Robert Thorogood

The BBC crime drama Death in Paradise was Robert Thorogood's idea, and he has since co-created two spin-offs from it, Beyond Paradise and Return to Paradise. Thorogood, born in Colchester in 1972, read history at Downing College, Cambridge, where he was elected president of the Footlights in 1994, then ran a small touring theatre company whose work included a Molière production he directed and acted in alongside Robert Webb, David Mitchell and Olivia Colman. He wrote four Death in Paradise novels before starting a second series set where he actually lives, the Thames-side town of Marlow in Buckinghamshire. The Marlow Murder Club, published in 2021, introduces Judith Potts, an elderly crossword setter who swims in the river and allows herself one whisky a night. Thorogood modelled her on his grandmother. He adapted the book for television himself in 2024.