Ruby will be seen for the first time in Thursday's episode...
Death in Paradise gets a new character this week when Shyko Amos joins the cast as Officer Ruby Patterson, helping to fill the gap left by the departure of Danny John-Jules as Dwayne.
And DI Jack Mooney (Ardal O’Hanlon), DS Florence Cassell (Josephine Jobert) and JP (Tobi Bakare) better watch out because she’s the Commissioner’s niece!
Commissioner Selwyn is rather indulgent towards his niece and Shyko reveals that this is Ruby’s first job!
“She is the rookie police officer and this is her first real job. Before now she’s just been having a good time, she’s really an island girl, she knows the island and spends her weekends partying on the beach with jobs in between.
“Selwyn wants her to grow up a bit so he gets her the job in the Honore police team. Throughout the episodes Ruby goes on a journey from rookie to the rookie who doesn’t really quite know if this is going to work, but still thinking that they could make this work.”
It looks like Ruby can get away with murder (not literally of course, as Jack would catch her).
“Ruby has a pretty long rope, particularly when she first joins, because everyone’s aware of who she is but she’s such a whirlwind they need to tighten the rope.”
Shyko, who enjoyed a role in A Very English Scandal, is thrilled to have joined Death in Paradise and her character is expected to add some comedy to the show, just as Danny John-Jules did as Dwayne.
“It has been a dream to get this job and it has been a dream working on it,” says Shyko. “I’m just so excited to be on a show that is so popular and so loved.”
Shyko reveals that one of her favourite cases in this series of Death in Paradise revolves around a radio station.
“It’s cool because music is very much part of that Caribbean feel, flavour and vibe, and it’s an episode where we get to see a lot of Ruby’s personality. Episode five and six are really juicy episodes, they’re so different for Death in Paradise - a bit darker and more action-packed.”
She adds that we can expect Ruby to be quite a straight talking character. “The first thing that appealed was her character, I loved the idea of being able to play a woman who ‘says it as she sees it’, she’s proud of coming from Saint Marie and she’s her own quirky person.”
Death in Paradise continues on BBC1.
