Death in Paradise's former lead detective Ben Miller has said he would want to come back as Richard Poole, even though the character was killed off at the start of series three11:36, 04 Aug 2026Updated 11:37, 04 Aug 2026Former Death in Paradise leading man Ben Miller is desperate for his character Richard Poole to make a come back - even though he was killed off 12 years ago. Poole was the first lead detective on the series, but was murdered at the start of series three to allow Kris Marshall's Humphrey Goodman to take over.‌Miller did return for a brief cameo in series 10, appearing as a ghost/figment of the imagination to his former detective sergeant Camille Bordey (Sara Martins) after her mother was almost killed. But, Miller has now said that he misses the character so much, he would want to come back for a full prequel series.‌‌In an interview with Radio Times, he said: "If I wasn't so ruddy old, I could play him in a prequel. I loved the character and I loved the show. It just came at a slightly unfortunate time in my life."He added that he does often "really miss that character" and knows Death in Paradise creator Robert Thorogood wrote four DI Richard Poole novels after his exit from the show, "so that's a nice way to live the character again".The novels, which were released from 2015-2018, see Richard investigate murders on the fictional island of Saint Marie. The cosy murder mysteries see Richard face off with a spiritual leader, whose body is found in a locked room, a corpse with fingerprints impossibly placed on the inside of his body and a boat explosion.‌Though Miller would likely not be able to return for a prequel series about Richard, such a series isn't out of the question, as Thorogood has already created two spin-off Death in Paradise shows.The first, Beyond Paradise, focuses on the second lead detective, Humphrey, who is one of the most popular of the original series protagonists. In the spin off, he and his fiancee, Martha (Sally Bretton) move to the fictional town of Shipton Abbott to be closer to her family. The series has four seasons under its belt, with a fifth on the way.‌The other Death in Paradise spin-off is Return to Paradise - an Australian set show about a detective who has to go back to her idyllic but small coastal town after a life in the Metropolitan Police.The series didn't focus on one of the detectives from the original show, but detective number three, Ardal O'Hanlon's DI Jack Mooney, made a few cameos.Article continues belowFollowing Miller's exit from Death in Paradise, several actors have taken over as the lead detective of the fish-out-of-water series. After Marshall's Humphrey and O'Hanlon's Jack both did three series each, Ralf Little took over as DI Neville Parker for four seasons. When he chose to leave, with his character sailing off into the sunset with DS Florence Cassell (Josephine Jobert), Don Gilet took over as Mervin Wilson.The only characters to have been in the show for all 15 seasons are Catherine Bordey (Elizabeth Bourgine), the owner of Catherine's Bar and mother of Camille, and Commissioner Selwyn Patterson (Don Warrington), who has also appeared in Beyond Paradise.Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .