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Glorious sunshine, a Caribbean island and a never-ending supply of grisly murders.

With nearly eight million loyal viewers Death In Paradise has become one of TV’s biggest dramas - a phenomenon for BBC1.

Yet star Danny John-Jules reveals the show nearly never made it onto television at all, after it took nearly five years for a channel to snap it up.

Danny’s convinced the reason for the delay was a very disturbing one.

“Believe me, there were nerves in high places,” reveals actor Danny, who has played one of the show’s leading characters, police officer Dwayne Myers, since the start.

“Even though the lead was a white guy it was a huge undertaking at the time to have so many black people on screen in a prime-time slot.

“It took five years of hard-selling to get a TV channel to commit to the show.

"Death in Paradise was a fine line to walk - a lot of money had to be put into it.”

(Image: BBC)

It’s a big statement to make.

And obviously everyone else’s loss finally became the BBC’s gain.

But Danny - who also plays Cat in sci-fi sitcom Red Dwarf - says that when it comes to race and entertainment, it’s only too obvious there’s still a problem.

He’s a longtime friend of Idris Elba, whose Academy Awards snub for his role in Beasts of No Nation helped trigger the #OscarSoWhite campaign and a huge boycott of the February 28 ceremony.

Danny, 55, agrees with the likes of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett that more needs to be done.

(Image: BBC)

“If you put up photographs of who votes for the Oscar nominations you can maybe realise why they reach the decisions they do,” he says.

And he certainly has little time for Broadchurch actress Charlotte Rampling. She blasted the uproar over the lack of diversity in the Oscar nominations was “racist to white people.”

But Danny says: “At the end of the day someone like Charlotte Rampling is only ever going to be judged on her performance. Her race is never going to come into it.

“Change that to someone like Whoopi Goldberg, who has won an Oscar, and there’s a whole other element, either subconsciously or consciously, that can creep into a judges’ decision making.

“It follows pretty much across the board in business, it’s not something just based in the arts.”

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Of course, things have been different with Death In Paradise.

After finally finding its home at the BBC, it’s remained one of its most successful dramas as people lap up the mix of an lighthearted detective mystery with the beautiful scenery of the Caribbean isle of Guadeloupe.

“Thursday night for millions of people has now become feet up on the reclining sofa, glass of wine and wait for Death in Paradise to begin,” reflects Danny.

“I’ve been on telly for 26 years and its very rare you get old West Indian ladies coming up to you in Sainsbury’s approaching you saying ‘Oh, I can’t wait for the next episode!'

“That has been the biggest achievement - the fact the show seems to work for everybody.”

The gruelling six-month long shooting schedule is not quite so idyllic.

“You think it’s great being located out in the Caribbean, but there are a lot of casualties of war,” says Danny.

One of them was the show’s original lead star Ben Miller, also of Armstrong And Miller fame, who quit as Detective Inspector Richard Poole at the end of series two.

But his replacement, My Family actor Kris Marshall proved an instant hit as lead detective DI Humphrey Goodman.

“It’s a tough gig, and for Ben, with his wife pregnant in the first series, the issue of schools, and the fact he didn’t deal with the heat very well... We had a lot of that. Lots of people not making it through their contracts.

“Kris Marshall had an absolute mountain to climb when he arrived to take over the role. But he’s done it.

"And you know what? The ratings went up.”

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Danny, who grew up in Paddington, west London, says he has never been one to personally suffer from homesickness or fatigue - mainly because of his early days as a dancer on the variety circuit.

“You were on £40 a week and you would be away for six months. I was in a show on the Isle of Wight, three months with Jimmy Tarbuck, three with Dicky Henderson.

“I saw Dicky the day his mum died. He got up in the morning, got the ferry to London, went to his mum’s funeral, and then was back on stage in the Isle of Wight that same night at 7pm.

“You look at people like him and you think you can’t just phone in with a bit of a tickle in your throat.”

Danny went on to be a dancer in the West End, including Starlight Express, and performed in Wham!’s The Edge of Heaven video and The Great Muppet Caper, before landing the part in Red Dwarf in 1988.

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The show, co-starring Craig Charles and Chris Barrie, ran for 10 series until 1999, before making a highly-anticipated comeback first in 2009 and then properly last year.

The 12th series is due on screens this summer.

But despite being in two huge shows, Danny ensures he’s not away from his family for long - even flying out his fiancee Petula Langlais, and their two children Dante, 10, and Danae, 8, to Guadeloupe for six weeks during the filming of Death in Paradise.

(Image: Edward Lloyd/Alpha)

He and Petula have been together for 13 years, but have only recently got engaged.

“Most people would have been surprised if I had been with someone for 13 weeks, never mind 13 years,” he laughs.

“People were talking actually - especially when I was dressing in PVC and wearing lots of make-up for shows!”

Now however he’s all about family - and Dante is already following in his footsteps as he appears in the programme himself.

He was asked to do the guest role after producers saw him in Danny’s self-made short film Bucky - a tragic story of inner-city urban life seen through the eyes of a five year-old boy, co-starring James Bond actor Colin Salmon and EastEnders actress Mona Hammond.

“It was three days of filming, literally 9am to 9pm at night,” he says. “I don’t think I could have asked anyone else’s child to take part.

"Some of the Death in Paradise producers then saw it - and offered Dante a part.”

Grinning wide, Danny can’t hide his pride.

And as he looks forward to his wedding and not one but two big shows on TV, he proves he really is the Cat that got the cream.