When Charlie is found murdered in a locked panic room during a party at a local mansion, they are all devastated. Commissioner Selwyn Patterson reveals that as Charlie was a British cop, a British cop must lead the investigation into his murder. Enter quintessentially English DI Richard Poole, .

Episode 2

On the tropical paradise island, Saint-Marie, Richard is trying to acclimatise to his new surroundings. In desperate need of a decent cup of tea, he abandons his search when bride Lisa Moore is discovered murdered on her wedding day. Shot through the heart with a spear gun she was dead before her body hit the rocks beneath the balcony she fell from at the Bay Cove Hotel.

Episode 3

Dwayne looks like he's seen a ghost when the team is called to a local school to deal with the murder of Angelique Morel. The previous night Angelique had predicted her own murder by a scarred man – now she is found dead on the floor of the headmaster, Nicholas Dunham's, classroom.

Episode 4

Megan Talbot confesses to shooting her husband, Lucas Talbot, dead but when Richard and the team go to find the body it’s nowhere to be seen. Convinced there’s more to the case than Megan is telling him, and without a body, Richard releases Megan – offering her a lift to her villa.

Episode 5

A simple task of transporting a prisoner back to Saint-Marie on the local ferry ends in disaster when the prisoner, Leon Hamilton, is murdered en-route – it wouldn’t be so bad for Richard if he hadn’t been handcuffed to the victim when he was stabbed in the back…

Episode 6

With Richard struck down by a tropical disease and Camille in Paris, it is left to Dwayne and Fidel to solve the murder of a local diver, Benjamin Lightfoot. After a night of heavy drinking with his brother, Mark, Benjamin is seen by his boss Phil Owen and Dwayne going diving the following morning.

When Benjamin is still not back after a couple of hours, Mark raises the alarm with Phil – and helped by Phil’s wife, Alex Owen, they search the water. Alex finds Benjamin’s dead body in unusually shallow waters. This isn’t the only thing that doesn’t make sense, as Dwayne notices odd markings on Benjamin’s chest. When he then tests Benjamin’s air gauge and discovers the tank is still full of air it’s clear that it must be murder.

Episode 7

Carnival comes to Saint-Marie but the high spirits don’t last long as a team outing to see Dwayne’s favourite band ends abruptly when the lead singer Solly is murdered. Richard and the team quickly establish Solly wasn’t a popular member of the band, partly due to the rigmarole he insisted on going through before each performance – which included 15 minutes of ‘alone time’ in a coffin before it emerged on stage with him ‘rising from the dead’.

Richard and Camille are surprised to discover Solly’s murdered body was arranged with his arms in a position of repose – an act of kindness, even love – though the insight doesn’t go as far as to explain why the murder weapon was also left behind.

Episode 8

Following a fun night at Catherine’s bar Dwayne meets a girl, Nadia Selim, and they immediately hit it off leading to coffee at her house. However, the next morning Dwayne’s good mood is short lived when Richard reveals that his police warrant card was found at the scene of a murder crime – Nadia has been found dead with silver coins spilling out of her mouth. Nadia’s neighbours didn’t see anything suspicious - but Richard spots Georgie spying on them from her house…

Georgie reveals Nadia asked her to look after a package the day she was murdered. The package contains a passport, money and a vet bill – a guaranteed way to make sure her dog was looked after, should anything happen to her.

BBC’s Death In Paradise starring Ben Miller and Sara Martins

English cop investigating murder on the Caribbean island of Sainte Marie

Starring Ben Miller, Sara Martins, Danny John-Jules, Gary Carr, Lenora Crichlow and Don Warrington.

Photograph shows Ben Miller in character as DI Richard Poole with the rest of the cast of Death in Paradise