The creator of Dᴇᴀᴛʜ in Paradise reveals a tragic event that inspired the hit BBC series.

When Robert Thorogood stepped off his passenger plane in Guadeloupe in early 2010, he found himself overwhelmed with emotion. The young scriptwriter, obsessed with Agatha Christie, had arrived on the French Caribbean island to scout locations for BBC’s new crime comedy, Dᴇᴀᴛʜ In Paradise.

“I wrote it without ever having been to the Caribbean,” he admits today. “We kept having development meetings where I would ask if there was a chance of being sent there, and they just laughed at me.

“When we finally got the chance to look at locations, I remember stepping off the plane into the heat. It suddenly hit me: ‘I think they’re going to make my TV show.’

“I’m not ashamed to say that I cried a little while standing on the tarmac. It was emotional, bizarre, and surreal. When you’ve been trying so hard for so long, it’s tough to receive good news.”

A year later, Ben Miller arrived on the island – reimagined as the fictional British Overseas Territory of Saint Marie – as Thorogood’s quintessentially out-of-place detective, Richard Poole. Dispatched to investigate the baffling murder of another senior British detective – found dead behind the locked door of a villa’s panic room during a party – the resolute DI solves the crime but is ordered by his superiors back home to remain and replace the victim.

Viewers were hooked. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Back then, at the age of 38 and – quite bluntly described by one newspaper as “previously unsuccessful” – Colchester-born Thorogood had been pitching scripts and ideas to widespread indifference for years.

“I’m happy to own it,” he laughs today. “I was incredibly unsuccessful in my 20s and 30s. I’d sold scripts and odd treatments, but I hadn’t had anything broadcast.”

After studying history at Downing College, Cambridge, he became president of the university’s famed comedy society, Footlights. However, a viable career on stage or screen also eluded him.

Robert Thorogood spoke to the Daily Express about the resounding success of Dᴇᴀᴛʜ in Paradise (Image: Supplied).

Then, in 2008, EastEnders legend Tony Jordan’s production company, Red Planet Pictures, held a competition to find new talent. Thorogood won and pitched his untitled “Cop in the Caribbean” idea directly to the boss.

“I pitched it to production companies, and everyone loved it, but they all thought it was too expensive to make. At the time, our idea of overseas filming was Monarch Of The Glen or Ballykissangel [respectively made in Scotland and Ireland]. But Tony, who’d been a market trader before becoming a writer and producer, stuck his neck out. Despite no reason to think I could do it, I was allowed to write the script.

“So, the first time I had anything broadcast, it was on BBC1 at 9 pm, and it was my own show. I went from 0 to 100 mph.”

The blend of glamorous locations, perfectly crafted cozy crimes, and a touch of dark humor captivated audiences.

Fast forward 15 years from his first visit to Guadeloupe, and millions of viewers will tune in tomorrow night for the 100th episode of Dᴇᴀᴛʜ In Paradise.

Now in its 13th season, the show features its fourth British lead, Ralf Little, who has played DI Neville Parker since joining in season nine, following Miller, Kris Marshall, and Ardal O’Hanlon in the role.

Thorogood says today, “I pitched it during the CSI era when people were into forensics and ballistics, and Scandinoir emerged almost simultaneously with its bleak detective stories and wintry settings. But I’ve always loved Golden Age murders. It’s the puzzle I care about: not just ‘whodunnit’ but ‘whydunnit’ and ‘howdunnit.’ I think that’s why Dᴇᴀᴛʜ In Paradise works so well, along with the glorious setting.

“I never thought I was going against a trend. Even so, I still can’t believe we’ve reached 100 episodes. It’s rare – overnight success after years of failure.”

The initial inspiration came from the tragic Dᴇᴀᴛʜ of cricket coach Bob Woolmer in a locked hotel room in Kingston, Jamaica, in March 2007, a day after his Pakistan team was eliminated from the Cricket World Cup. Was an assassin responsible? Had he been poisoned or strangled? The media went ballistic.

Thorogood explains: “It was front-page news everywhere, and British police sent a detective to the Caribbean to investigate. I read those headlines and thought I could make a show about a stiff-upper-lip British detective sent to the Caribbean who solves a murder and is forced to stay. Honestly, it felt like divine intervention.”

While Woolmer’s Dᴇᴀᴛʜ now appears to have been a tragic accident, Thorogood had already taken off with the idea.

“If you’re a writer, you’re a vampire,” he admits. “When people tell you about their tragedies, there’s always a small part of you thinking, ‘I wonder if I can turn this into a story?’”

Despite being the creator and sole writer for most of the first two seasons, he resisted the temptation to give himself a guest role, appearing only fleetingly as the voice of Test Match Special. “There’s nothing like being on set and seeing how hard everyone works to make you think, ‘I don’t want to be on set,’” he smiles. “As a writer, you’re the master of your world from your little office, and then you hand it over to much more sociable people who’ll come and make it.”

This season will be the first Thorogood gets to enjoy as a fan, having quietly stepped back after the last series to focus on another TV show.

“You give everything: your heart, soul, spleen, liver… and I couldn’t do that on two shows at once,” he says. “Knowing the team, I felt it was the right time to write about different murders in another country with different crime-fighting heroes.”

Perhaps Dᴇᴀᴛʜ In Paradise has paid off after years of struggle? “A year before the first series, I didn’t file taxes because I hadn’t earned enough money. I made around £20,000, which, after expenses, left me below the threshold.”

He adds, unnecessarily, “But I’ve been paying taxes since.” Today, he credits his wife, Classic FM presenter Katie Breathwick, for keeping him grounded. The couple met at Uppingham School in Rutland and have two sons, aged 18 and 20.

At 52 and enormously successful – yes, take that, snarky newspaper critic – Dᴇᴀᴛʜ In Paradise remains one of the UK’s biggest and best TV dramas, sold worldwide, inspiring spin-offs (Beyond Paradise premiered last year, with another BBC series, Return to Paradise, in development).