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Death In Paradise fans will watch DI Jack Mooney (played by Ardal O’Hanlon) solve his last case on the island of Saint Marie after the BBC show confirmed in 2019 the actor will be leaving

the series. Having been a part of the show for over three years, Ardal has earned a following from the show’s dedicated fans but he’s confessed he has ruled out returning to the fictional

island in the future.

Speaking to press including Express.co.uk, Ardal explained why he decided to step down from Death In Paradise.

Ardal admitted: “With each successive summer it’s harder and harder to leave your family to go away for such a long period of time.

“I don’t think there was anywhere else for the character to go I didn’t want to be pulling the same tricks time after time. 

“The island of Guadeloupe is fantastic, it’s a wonderful place.”

“But I left no stone unturned in my four summers there discovering the place, getting to know the people, doing everything that was possible within the time we had,” he added.

Ardal was asked whether he would reprise his role if a suitable storyline was devised. 

“I can say definitely not,” he confirmed. “I really feel a real sense of closure as an actor, but also as a person, a real sense of completion. 

“I really felt that in terms of as an acting job it was wonderful and varied and incredibly busy.”

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Ardal explained he felt he had achieved everything he could playing DI Jack Mooney. 

“Jack is pretty much in every scene so you've got an awful lot of stuff to get through every day and I just feel from that point of view alone there was nowhere else to go,” he continued. 

“We had milked [the character] for all it was worth I think, there was no stone left unturned.”

The Death In Paradise star praised Guadeloupe and filming a show in such a stunning location. 

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“I got to really know the island very well and other islands around the place,” he remarked. 

“I got to know the history of the Caribbean and it’s beautiful, it's so dramatic. 

“The ocean on one side, you got the rainforest and the volcano on the other side."

Jack arrived in Saint Marie in 2017 after replacing DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall).

Humphrey joined the team following the murder of his predecessor Di Richard Poole (Ben Miller).

Although fans will have to say goodbye to DI Jack during series nine, they can look forward to Ralf Little joining the island. 

Ralf will be taking on the role of DI Neville Parker who finds himself in Saint Marie to investigate the suspicious death of a woman.

However, will Neville be welcomed with open arms or will the team resent Jack’s replacement?

Death in Paradise returns to BBC One on Thursday, January 9 at 9pm.

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