What happened to Fidel in Death in Paradise is the sneakiest exit the show ever pulled
Death in Paradise usually makes a meal of a departure. Richard Poole was murdered in a series 3 opener. Camille flew to Paris. Neville sailed off with Florence. Marlon got a whole tearful farewell scene. Fidel Best got a line of dialogue — and he wasn't even in the room to hear it.
The short answer
Gary Carr played Fidel across 24 episodes, from the very first instalment in October 2011 through to "Rue Morgue", the series 3 finale broadcast in 2014. No goodbye scene, no send-off episode, no last case. His departure was explained in the series 4 opener: Fidel had been promoted and transferred to the police force on St Lucia. Off screen, between series.
Why Gary Carr left
Carr has never publicly spelled out his reasoning. His co-star Kris Marshall, who'd only just arrived as DI Humphrey Goodman, offered the plainest read on it:
"He wants to move on," Marshall told Digital Spy in 2014.
Carr was 27 at the time and had already played jazz singer Jack Ross in the fourth series of Downton Abbey the year before.
What made it sneaky
Nobody watching "Rue Morgue" knew they were watching Fidel's last case. The episode hands him nothing — no promotion scene, no farewell drink at Catherine's bar, not a word about St Lucia. He'd been there since episode one, had been promoted to sergeant on screen, and had a wife, Juliette, and a daughter, Rosie, born in the series 1 finale. Then the credits rolled on an ordinary week.
Viewers found out he was gone when series 4 started and somebody mentioned it in passing.
What Carr did next
He worked steadily, and mostly a long way from Saint Marie:
- The Deuce — pimp C.C. across the first two series of David Simon's HBO drama, 2017 to 2018, with a guest return in 2019.
- Bolden — the lead as jazz cornetist Buddy Bolden in the 2019 biopic.
- 21 Bridges — Hawk, opposite Chadwick Boseman, also 2019.
- The Peripheral — Wilf Netherton in the 2022 adaptation of the William Gibson novel.
- Mass Effect: Andromeda — the voice of Liam Kosta in the 2017 game.
Did he ever come back?
No. Death in Paradise has plenty of form for reunions — both Ben Miller and Sara Martins returned around series 10, and Joséphine Jobert has been in and out repeatedly. Fidel has never been one of them.
For the record: the character is still, technically, alive and well and policing St Lucia.
Twelve years on, the door has never been shut. It's just never been opened either.