Escape the winter blues and dive into paradise with the one and only Ralf Little! The ever-charming star of Death in Paradise joins Chris Evans on the Breakfast Show to spill the beans on the highly anticipated 13th season, premiering this Sunday at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
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Yeah all right good morning could you come into auditions with me in the future and just do that exact intro did that that would be brilliant people do want to take you around with them just to introduce them like in restaurants and you know waiting for the
Tube and stuff I’d love that that’d be fantastic i’ would be delighted to thank you Ralph welcome back and here we go again Death in Paradise uh back on the be after the big Boxing Day Christmas show what about those ratings my friend yeah they they’re all right aren’t they
They’re all right well they are through the roof and and nowadays a lot of TV shows need step ladc anywhere near the roof and a feather duster but Death in Paradise is still doing great yeah it’s doing good numbers it is um listen when I first took over um yeah I’ve been
Asked a lot were you nervous about taking over and the honest answer is I I just tried not to think about it um you know because of course it can be a big responsibility but it was the first show I’d ever done that wasn’t an I wasn’t
Originating the show and you make a show and you go well I hope it does okay but I was literally stepping into this going this is a huge this is a beloved show which really really matters to people and I wasn’t thinking about the responsibility of it until my mother
Being my mother went um oh that’s great I’m really proud of you and then called me back 30 seconds later and went don’t ruin it will you yeah don’t mess it up thanks M that’s the kind of encouragement that I’ve always enjoyed God you haven’t yeah so it seems to have
Gone okay okay how many how many will you have done by the end of this series how many Al together well good question so I’ve done four and a half Series so eight of series eight fours of 32 uh plus half 36 plus three Christmas specials so 39 knocking on 40 yeah so
How has the journey been for you just take us through the es and the flows and and learning about you know about about holding on to resp Loosely You Got to Hold On Loosely not too tight to these particular Reigns you know when when did
You feel like you you had it down did did you sett have you settled yeah I was going to say I don’t know if you ever feel feel like the moment you feel like you got I’ve nailed this maybe maybe it’s time to to to stop no I just think
Um it’s been it’s been amazing it’s been an amazing journey and but taking over from you know know I was able to watch what Ben had done and what Chris had done and what AR had done so you know you sort of know what’s expected so the
Idea is like you say you don’t want to grip too tightly the idea is to step in and make it your own but you’ve still got to honor what the show is and everything that’s been that that people are doing I mean you talk about the RAC
Is literally I got out of um the black cab to come here this morning and the driver who was lovely and he said I’m sorry do you mind if I just say Death in Paradise is the only show that I can still get my family to all sit down and
Watch because my teenagers won’t put their phones down for anything else and it’s an amazing kind of thing to be like we’re one of the last actual family shows well it’s very clever isn’t it it’s very it’s a very clever show because of the demographic because they have something for everyone don’t they
Exactly you know and and you came in to R just came said I said how’s the football because he’s a great footballer I know because I’ve been on the wrong end of his skill and press up Wembley Stadium which is horrible for me anyway
I’m so glad you had a great day it’s one I try and forget and he says well I’m getting on now because I’m old now I’m 44 played on Tuesday still recovering you’re talking to the wrong guy listen you say that right but I was in the
Waiting room to come in here and I saw the monitor you know on the TV screen here in between songs and there you are on the floor doing your exercises you can still knock out 100 situps I’ll have all all your listeners know there you go
Exactly it’s a video it’s a video we play on every day it was also I don’t want to get into too much detail but it was a strange angle on the camera the first I like what is Chris doing I’ve got sit up double yeah exactly uh no but
You still fit as a fiddle though aren’t you you still love your footy yeah I still get about a bit but I do pay for it for several days after these days we were talking about um the new Bob Marley film which is coming soon one love in a
Couple of weeks time and we had Kingsley on the show who plays Bob Marley and obviously part of Bob Marley’s relig literal literally religion was 200 of football every single day and he was really good yeah I’ve seen the footage he was a really good player you can’t
Leave footy alone all right you are you you spend six months of the year in the Caribbean yeah uh how much how much footy action is there in between takes well in between takes there’s there’s a little bit but the trouble is with on on that show yeah the one of the biggest
Challenges day in day out is actually not overheating it’s it’s a really sort of dull thing to have to but on it’s literally got to the point where and it’s not just about your own Comfort it’s there’s some very like practical problems like if you get too hot I will
Sweat through my shins I’ve I’ve never knew I sweated through my shins but like if I’m wearing dark costume trousers then they have to costume department has to go sorry we can’t use this take and they have to come running in and dry my SHO it’s very very deing getting sticky on
Everyone and then and then you know your makeup starts to melt off and they have to get so you have to keep cool but there is surprisingly a lot of football um we play it like once or twice a week if we can and you need that when you’re
Out there six months you’re away from home that long it must be terrible oh yeah you need that when you’re in the Caribbean getting paid six months of the year you have no idea I feel like you don’t realize how tough it is for me oh
My gosh text us how how bad do you feel for ra now plus 4430 triple 330 please um it’s interesting you say that about sweaty because there’s uh we watched the opening episode last night we both got the secret link of it very good a big big twist at the beginning of opening
Episode won’t say won’t say anything about it I think we can I think we’re allowed to say that yeah well I said it on the one show the other day so we might as well all right please do then go ahead yes well the commission of
Crime in episode one that’s coming up is that the commissioner gets shot SN Don Warrington swin Don Warrington As Good As It Gets by the way as a human being and an actor amazing he’s an absolute Legend love that yeah I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again when I grow
Up I want to be Domin a lovely he just a dude he’s an absolute that is so cool but in um in the sort of last quarter of the first app when uh you as di Neville Parker when you you gather all the suspects and anybody involved in this
What may or may not happen in episode one and because it’s a it’s a it’s it’s almost a monologue that goes on I I saw you sweating a bit I I thought oh this was a long take yes well ideally you’re not supposed to see cuz it’s TV so it’s
Perfect I was on sweat watch but yeah ex have this yeah sometimes you just it just is what it is I mean it it’s genuinely hot and also a lot of the guest cast comes in and some of the main cast you know they get to Swan around in
Shorts and a t-shirt and they’re like wow this is a bit of a dream isn’t it and I’m I’m like try it when you’re four months in and you’ve been wearing a shirt tie uh jacket and carrying a bag in you’re you’re like 24/7 geography Supply teacher AR you yeah I really am
Exactly yeah how is the yellow Land Rover it’s do you know what it runs like a dream is there more than one or is there no it’s just one and it’s it’s it runs like a dream I love yeah it’s great yeah do you think they’ll ever be
Parting company with that car the I’m sure I know a man who would be interested in in acquiring it yeah all right um what what do you want to say about episode one how much you want to say about it uh well that’s the that’s the big sort of obviously we can’t talk
Too much about it but yes um the um uh commission it’s a Time piece isn’t it well yes oh I’ll tell you what is nice about the first episode a couple of things the commissioner gets shot and so it’s a very that’s not a nice thing but
It’s a creatively speaking for a start that’s I say finally we get finally D Warrington takes the bullet that he’s been deserving no um it’s the commissioner gets shot on that is the crime and um you know we we don’t know and I I’m saying nothing we don’t know
Whether the commissioner’s going to make it or not and um uh creatively speaking it’s nice for all of us actors to play uh when the characters the characters always do their be they’re professional they always do their best to solve to solve the crime but on this occasion
It’s really personal and there’s always something really nice about that to to play so there’s a lot kind of riding on it for the team in this one and the nice little detail about it is that um Shawn Maguire is in it remember Sean from sort of getting ever more handsome I was
Going to say 90s 90s heartthrob Fame but who is now more handsome than ever really annoy extremely annoying well really annoying but he’s lovely sha I had seen him for for years and years and years but Shawn was in the first ever episode of death and Paradise the pilot
Episode and then comes back as the same character in in the H hundredth episode and there’s something very neat about that well that’s when um you know you’re with a team of absolute Pros when they can start pulling tricks like that super cool is I’m slightly annoyed though
Because up until then I’m the only person who’s been in it twice yeah although I’m in is two different characters is that right you only I was I was in series two it no I know I know you but it happens more than you think doesn’t it people inhabit different
Roles in the same show it you over the years I mean I was in heartbeat over the years five times as five different characters so it definitely yeah so from when I was like 14 up until another amazing show yeah yeah a classic wasn’t
It I I knew some well I still know some directors who made movies and things like that and then just for a laugh because they would invite guest directors for heartbeat wouldn’t they I’m sure they do the same on Death in Paradise and um they they so few movie
Directors who made really like very very famous and successful films said oh I had to go at heart be the other day cuz it was 11 day shoots weren’t they heartbe and they said different ball game Premier League yeah and these are movie directors they went no no no no no
No no different gravy directing an 11 day shoot of of heartbeat it’s a it’s a different it has it shares with this with Death in Paradise actually in that um heartbeat was this extremely sort of gentle warm show that that was very sort of digestible for the audience and Death
In Paradise is is very digestible and whatever but I’ve I’ve said having been there now and and seen like the seen behind the curtain of The Wizard of Oz it’s um it it people work very very very hard to make it look so easy yeah yeah
You really like that show that seems so sort of really effortless and easy going or whatever a lot of work goes into making it look that easy course yeah 100% And what I love about the beginning of episode one of the new series it’s on bbc1 it’s on Sunday it’s Series 13 9900
P.m. it’s the big slot the big drama slot now Death in Paradise is back back back after the boxing special and all the success that went on there over the holidays is we go back in time yes it’s a it’s it’s lovely isn’t it yes and it makes me think oh yeah is
Is this death Death in Paradise dipping its toe into the water of maybe An Origin series I didn’t think of it I thought you were going to start asking if we were going to start doing time travel and see if we can challenge Doctor Who but um no I I don’t know it’s
Very Doctor Who anyway yeah you know I I I didn’t think of that but now that you mention it yeah that’d be great I play lends itself to that you know that vibe that because what we do I mean we can say this can’t we we see Don warrington’s character going for his
First ever exam to join the police a little bit of an origin story yeah for for his character his bike gets run over that’s right yeah beautiful vintage bike gets I know it was very sad for everyone but yeah so you know what that’s that’s
An example of even in the time I’ve been there I’ve seen that the creative team behind the show they really they’re really getting more and more making Bolder and Bolder creative choices trying to push the envelope of uh what what they can sort of experiment with and whether that’s um with settings and
Locations and and and back backdrops for the crimes themselves but more importantly just backstory of character and again talking about how we work really hard to make it look so easy yes people would come for the for the show to watch the murder and it’s all very
Sort of nice and neat and tidy and see the puzzle get solved but even in the time I’ve been there every one of the main characters now in the series has challenges to overcome things that they have to process and things that have their characters have to develop and you
Know we do that in an hour a week that that’s a lot to cram in and you’ve got to set up a you’ve got to set up a murder introduce new characters find a Twist find a red herring find stay relevant and find ways for the characters to have challenges yeah and
Death in in Paradise is the Tiger Woods of its genre in as much as they’re not really playing against anyone to to beat because they’re number one yeah and so the whole thing about Tiger Woods is that he used to play against history you know about this no no because you know
He was number one for so long yeah but yeah so he always had to play play against someone so he played against Jack Nicholas’s record cuz you’ve always got to find somebody to play against You’ got to introduce some kind of competition and that so it’s hats off
All the more to death in paraly because it’s so difficult to keep this going and also the great thing which you’ve alluded to already in this interview is to stay relevant yeah you know and they’ve got to stay relevant by introducing younger characters with younger relationships for the other
Members of your family as you’re watching together to engage with yeah well when you know when my I think second or maybe was it third year I was there they brought in um Taj miles who plays Marlon and he’s literally walked on I hadn’t had not met him until we did
Our first scene and we walked out of the police station and did a rehearsal of the scene on the balcony and for some reason we hadn’t yet met and literally just doing he was 19 years old and I just opened his mouth and start speaking I was like that boy’s a superstar like
Straight away he’s just got it but you know this 19y old lad coming in absolutely smashing it being absolutely brilliant yeah does that remind you of anything well I’m so glad you made the connection that was all I was telling that story for really I didn’t even want
To talk about t um no he he was he was fantastic and I just think it’s exactly that this this this um boldness and bold choices of refreshing characters refreshing cast and then giving them challenges but finding that that um like Alchemy between between the characters you’ve got your mentor and mentors in
Other actors like like Don who are around because it’s really it’s really tough sometimes to have to to find a mentor you know and and that’s why you can find mentors that aren’t necessarily ones that you could ever meet or even may still be alive but you’ve got to be
A mentee of somebody’s or some other you got to learn from some what you learn from people like Don and other actors you know Don Don’s a really good example because Don everybody approaches every job differently but Death in Paradise is a really interesting one because everybody’s so far away from home and
There’s a sort there is you can you can I mean I certainly did when I was a guest you can sort of approach it being a bit like well this is going to be a laugh isn’t it it’s a bit of a holiday bit of a jolly um but no you know it’s
Hard work and but weirdly the the more seriously you take it the easier the work is if that sort of makes makes any sense and Don’s very very very serious about his craft and um he clever as well he’s brilliant and he thinks really carefully about and you know you’ll see
Him come in and he’s incredibly polite and professional but you’ll sort of see him gently come to the director and go I’m really really not sure about about this this speech that the commissioner has and I’ll be thinking oh I wonder if Don doesn’t like the phrasing or he
Wants to change something and Don will be like I just think when he when he takes a breath there I just don’t really see why he’s doing that because the commissioner on this in this instance is is really Keen to get everything done and that sounds like nothing like
Why not just not take a breath but it really matters to Don about the Rhythm yeah the Rhythm and the yeah I like I better read my lines again yeah I wasn’t even realizing there was a breath there that’s the thing though is it he’s so professional he’s so meticulous and he
Takes it so he’s so serious about his craft I was like it was a real kind kind of not that I was not serious about my craft but you know what you mean no but if you get serious early then you can have fun later on exactly you look at
Him and you go there’s there’s no kind of there’s no job where you go oh this is just a bit of a laugh every line counts everything is Ser so when you watch like uh the jungle if you do watch the jungle you know three weeks in the
Jungle if you win it I mean you smash that cuz you do six months um away from home no problem whatsoever well actually funny you should say that was I noticed this year first year I went there and you know the guest cast when they come out for a few
Weeks they struggle with this and what have you and my family did when they came out but you know mosquitoes are a real thing and you s scratching you’re coming up in welts and all that kind of thing but um over the years they just
Don’t bite me any well I’m sure they do bite I’m sure they do bite me anym they had enough a little yeah exactly like the viewers than God yeah yeah we don’t like that mood anymore thanks but they um I’m sure they do bite me but I don’t
React and clearly my bodies just got used to it and just like whatever so let’s let’s get into the jungle wow let’s do it and um you know having been part of the community there on and off for literally two years of your life out
The last four and four and a half years something like that yeah years six months a year for four and a half years have you got any connections that you’ll keep forever or will you go back there forever yeah I reckon I’ll I’ll reckon I’ve Not Seen the Last of guadal loop
Like uh even even when I finish the show I’ll be I’ll be back I’ll be back and if you digs changed because was it hotel is it hotels houses uh yeah I’m in a villa I’m in a villa I think you you touched upon this last I’m in a villa if my
5-year-old self could have seen that I was in a villa it would have been I I would have melted and it it’s quite amazing with a pool uh yeah it it was amazing so yeah you know like um even even when the time comes because you know you refresh the characters you
Refresh and that’s one of the show’s successes again like Doctor Who the it’s very Doctor Who yeah in his own way so you know nobody stay nobody’s there forever but even when I actually eventually leave it’s it’s I don’t think I’ll ever fully ever know that I’m not
Backing gu all right well we’ve got at least one more series with you um other highlights from the Ser series forthcoming series can you give us a flavor of what’s to come uh one highlight for me was that uh in episode two one of the guest stars there’s very
Few people these days that I get star struck by but sometimes you’re like wow I’m here we go actual greatness what’s happening now was uh what you think I’m going to say it’s you I’ve always been Star by you um but um Haley Mills is in
Um episode two and Haley Mills is of course a living legend whistle down the wind was a seminal film from my childhood and I watched it with my grandparents she’s an Oscar winner e but even as a child she was doing that incredibly specific Lancer accent where
I’m from not just Manchester not just Barry but very specifically where I’m from as a child and she was brilliant and I would have mentioned that anyway but it’s really quite neat and tidy that she also happens to be crispian’s Crispian mills’s mother from cooler
Shaker who is in the studio who’s in the studio on the show now should we go and watch kol Shaker play Live yeah let’s do that can we hear it for Ralph little how great is Ralph we love Ralph on the show thank you Ralph seriously great to see
You thanks so much man thank you so much radio a
7 Comments
One of the only programs I watch on TV
I love all the characters.
He would be great in the Jungle
Beautiful island
I hope he stays longer
Ralph is great
If Don Warrington actually dies I WILL NEVER EVER WATCH DEATH IN PARADISE EVER AGAIN – I suppose I’ll just have to rewatch rising damp episodes…