How Death in Paradise sparks annual interest in Guadeloupe
Death in Paradise has for more than a decade been a welcome escape from the winter blues for British television fans, offering us beaches, seascapes and tropical scenes while we endure the dark nights and the freezing temperatures of the UK winter.
The comedy-drama, created by Robert Thorogood, began airing in 2011 and has since become a mainstay of January and February television in Britain, following the fortunes of several different British detectives solving crimes on the fictional and beautiful island of Saint Marie in the Caribbean.
A ratings hit, Death in Paradise, which throughout the years has starred Ben Miller, Kris Marshall, Ardal O’Hanlan and Ralf Little in the leading role, the show is well known for its array of guest stars who take part in the weekly whodunnit adventures on the island.
And one of the reasons the show has remained so popular for so long is surely its setting – a slice of paradise on TV in the depths of the British winter.
And now Screen OD can reveal that viewers in the UK are not just watching the show, they are inspired by the beautiful scenes they see on screen to find out more.
As we can see from the Google data analysed exclusively by Screen OD below, in the winter of 2011, UK Google users began searching “Where is Death in Paradise filmed?” in large numbers coinciding with the first season of the show airing on the BBC. This is a trend that would be repeated each January from 2013 when season two of the mystery show aired, and every subsequent January all the way through to 2023 when season 12 is playing out.
But UK Google users don’t just stop there, once they get their answer, they move on to the next search…
Where is Death in Paradise filmed?
Thanks for asking! Well, as Google users in the UK will be finding every winter when they type this into the search engine in large numbers, the BBC show is filmed on Guadeloupe, an oversees department and territory of France in the Caribbean.
And armed with this information, look what UK users do next… they search for Guadeloupe like they never have before.
As you can see from the chart above, search interest in the French island group was pretty steady from people in the UK until 2011 when the show’s first season began airing. But then, particularly after season two hit our screens, an annual spike in interest in Guadeloupe began as people sitting on their sofas in the UK dreamt of the crystal clear waters, beaches and sunshine they could see on screen.
This has become an annual tradition in this country as you can see from the spikes in search – and remains at similar levels each year which suggests that people are inspired year in and year out to investigate the Caribbean islands when the show comes on screen.
And for those who may think that it’s simply the winter rather than the show that is spiking searches in Caribbean islands, take a look at this final graph…
This shows global search for Guadeloupe compared to the UK search in the first chart.
As we can see the interest is fairly steady with lots of small ups and down, but no such heavily pronounced spikes around the same winter periods.
And so it seems that Death in Paradise is driving disproportionate search interest in Guadeloupe from UK audiences – proving that TV is a great advert for places you may never have visited.
You can watch Death in Paradise on BBC iPlayer now
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