Kris Marshall quit paradise because he wanted to see more of his children – but now he’s finding the West Country just as distracting as the Caribbean.
‘I surf, sail, swim, do triathlons. It’s like my own personal playground. So actually, I rather love it,’ says the actor, who is married to Hannah and father to pre-teens Thomas and Elsie.
They lived in Guadeloupe with him when he played Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman in the long-running cosy crime series Death In Paradise.
But Kris left in 2017, saying he wanted his kids to go to school in England. His character also moved back to follow the love of his life in the show Martha, played by Sally Bretton, and the spin-off Beyond Paradise was born in 2023.
Set in the west of England, its gentle blend of drama, crime and mystery has been a big hit.
Now Kris, 52, finds himself spending five months of the year away from the family home in the New Forest, filming in Devon and Cornwall. ‘We only film Monday to Friday, but they’re 14-hour days. Then it’s a four-hour drive home so I don’t come home every weekend,’ he admits. ‘My kids are growing up. They’ve got their own lives.’
Does he struggle with this arrangement? ‘Actually, I love it. I get the beauty of seeing my family every other weekend, but then I also get the solitude I enjoy at the end of a really hard working week,’ he says.
‘I rent the same place every year in a wonderful village. It’s on a beach that isn’t touristy because it’s quite rocky, but it’s got a wonderful little surf break there. There are fishermen. I feel assimilated into the community. I go surfing with the locals.’
Kris Marshall as Humphrey Goodman in Beyond Paradise, a role he first played in the much-loved, long-running cosy crime drama Death In Paradise, which was set in the Caribbean
Kris with Sally Bretton, his on-screen wife Martha in both Death In Paradise and its follow-up
The Cornish fishing town of Looe stands in for the fictional Shipton Abbott, where Humphrey’s police station is located. ‘A film crew of 100 people turning up with 30 trucks is always going to cause some issues, but Beyond Paradise has brought a lot to the place.’
Series four is now ready to go and Kris is at home in the New Forest today. Off-duty he looks strikingly different from his character, with long surfer hair, a pair of cool glasses and a heavy bandit-style moustache.
Is it a struggle to readjust to being at home after filming? ‘You have to relearn each other’s ways. It’s difficult. Let’s not beat around the bush. It’s an extremely blessed job when you’ve got your own show, you’re looked after and solitude is something you turn to,’ he says.
‘Time on your own, not having to do school drop-offs and all the things that come with family life. But you always have to remember how to be a parent when you come back, which is difficult because to me it is all about a light touch on the tiller.’
What does he mean? ‘You lose your humour when you’re away. Parenting is all about not taking things too seriously, because otherwise you’re constantly fighting battles and everyone gets exhausted.’
Born in Bath in 1973, Kris was a boarder at Wells Cathedral School but got expelled for misbehaviour. ‘By the time I got to the end of my school career I’d burnt most bridges and was left with just a rickety one across to the adult world, which was acting.’
Kris in the new series with co-stars Barbara Flynn, left, and Sally Bretton
Although Kris left Death in Paradise in 2017 so that his children Thomas and Elsie could go to school in England, he hasn’t ruled out a return to the hit show
His big break came as Nick, the son in the sitcom My Family. Then came Colin in Love Actually, but Kris really became a household name when he took over from Ben Miller as the lead in Death In Paradise in 2014.
Both Paradise shows share DNA – with a detective who appears bumbling but is actually brilliant. ‘But the crimes are different,’ says Kris. ‘Death In Paradise is all about the murder, it’s in the title. We’re slightly beyond that.’
Series four begins with what looks like a suicide by a bestselling author, but it’s never that simple. ‘To me Beyond Paradise is coloured by folklore, paganism, there’s something Celtic in there as well,’ says Kris.
Huge waves and sweeping cliffs are part of the vibe. ‘Life there is all about storytelling. In winter it gets dark at 3.30 in the afternoon, the weather comes from the west, off the ocean. So you hunker down and tell stories. You get a bit whimsical and embellish the story to draw people in. Beyond Paradise captures that well.’
Would Kris be up for a return to the island of Saint Marie? ‘Yeah,’ he says slowly. ‘I never say never. But I’m very happy with where I am. My family situation does not present itself to going back for any more than a one-off.
‘It’s all very well being on a glorious, sunny island, but not if you’re there on your own. Paradise is only paradise with people you love.’
Beyond Paradise returns on Friday, March 27, at 8pm on BBC1
