Shantol Jackson, star of Death in Paradise, has shared that veteran cast member Don Warrington gave a somewhat foreboding warning to the show’s new detective star, Don Gilet.

His character, DI Mervin Wilson, made his debut in the 2024 Christmas Special and has officially taken over from Neville Parker (portrayed by Ralf Little).

On Friday, The One Show hosts Alex Jones and Roman Kemp chatted with Shantol, who’s been playing Detective Sergeant Naomi Thomas since season 11.

She recounted a conversation between the two Dons during Gilet’s initial days on set, revealing that Warrington warned Gilet about the fans: “They won’t like you.”

Alex prompted Shantol, saying: “He had some interesting advice, didn’t he, for Don Gilet when he started. They won’t like you at the beginning, but…”

The Death in Paradise favourite had the hosts laughing as she perfectly mimicked the Commissioner Selwyn Patterson legend. “Don has an interesting aura,” she said.

“And he would go, ‘They won’t like you, but it’s fine. They will like you eventually. But they won’t like you in the beginning'”, reports the Express.

“That’s a very good impression,” Alex commented as their other guests, Olly Alexander and Angela Rippon, erupted into laughter.

“Don Warrington is like that,” Shantol added.

“He’s very blunt, and he’s very honest, which I enjoy having conversations with Don.

“But I’m very excited for the audience to see Don Gilet as the new inspector, to see the relationships and the stories that develop over the series.”

The fan-favourite murder-mystery drama made its much-anticipated return for a 14th season last week, introducing the fresh detective delving into a different case each Friday.

Since his arrival in Saint-Marie, he’s ruffled feathers, but Naomi and her crew are taken aback when he announces a three-month commitment to the island.

In tonight’s follow-up episode, the excitement escalates when a gameshow contestant is stabbed during the finale’s filming.

With the victim meeting their end on a zip-line, Mervin steps in to unravel this peculiar case.

The One Show airs weekdays at 7pm on BBC One and iPlayer. Death in Paradise continues Fridays at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.

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