Death in Paradise (BBC1, 9pm)

MIDDLESBROUGH-born actress Monica Dolan is the latest UK actor to make the welcome trip to Guadeloupe, which stands in for the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie.

Tonight she plays novelist's assistant Patricia Lawrence in another case of murder made to look like suicide for Kris Marshall's oddball DI Humphrey Goodman and his rough and ready team.

Dolan recently appeared in Mid Morning Matters with Alan Partridge, Coms Officer Tracey Pritchard in W1A, Alice More in Wolf Hall, Tess Wall in The Casual Vacancy and Janet in The Witness for the Prosecution. She won a Bafta for best supporting actress in the 2011 ITV drama about killer Rosemary West.

Dolan's turn in the sun finds Saint Marie is holding a Literary Festival, but the event is somewhat marred when the body of student Esther Monroe – who also happens to be cop Florence's childhood friend – is discovered at the bottom of a cliff on the opening day.

Her death mirrors the tragic demise of the heroine from Florence's favourite novel, which was written by the festival's host and local literary star Sylvie Baptiste. When a suicide note is then discovered in Esther's bag, it seems like an open-and shut case, especially as virtually everyone she knows has a cast-iron alibi.

However, Humphrey thinks something doesn't quite add up, but is Florence too emotionally involved in the investigation to help him get to the bottom of it.

However, some of the visiting stars who thought they were going to pack their sunscreen and swimming costume will feature in a special two-part episode that sees the Honore Police team heading to the UK.

Executive producer Tim Key says: "Humphrey has always been a fish out of water in Saint Marie, adjusting to the island's ways and customs, but for the scenes set in London, the roles are reversed as he is back in his hometown, giving an opportunity to explore the characters that viewers know and love against a new backdrop."

Tonight sees JP and Dwayne solving a mystery of their own to look into as they take a closer look at an abandoned bungalow.

Fiona Allen and Ramon Tikaram are other star names in tonight's cast and Ardal O'Hanlon, Adrian Rawlins and Kerry Fox will all be joining the crime drama cast this season.

Death In Paradise pulled in an impressive average of 8.1 million viewers for its fifth series.

Whether it's because of the whodunnits, the likeable cast or even the chance to experience a bit of Caribbean sunshine during the January gloom, the detective drama has become one of the Britain's most popular shows – and it also proved itself to be bigger than any one actor when Ben Miller left after two series to be replaced by Marshall.

Unforgotten (ITV, 9pm)

WITH their victim identified, Cassie and Sunny begin to find out a bit more about David Walker by talking to his ex-wife, DI Tessa Nixon, who reveals he suffered from depression. A search through the original investigation files and some numbers from David's pager help build a picture of him – and also lead to a few potential suspects. However, his son Jason struggles to deal with the news that someone murdered his dad. Whodunnit, starring Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar, with Lorraine Ashbourne, Mark Bonnar, Douglas Hodge, Nigel Lindsay and Will Brown.

Chewing Gum (E4, 10pm)

FANS may be glad to see Michaela Cole's award-winning comedy is back for a second series, but her character Tracey doesn't get such a warm reception when she returns to the Pensbourne Estate. Her best friend Candice certainly doesn't welcome her with open arms, and her mum won't let her in. And when in turns out that Tracey's ex-boyfriend is in a new relationship, she decides it's time to try to convince everyone that she's moved on as well. But on the plus side, at least Deepak's Delectables is willing to give her a job again.

Viv Hardwick