Filming Death in Paradise in Guadeloupe has led to a series of on-set disasters, including injuries and emergency flights back to the UK. Cast members have faced heat stroke, a torn Achilles tendon, and even an insect burrowing into an actor's ear.
Emergency Flights and Last-Minute Replacements
Some actors have had to fly back to the UK abruptly, forcing last-minute replacements to be flown out. Sara Martins suffered a sudden family bereavement, and Ben Miller revealed in a live Q&A with EM-Com: "We had to fly her straight back. She arrived, then she had a bereavement in the family, and had to fly straight back."
Danny John-Jules explained: "Another actress had to learn the part on the plane on the way over. They had to rewrite a whole episode."
Tendon Tear and Other Injuries
Sara Martins also suffered a grisly injury while performing a stunt. She told What's On TV: "Well I did have a lot of stunts until I broke my Achilles tendon! I was performing a scene where Fidel was going to run and jump on to a boat. I was saying to the director I really wanted to do it too. Gary [Carr] and I started running and I managed to slip and break my Achilles tendon!" She added: "I had to go to London for surgery and rest it for two weeks before I could go back to Guadeloupe."
Daniel Ward, who plays DI Mervin's long-lost brother Solomon, suffered an injury from a tear stick used to fake crying from hot pepper sauce. He told Express.co.uk: "The thing that I found most surprising on set was the impact of the tear stick. In episode two, when we got covered in the hot pepper sauce, somebody had the bright idea of using a tear stick, and I've never used one before. So I just put a little bit on, and then I made a classic mistake. I was like, 'Oh, that's not doing anything,' but boy was I wrong. When you see episode two, you will see my eyes are red and streaming. That is not acting; that is the effect of being overconfident and thinking I could handle it. That stuff burns! It was very useful, though, but boy, was it strong."
Horror Fall and Heat Stroke
Tahj Miles, who plays Marlon Pryce, was spotted with a bandage on his head in a video shared by Ralf Little. He revealed that 15 people were involved in an accident in Ibiza when he suffered a fall. Actress Shyko Amos was left on crutches after being injured "in the line of duty".
Filming had to be halted while Ben Miller was seen by medics in 2010. He told Express.co.uk: "The only trouble I had, well, I had two weird things that happened. One was, what a lot of people got, which was heat stroke - it does send you slightly crazy. And because I was wearing a wool suit, at one point, in the middle of the scene, I tried to rip all my clothes off and run into the sea. It's just so hot in these scenes."
He added: "On another occasion, I was in the middle of a scene at the police station, and I saw this weird insect from the corner of my eye, and it flew in a loop-the-loop around my head. I was doing a scene with Danny John-Jules, and it sort of looped and then flew straight into my ear. I was literally quivering as this thing was burrowing down inside my ear, and I didn't know what it was. I had to go to the doctor in Deshaies, that's the name of the little town where we filmed, and the doctor had to get a pair of tweezers and pluck this little burrowing insect out of my ear. I couldn't carry on filming because it was like someone was tickling inside your ear; it was one of the weirdest experiences. I literally went a bit crazy, sort of jumping around, and then I ran off."
