Christmas is coming early to Saint Marie this year, although, as usual, someone won’t be making it to the festive dinner! The BBC has announced that ‘Death in Paradise‘Â will return this November with a brand-new, feature-length Christmas special, bringing sunshine, family secrets and a rather inconvenient murder to our screens.
The festive special will arrive on BBC iPlayer on Friday, 27th November, ahead of a BBC One broadcast over Christmas, and features a fantastic guest cast including Charlie Higson (The Fast Show), Shaun Dooley (Misfits), Caroline Catz (Doc Martin), Freddie Meredith (Such Brave Girls), Anneika Rose (Line of Duty), Ene Frost (The Winter King) and Alexandra Mardell (Coronation Street).
Of course, no visit to Saint Marie would be complete without a baffling murder, and this year’s festive mystery looks set to be a particularly complicated affair.
As Christmas approaches, the celebrations take a deadly turn when the patriarch of one of Britain’s most famous families is murdered on their private island. Suddenly, the wealthy Pendleford dynasty finds itself firmly in the spotlight, and every member of the family is a potential suspect.
With bitter rivalries, long-buried secrets and enough family tension to ruin several Christmas dinners, DI Mervin Wilson and his team face the unenviable task of working out which of the Pendlefords has taken their family feud a little too far.
However, as the investigation unfolds, a shocking connection to the past emerges, and the detectives must race to identify the killer before they strike again. Meanwhile, Officers Seb and Mattie follow a crucial lead that could help unravel the mystery.
Returning to lead the investigation is Don Gilet as DI Mervin Wilson, alongside Don Warrington as Commissioner Selwyn Patterson, Shantol Jackson as DS Naomi Thomas, Shaquille Ali-Yebuah as Officer Sebastian Rose, Catherine Garton as Sergeant Mattie Fletcher and Élizabeth Bourgine as the ever-wonderful Catherine Bordey.
But while the murder takes centre stage, there’s also plenty happening in the personal lives of Saint Marie’s finest.
Naomi finds herself torn between her police duties and her family commitments, while Selwyn is forced to revisit a case from his past, one which apparently carries devastating consequences. And, in what might be a rather more cheerful development, Catherine’s Christmas takes an unexpected turn when a chance encounter brings someone new into her life. Could romance be in the Caribbean air?
The Christmas special continues a remarkable run for ‘Death in Paradise’, which has now been entertaining audiences for 15 years. Filmed on the beautiful French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, the series remains one of the UK’s most-watched television dramas, combining ingenious murder mysteries with humour, warmth and the sort of gorgeous scenery that makes you question why you’re sitting in a cold, wet Britain in December.
The show’s enormous success has also spawned two popular spin-offs, ‘Beyond Paradise’, following DI Humphrey Goodman back in the UK, and ‘Return to Paradise’, which takes the franchise’s murder-solving formula to Australia.
The festive special is produced by Red Planet Pictures, with Tim Key and America Rodriguez serving as executive producers alongside Nawfal Faizullah for the BBC. Helen Burt produces, with Jamie Annett directing.
With an all-star guest cast, a wealthy family full of secrets and a murder mystery to untangle, this year’s Christmas visit to Saint Marie looks like the perfect festive treat. Although, given the island’s extraordinary murder rate, you might want to think twice before booking your own Christmas getaway…
‘Death in Paradise‘ returns with its feature-length Christmas special on Friday, 27th November 2026, on BBC iPlayer, ahead of a BBC One broadcast later in the festive season. The exact BBC One air date has yet to be announced.
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