‘Death in Paradise’ Sets First International Adaptation in Croatia

The BBC crime series “Death in Paradise” will get its first international adaptation, and Croatia won the bid. The Croatian version, titled “Ubojstvo u raju”, will shoot on the island of Brač starting spring 2027, Variety reports exclusively.

Red Planet Pictures, a Fremantle company, produces the original for the BBC. For this adaptation, Croatian broadcaster HRT1 has handed the job to CGM Films, the production company behind the local series “Sram”. Bruno Mustić and Ivan Lovreček will produce, with Jelena Gavrilović directing. Sonja Tarokić and Valentina Batalić are writing, and Maja Fišter serves as commissioning editor for HRT.

The original, created by Robert Thorogood, has sold to more than 230 territories. Fifteen years after its UK premiere, it still anchors BBC One: Season 16 is in production and Season 17 is already commissioned. It has also spawned two spin-offs, “Beyond Paradise” and “Return to Paradise”. BBC Studios distributes both the format and the series internationally.

What does the adaptation change?

Mustić and Lovreček aren’t transplanting the British scripts. In a shared statement, they said they were “very excited” to bring “Death in Paradise” to Croatia.

“The series is one of the BBC’s most successful programs, and with ‘Ubojstvo u raju’ we will bring that same blend of murder mystery, humor, warmth and strong sense of place to Croatia. We want to adapt the series to Croatian culture, creating an authentically Croatian world with characters and cases rooted in Adriatic Island life,” they said.

Rose Hughes, SVP Global Format Sales at BBC Studios, praised the show’s “intriguing murder mysteries and rich local character”. She added: “We’re delighted to see CGM Films bring the format to Croatia for its first-ever international adaptation, and look forward to seeing how they make it uniquely Croatian against a stunning new backdrop.”

A fictional island, real tensions

The series will be set in a fictional island community, with production in and around Supetar on Brač. At the center sits the relationship between Petar, a detective who feels out of place, and the local police team — particularly Marina, whose understanding of the island challenges his way of working.

Since Croatia has more than a thousand islands, the writers built their own fictional one. That freedom, Mustić explained, lets them “draw on habits and traditions from across the Adriatic and bring them together in our own world”.

Tourism will shape the stories too. “Tourism plays a major role in Croatia. It’s interwoven with our stories alongside island traditions, close-knit communities and the contrast between how a place appears to visitors and what life there is actually like,” Mustić said. He’s adamant that to make a story universal, you have to make it specific.

Lovreček told Variety the show’s appeal is simple: “For an hour, you’re somewhere else. On a gray winter evening, that’s pure escapism. That’s a big part of why it works all over the world. We are not simply moving the original series to a Croatian location. We want the Croatian environment, culture and relationships to become integral to the stories and characters.”

For him, Croatian identity runs deeper than scenery. “The real identity comes from the people, and the way of life in a small Mediterranean community. There’s a strong contrast between continental and coastal life with different mentalities, social dynamics, habits, food and language. There’s always a certain tension between those two worlds, but also a great deal of humor in the way people perceive each other.”

A partnership built on trust

HRT and CGM Films have done this dance before. Rahela Stefanović, Editor-in-Chief of Croatian Radiotelevision, said: “Having already worked closely with the same independent production company on the successful local adaptation of ‘Sram,’ I’m confident that this new project will build on that experience and that, together, we can create another high-quality series that resonates with Croatian viewers.”

Fišter added that the partners share “a commitment to preserving the essence of the original while giving the series a distinctive Croatian identity.”

The primary audience is Croatia and the wider region, but the producers see wider horizons. “The combination of a globally beloved format, mysteries and a distinctly Adriatic setting gives us confidence in the show’s international potential. We’re absolutely hoping the series will travel,” Mustić said. With cameras rolling in spring 2027, the first test comes soon enough.