Ralf Little is happy to trade Paradise for Christmas Day in the cold with his mum
As Death in Paradise has its first feature-length Christmas special, Danielle de Wolfe chats to its star about the show and his festive plans
For many, Christmas means overcooked turkey, family disputes and dodgy knitted jumpers.
For actor Ralf Little and the cast of long-running TV drama Death In Paradise, it is a term more closely associated with rum punch, shady terraces and, as the show’s name might suggest, a murder or two.
Filmed on the French Caribbean island of Guadalupe, viewers of the show will probably know the location better as the island of Saint Marie.
Death In Paradise’s first feature-length Christmas special sees The Royle Family and Two Pints Of Lager star Ralf return as Detective Inspector Neville Parker, alongside Josephine Jobert as Detective Sergeant Florence Cassell, Tahj Miles as trainee Officer Marlon Pryce, Don Warrington as Commissioner Selwyn Patterson and Elizabeth Bourgine as Catherine Bordey.
However, that is not all, because the 90-minute special will also mark the return of fan favourite and Strictly Come Dancing star Danny JohnJules as Officer Dwayne Myers, who left the show in 2018.
“It’s another Death In Paradise classic, really,” says 41-year-old Ralf of the special.
“It’s a great mystery. Someone is found inexplicably dead and we have to get to the bottom of it. But there’s a couple of added dimensions because of it being 90 minutes.”
As the team welcomes Dwayne back with open arms to help solve the murder case, the new arrival comes to realise he has not only met Officer Marlon Pryce before, but he once arrested him. Paired with the cliffhanger that left audiences wondering whether Neville managed to finally declare his feelings for Florence before she jetted off for Christmas, fans of the show will be hoping the special answers as many questions as it creates.
Describing the latest instalment as having “a bit more time for character development and interplay”, Ralf says far more time is given to the aftermath of events and the “consequences” of the characters’ actions.
“You usually say ‘this is the murderer, arrest the murderer’ and then generally the episode is over. Here you actually get to see how the effects of the murder and the arrest and so forth play out with the characters that have been involved, so that was quite a lovely thing to go through.”
With Florence gone, the team on Saint Marie find themselves a member down.
And with yet another unexplained death on their hands and a mysterious link to London adding yet more confusion, nothing is as straightforward as it first seems.
With cast members living on location for much of filming, the arrival of Covid-19 has meant the chilly UK is but a distant memory to most.
Set to return to Devon this Christmas for the first time in 18 months, Ralf has his jumpers at the ready.
“It’s going to be nice but I am going to be cold for the first time since July 2020 – which was when I arrived here,” laughs the actor.
“I haven’t been back to the UK since. So I’m going to be cold, but not too miserable, because I’ll spend it with my mum and have a lovely Christmas dinner.”
Describing how two lengthy stints on the island were broken up with a trip to see his partner in Florida, the actor
acknowledges there could be far worse places to find yourself mid-pandemic.
“I’ve been here solidly for six months and then six months. It’s been a while,” says Ralf.
“But I love it all. I love all the adventure. I’ll try scuba diving, snorkelling, the little gyrocopters that you go on to the other side of the island, you can go hiking – there’s a plane wreck from 30 odd years ago in the hills, you can hike up to that or up to the volcano. I just absolutely love it.”
Death in Paradise Christmas Special is on BBC1, Boxing Day at 7.30pm