is available to buy now. Story SavedYou can find this story in My Bookmarks.Or by navigating to the user icon in the top right.Follow OK! MagazineFacebookTwitterMore OnLove IslandThe Queen
