IAN HYLAND
On last night’s telly
Death In Paradise, BBC1 ★★★★
It didn’t take long to work out who Ralf Little was channelling as he made his debut as Death In Paradise’s new detective last night.
He may have been wearing a crumpled tweed jacket instead of a crumpled rain mac, and he may have raised his arm and said “Except…” instead of raising his arm and saying “Just one more thing…” but the clues were all there.
Ralf has gone from being the Lurcio of The Royle Family to the Columbo of Saint Marie. Still, if you’re going to pay homage to a TV detective, I guess it makes sense to pick one of the greatest of all-time.
For a minute or two, I thought Ralf was also paying tribute to another American great.
As his character, Manchester CID officer Neville Parker, right, poked around for clues at the scene of Saint Marie’s latest bizarre murder mystery, he muttered “Uh-huh” so many times, I thought he was about to launch into a full-on Elvis impression. Whether these little character quirks will still be around in a few episodes’ time remains to be seen.
Likewise with Neville’s various allergies and ailments, which made his first week on the Caribbean island such an itchy misery.
I have a feeling that, rather like the Queen Vic’s pool table in EastEnders, those health problems will magically disappear overnight.
Luckily, viewers don’t watch Death In Paradise for its gritty realism, well-planned story arcs or unimpeachable continuity.
We just want the sun to keep shining and the killers to keep killing.
RALF Little has joked that he hopes his lead role in crime series Death In Paradise lasts at least two decades.
The actor reckons he’d like to stay longer than previous stars such as Kris Marshall and Ardal O’Hanlon. But he insisted filming in the Caribbean was not all about parties in the sun.
Ralf ’s first scenes as DI Neville Parker were screened last night.
The 40-year-old said: “I mean my missus might have an opinion on this, but I’d be happy doing it for 20 years.”
The BBC show is filmed on the hot and humid island of Guadeloupe. Ralf added: “I irritated a lot of the crew on the last series, because I only arrived halfway through.
“I arrive and I’m like, ‘Hey, how great is this? Aren’t we lucky. Aren’t we the luckiest people in the world?’ It’s hard because it’s hot and it’s long hours and it’s a physically demanding and mentally demanding thing to do.
“It’s very difficult to convince people that it’s not just the biggest party ever. But, you know, it’s not, it’s hard work.”
Ralf, who made his TV breakthrough as Antony in The Royle Family, told the Series Linked Podcast he believes he is getting worse as an actor the older he gets as he has less self-confidence. He added: When I was younger I was like, ‘I’m brilliant. I can do anything.’
“Now, I’m like, ‘Can I? Oh, was that OK?’ And, the last thing you want is to be racked with this constant self-evaluation.
“I stopped enjoying watching myself a few years ago. I used to watch everything I was in.”
Of his Death In Paradise role, Ralf said: “I’ll probably watch the first one. And cringe through it.” ■ The full interview with Ralf is on Series Linked, out now.