Death in Paradise legend Ben Miller has cop role… and he's even called Richard!
Death in Paradise star Ben Miller is to play a detective in the second series of Channel 4 drama Suspect.
Ben is known to millions of Death in Paradise fans as DI Richard Poole and in a nice twist, his character in Suspect is also called Richard! Perhaps he might get posted to Saint Marie?!
A first picture of Ben (main image) in the second series, sees the star sporting specs as he plays Detective Superintendent Richard Groves, a part he also played in the show's first series. Ben joins an all-star cast that includes Anne-Marie Duff, Dominic Cooper, Eddie Marsan, Vinette Robinson, Celine Buckens, Nicholas Pinnock and Gina McKee.
The second series picks up where the first left off with Dr Susannah Newman on a quest to discover the truth about her daughter's tragic death. But things take a mysterious turn when Jon (Dominic Cooper) makes a strange confession under hypnosis. Susannah is then thrown into a fresh mission to save a life, something she couldn't do for her own daughter.
It will be interesting to see how Ben's detective character fits into the plot. We do have a shot (below) of Detective Superintendent Richard Groves and Dr Susannah Newman interacting.
The eight-part series promises to be the thriller of the summer, while outside of the UK it's coming to BritBox later this year. Meanwhile, Ben has been making an Australian series called Austin, which is partly being made by ITV Studios, which suggests it might end up on ITV. Ben stars alongside Sally Phillips in the eight-part comedy, playing a children's author.
Ben is of course an actual children's author. He's published a string of books including "How I Became A Dog Called Midnight", "The Boy Who Made the World Disappear" and "Diary of a Big Bad Wolf".
Ben played DI Richard Poole between 2011 and 2014 in Death in Paradise, also making a brief appearance in 2021. The second series of Suspect will be directed by Carolina Giammetta (Before We Die, Hollington Drive) and has been written by Joy Wilkinson (Eps 1-5) and David Allison (Eps 6-8).