Death In Paradise star admits feeling abandoned over co-star exit

Death in Paradise star Josephine Jobert has admitted to feeling "abandoned" after her co-star Tobi Bakare left the show.

Tobi bowed out in the season 10 finale, with his character police sergeant JP Hooper (Bakare) accepting a new job as the head of the Police Training Programme and leaving Saint Marie with his young family.

Speaking to Hello! about Tobi's departure, Josephine joked: "I get emotional every time I talk about it, I could cry right now, it's so ridiculous!

detectives florence cassell and neville parker stand next to each other on a beach in death in paradise

BBC

"When Tobi left, we had a drink to tell him goodbye and I couldn't stop crying. We arrived on the show together and he's like a brother to me.

"He's the most adorable person, he cares about people, he's really nice, he's extremely funny. He's just perfect. Seeing him leave, I was like, 'What am I going to do?' I felt abandoned, but I understood."

Josephine also spoke about Tobi's reasons for leaving the show, adding that the pair are still in touch.

death in paradise danny john jules as dwayne and tobi bakare as jp

BBC/Red Planet Pictures/Denis Guyenon

"He has a family and kids," Josephine said. "He's been on the show for so long, he had to move on and that's all right, it's part of the process. But this year I missed him a lot. It was different on set without him.

"I keep on sending him messages, to see how he's doing. I'm like, 'Tobi, I miss you! Please come back.' Especially his last series, he was so good."

Last year, Tobi revealed that it was an encounter he experienced in a church while on location in Guadeloupe filming Death in Paradise season 7 that triggered his decision to leave.

death in paradise series 10 tobi bakare as jp hooper on a police motorbike

Red Planet/Denis Guyenon//BBC

The actor told RadioTimes.com: "The preacher mentioned seven years in a message. As soon as he mentioned seven years, I don't know what happened. It just clicked.

"It was like a moment of realisation. I had three more years left. It was three more years until it would be seven years, but it just hit me so hard.

"At this time, my wife was in the UK, and I told her that I know when it's going to be time for me to leave the show. But I wanted her to go away, pray about it, and think about it. She'd done so, and called me up the next day, and said, '2020'. So the exact time of the seven years. So we were like, 'Yeah, that's the time.' That's the actual reason."

Death in Paradise airs on Fridays at 9pm on BBC One.

BBC Death In Paradise - Series 11 [DVD] [2022]

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BBC Death In Paradise - Series 10 (Includes 4 Exclusive Postcards) [DVD] [2021]

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Reporter, Digital Spy

Stephanie is a writer who specialises in pro wrestling, covering everything from AEW and WWE to NJPW.

After graduating with a degree in history from Queen Mary University, London, she went on to study journalism at Birbeck University.

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