Detective Chief Inspector Humphrey Goodman, played by Kris Marshall, is Death in Paradise's longest-serving detective.
Kris Marshall to date has made 30 appearances in Death in Paradise and, in a twist worthy of the show, he’s set to play the character again in spin-off Beyond Paradise, which sees Humphrey working in Devon.
It is worth noting that Sara Martins also made 30 appearances as Detective Sergeant Camille Bordey. But the show's detective is normally seen as one of the main leads — Ralf Little, Ardal O’Hanlon, Kris Marshall and Ben Miller.
This is also why we wouldn’t answer the "who is the longest serving detective in Death in Paradise?" question with the answer Josephine Jobert. She made over 50 appearances as Florence but Florence was always a supporting character and never the show's lead detective.
Ralf Little, then, has the opportunity to overtake Kris Marshall’s longest serving detective record.
Assuming Ralf makes it to the end of Death in Paradise season 12 as DCI Neville Parker he'd have equaled the 30-episode record. Ralf first played Neville in season 9 and he also has the honor of appearing in the two Death in Paradise Christmas specials.
Ralf actually appeared in one more episode, although not as his current character, when he guested during the second series.
Now, when people search this question it can be suggested that Danny John-Jules is the longest running detective on Death in Paradise. But his character, Officer Dwayne Myers, wasn’t a detective and again wasn’t the lead.
The character that has actually appeared in the most episodes currently is Catherine, played by Elizabeth Bourgine, who’s appeared over 70 times. While Don Warrington as the Commissioner isn’t far behind her.
Who is the shortest serving detective in Death in Paradise?
Tricky, you could answer Hugo Speer who made just one appearance as DI Charlie Hulme. But he wasn’t the show’s true lead detective. Ben Miller as DI Richard Poole then was Death in Paradise's shortest serving lead detective appearing in just 18 episodes. While Ardal O’Hanlon made 24 appearances as DI Jack Mooney. Ben may have only enjoyed a relatively short time on the show, but we'd argue he was the best Death in Paradise detective so far.
We hope this all helps!
