Death In Paradise's Officer Marlon Pryce (Tahj Miles) departed the show in the latest episode after an emotional goodbye with his colleagues — and here's why.
Marlon's close relationship with little sister Jocelyn (Miai Leonie Phillip) has been well-documented on the show, and it was revealed in season 13 episode 5 that Jocelyn had won a scholarship to a prestigious school in Jamaica. Their mum needed to stay in Saint Marie to care for her own mother, meaning that Marlon had to quit his job with the police in order to accompany Jocelyn to Jamaica.
Unfortunately for Marlon, the police force in Jamaica had no openings, so he wasn't able to get a transfer, and he assured his colleagues that he'd be fine taking on some temporary bar work until a police job there opened up. However, as the team worked to solve the murder of Ray Saunders (Holby City's Guy Henry), Marlon's old boss from the days back when he was a petty criminal, Marlon was reminded of just how far he's come in the three years that he's been with the police — and he admitted that he really didn't want to give up his job even though he knew he had to.
Of course, Commissioner Selwyn Patterson (Don Warrington) has a history of going to bat for Marlon — he was the one who signed him up as a trainee officer in the first place, spotting potential in the young man who was more used to committing crimes than solving them. So Selwyn met up with Marlon's old mentor JP Hooper (Tobi Bakare) — who's now a Detective Sergeant working in Jamaica — and the two of them went to put in a good word for Marlon with the Jamaican police, securing him a position there to start as soon as he arrives.
All that was left was for Marlon to have one last night at Catherine's bar with his soon-to-be ex-colleagues, including a reunion with JP and a very heartfelt goodbye with the Commissioner, where Marlon thanked Selwyn for everything he's done for him.
Marlon joined the team in the 10th season of Death In Paradise back in 2011, after Officer Ruby Patterson (Shyko Amos) took up a new job in Paris. Despite not immediately fitting in and finding it hard to shake off his old law-breaking ways, he soon became a valued member of the team and offered a street-smart perspective that his colleagues often lacked.
We don't currently know why actor Tahj Miles chose to leave Death In Paradise, but we're sure that we'll be seeing him on our screens again soon — we'll bring news of his next project as soon as we have it.
