Death In Paradise

Season 8 BBC Brit (*120) 21:00 Action

Don Warrington didn’t expect to be part of an action series after 43 years in the business, let alone travelling to the Caribbean every year for his role as Commissioner Patterson in Death In Paradise (2011- current). Not that he’s complaining, because it’s somewhat of a homecoming – he was born in Trinidad & Tobago before moving to the United Kingdom as a child.

1 His politician dad Basil died when he was six, which let to the transAtlantic move. “It took three weeks to sail. What I disliked at first wasn’t the cold, but rather the uniform greyness compared to the Caribbean colours.” Don wanted to be a soccer player 2 and was nicknamed The Black Pele at school because he was better than everyone else on the field. He hasn’t always had his enunci3 ated upper- class accent, admitting that until he joined his local repertory theatre, he had a thick Newcastle accent that was difficult to understand. There was a back-up plan if Don 4 didn’t make it as an actor and it’s his favourite hobby to unwind: playing saxophone, which he learnt as a teen after finding a John Coltrane album. Of all his roles, the one that stands 5 out most for him is also the one he calls the craziest. “I played King Lear in 2016 on stage. It looks like a stupid thing to do when you stand back and look at it. Why play a bruised, unhappy vulnerable king who rants and raves for an alarmingly long time on stage?” He isn’t a fan of reality shows like 6 Big Brother (2000- current) where people become famous for being in a house on TV, but Don enjoys Strictly Come Dancing (2004- current) – he came 12th out of 16 in season 6 (2008).