A Death in Paradise Actor Died During Filming (So They Let the Murderer Escape)

In September 2017, actor Larrington Walker died of natural causes in Guadeloupe while filming a guest role in the show's seventh series. He was 71. His character, Samuel Palmer, was that episode's murderer. The crew had already filmed much of the episode — but not the final confrontation scene, where the detective gathers the suspects and reveals who did it. Without Walker, that scene couldn't be shot. So the writers rewrote the ending: for the first and only time in the show's history, the killer got away.

What happened in the episode

The episode is called "Dark Memories" — series 7, episode 7, aired 15 February 2018. The story centres on Officer JP Hooper (played by Tobi Bakare), who responds to a reported disturbance and finds café owner Eugene Jones dead on the floor with a fatal head wound. JP chases the suspect but doesn't catch him — and then recognises who it was: Cordell Thomas, his old classmate and childhood bully.

The next morning, Cordell walks into the police station and confesses. But DI Jack Mooney (Ardal O'Hanlon) doesn't buy it. Something doesn't add up. Over the course of the episode, Mooney pieces together the truth: the real killer was Samuel Palmer, an elderly man who murdered Eugene while trying to steal his money.

How the ending was changed

In a standard Death in Paradise episode, the detective confronts the killer face to face in a summation scene — usually with all the suspects gathered in one room. It's one of the show's signature elements, as predictable and comforting as the Caribbean backdrop.

In "Dark Memories", that scene doesn't happen. Instead, Mooney works out who did it — and then discovers that Palmer has already fled the island. The summation takes place without the killer present, and the episode ends with the murderer still at large. No arrest, no confrontation, no resolution.

If you watch the episode without knowing the backstory, it feels like an unusual creative choice — a deliberate subversion of the formula. Attentive viewers picked up on it at the time; the end credits confirmed what had happened. The episode closes with a dedication: "In memory of Larrington Walker."

Who was Larrington Walker

Walker was a Jamaican-born British actor with a career spanning five decades. Born in Kingston in 1946, he emigrated to England in 1956 at the age of ten. Over the years he built a quietly impressive body of work:

• The Chinese Detective (BBC, 1981–1982) — one of his earliest notable TV roles.
• The Bill, Inspector Morse, Minder — recurring guest appearances across decades of British television.
• Human Traffic (1999) — the cult Welsh film about Cardiff's club scene, where he played Koop's father.
• Taboo (BBC, 2017) — his last completed television role before Death in Paradise.
• Royal Shakespeare Company — member from 2008 to 2011, performing in Julius Caesar, The Winter's Tale, King Lear, and Antony and Cleopatra.
• Rudy's Rare Records — BBC Radio 4 comedy created by Lenny Henry, in which Walker played the title character Rudy across four series. He reprised the role in a 2014 stage production at the Birmingham Rep and the Hackney Empire.

Walker died on 3 September 2017 — a day off from filming. His agent, Femi Oguns, confirmed the news on social media. Sir Lenny Henry was among the first to pay tribute, writing: "One of the best has gone. Rest easy Larry."