BAFTA Award nominee John Hannah (The Last of Us, Four Weddings and a Funeral) will headline Death in Benidorm, a new detective drama series coming to Paramount Skydance in the UK. Channel 5.
The show, which is currently a working title, is produced by Blackbox Multimedia and Clapperboard and centers around Dennis, a former detective trying to escape his past, who trades the chaos of Britain for a quieter life running a bar in Benidorm. But when tourists start turning up dead, he reluctantly returns to detective work – egged on by his barmaid Rose, a big fan of crime dramas.
According to the synopsis, drawing on Dennis' real-life experiences and Rosa's encyclopedic TV knowledge, “Each episode finds the duo investigating a new murder in paradise while trying to stay on the right side of the local Spanish cops.”
Rose is played by Caroline Becker as Rose, and the additional cast includes Ariadne Cabrol as Maria and Damian Schedler Cruz as Jesus.
Death in Benidorm – which sounds more than inspired by the long-running BBC series Death in Paradise – was commissioned by Greg Barnett, editor at 5, and co-produced by Blackbox Multimedia (The Ex-Wife, The Serial Killer's Wife, This Time Next Year) and Clapperboard (“Teacher”, “The Game”, “The Secrets of Madame Blanc”). with ZDF Studios as international distributor.
“I’m thrilled to have John Hannah join us,” Barnett said. “He's absolutely perfect for the role of Dennis – a character with a keen intellect, dry wit and life experience – and from what I've seen so far, audiences are going to fall in love with him.”
Chiara Cardozo and Camille Hammer are executive producers for Blackbox Multimedia, Mike Benson and Andy Morgan for Flapper, Robert Franke, VP Drama, ZDF Studios with Viviane Richard, executive drama on the Franke team serving as associate producer. Ian Jarvis (The Completely Fictitious Adventures of Dick Turpin) created the series and directed by Simon Delaney (Death in Paradise, The Young Offenders). Yasmin Akram (Flack), Claire Downes (The Completely Fictitious Adventures of Dick Turpin, Outlaws) and Tom Perry (Your Christmas or Mine, Your Christmas or Mine 2) are writers.
“Death in Benidorm is such a witty and charming addition to the cozy crime genre, and John Hannah really embodies that,” added Richard. “We’re thrilled to be working with Blackbox to bring these sharply written scripts to life, and we can’t wait to share them with audiences around the world.”
Death in Benidorm is currently filming in Spain and is scheduled to air on February 5, 2026.
