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Ginny Holder and Shantol Jackson have had very different starts to their Death in Paradise adventure. British actress Holder, who’d spent a three-year stint in Holby City, first appeared in the show back in 2017. She played Officer Dwayne Myers’s girlfriend, Darlene Curtis, a force of nature who was always two steps ahead of her rapscallion boyfriend. Five years later, they brought her back to Honoré as a trainee officer. “That was phenomenal,” she says. “I really wanted to continue exploring Darlene, to represent the fire, the energy, the love, passion and compassion of a Caribbean woman. I have had the opportunity to do that and I’m very grateful.”
Jackson’s route in was less straightforward but is a testament to her resilience. The 32-year-old Jamaican first auditioned for a role in the series in 2018 and was called back five times before getting rejected. Red Planet Pictures, the production company that makes the show, sent her an email explaining it just wasn’t the right fit, but that they were big fans of hers.
“I was devastated, I ain’t gonna lie, I bawled!” she admits. “It was an interesting situation. Years later I understood that when I hear ‘no’, it’s not necessarily to do with you personally or your talent, it just wasn’t for you.”
[image id="1760528" size="landscape_thumbnail" title="Death in Paradise Christmas Ginny Holder" alt="Death in Paradise 2022 Christmas Special" classes=""] Darlene Curtis as Ginny Holder.Her stoicism paid off when, three years later, having been rejected for another Death in Paradise role, they asked her to do a “chemistry read” with some of the cast. Despite a bad internet connection and building work going on next door, she impressed everyone and the role of Sergeant Naomi Thomas was hers. Hearing that Holder was also rejoining the show for the 2022 series was the cherry on the rum cake. “I was like, ‘OK, great, it’s not just me with the guys!’”
Speaking of the guys, Holder is particularly thoughtful on the latest new recruit to the DiP police team, Don Gilet’s Mervin Wilson – the show’s first black detective. “It’s been good that we have a black inspector, but people always put this thing about colour and actually it’s not about that. It’s about the character and the personality of the detective, how they fit in within Saint Marie and the police force, and whether that person has respect for the culture and the country that they’ve just stepped into.
“Mervin is still an outsider because he wasn’t born in the Caribbean. If I were to go back to Guyana or Barbados [where her parents were born] I’m an outsider because I don’t know the culture fully, because I was born and brought up in England. I’m British. So, it’s interesting for the audience to experience that – just because the inspector is black doesn’t mean he’s automatically welcomed or has even the understanding of the culture that he’s going into. The man is rude!” she exclaims, laughing.
[image id="2195512" size="landscape_thumbnail" title="506324" alt="Shantol Jackson stars in Death in Paradise season 14" classes=""] Shantol Jackson (Naomi Thomas) in Death in Paradise season 14.“Mervin brings London to the Caribbean, thinking that everything should operate like it does there,” Jackson adds. “When he comes in, it’s just disrespect on every level because he doesn’t like the island and he’s making it blatantly clear. He disrespects our place of work, and he’s of the impression that the two of us are incapable – and he makes this quite obvious.”
Fortunately, with time, they learn how to work together, and the pair even grow to respect their new boss. “He has something quite special, and they do end up admiring him,” Holder admits. “He can still piss them off, but it’s a more honest relationship, I think.”
As for their characters, what does this series have in store for them? Darlene takes a new young officer under her wing and it’s a role she embraces. “Give Darlene a little project and it fills her with joy,” Holder says. “Of course, she’s going to be a bit harsh, but then this person becomes her protégé. So much happens within her being a mentor – it’s fun.”
Meanwhile, Jackson says we will see a more assured Naomi. “I’m very proud of Naomi’s growth. She’s a lot more empowered, so you will see a lot more confidence in the way she works with this new inspector. And she has a little love interest. She bumps into an ex and then has a tough decision to make… Will I run off into the sunset with this person, or won’t I?”
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