The star of the murder mystery series reveals five secrets from the set

RALF LITTLE DEATH IN PARADISE Thursday, 9pm, BBC1

1 Being able to pick a mango off a tree in your garden is special, and I constantly thought about how lucky I was to be working, especially in Guadeloupe. My house overlooked a bay, and the cast and I really made the most of the island – we went snorkelling with turtles, whale watching, hiking up the volcano. DI Neville Parker [pictured], who I play, may not like going out of his comfort zone, but I am happy to.

2 Over the first lockdown I spent a lot of time doing weights as I knew we’d be on the beach. I tried to get our director to let me do scenes to show that, but he wouldn’t let me. He’s a horrible bully. I begged him but he said, ‘No, Neville isn’t like that.’ If anything, I think they put more layers on me after that.

3 I tried to learn French while there and Josie Jobert [DS Florence Cassell] helped me. She’s very patient and we have chemistry on and off the screen.

4 My fiancée Lindsey is American, and seeing her while filming was tricky as there were no flights from America to Guadeloupe. But we managed to meet on nearby Saint Martin and spend time together.

5 I’m the fourth actor to play a detective on this show and before I took the role, I spoke to my predecessors and they all told me that when recording the big scene where the murderer is revealed, do it in the morning. It requires memorising up to 12 pages of dialogue, and you’re fresher then. But there isn’t much rehearsal time so I’m not sure I’ll continue with that.