Death in Paradise’s DI Neville Parker teases exit from show as fans think its his last season

Ralph Little has played DI Neville Parker since series nine

Death in Paradise viewers were left stunned during Sunday night’s episode when Ralf Little’s character DI Neville Parker teased his departure from the series.

On Sunday (11 March), the BBC drama series aired the penultimate episode of its 13th series with Little as the intuitive DI Neville alongside Don Warrington as the local police Commissioner Selwyn Patterson.

The show, which is set in the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie, focuses on the detective inspector from the UK and his police team solving murder mysteries that continue to shake the island.

During Sunday’s episode, DI Neville, who is the show’s longest-running detective, dropped a huge bombshell when he announced that he would be leaving Saint Marie to go travelling in the hope of finding love.

However, just before the end of the episode, the DI’s former love interest and colleague, DS Florence Cassell (played by Joséphine Jobert), called the Commissioner to say she had been released from witness protection and was heading back to Saint Marie.

Fans pointed out the timeliness of her arrival and predicted that the pair might strike up a romance and Florence could be the one to convince Neville to stay on the island.

Others predicted that Neville and Florence would leave the series and go travelling together, making room for a new DI to take over the role, which Little has been in since he joined the show in 2020.

Florence is coming out of witness protection and heading back to Saint Marie (BBC / Red Planet Pictures / Denis Guyenon)

“Yes... Florence is clearly back for Neville. Please let them go off travelling together,” wrote one fan on X/Twitter.

Another viewer wrote that they thought the pair were “definitely heading off into the sunset together”.

Meanwhile, another fan said it was “definitely” Neville’s final season.

Ralph Little has played DI Neville Parker since series nine (BBC)

“Question is does Florence go travelling with him? Kinda think the answer is yes, don’t think she’d wanna be DI,” they wrote.

Neville has been quietly pining for Florence since she left the island during season 12 following a dangerous gunpoint situation.

The actor playing the British detective is often swapped after a few seasons. In the past, Ben Miller portrayed DI Richard Poole for the first three series of the BBC show with Kris Marshall taking over as DI Humphrey Goodman from seasons three to six.

Could this be the end of Ralf Little as DI Neville Parker?

The final episode of Death in Paradise season 13 will air next Sunday 17 March at 9pm on BBC One.