BBC Death in Paradise star Ardal O'Hanlon shares reason why 'no-one stays long' on show

Ardal O'Hanlon has given new Death In Paradise lead Don Gilet a heads-up about the demanding nature of the role, revealing that he often worked 12-hour days, six days a week. While discussing his upcoming stand-up tour, Ardal reflected on his stint as DI Jack Mooney from 2017 to 2020 in the popular BBC series, confessing it was far from a walk in the park and that he envied guest stars who could come and go as they pleased from the tropical set in Guadeloupe.

The production team even sat him down for a 'talk of doom' to brace him for the intense filming schedule under the sweltering sun. Looking back, the 59 year old actor and comedian said: "God, that was tough. Like, people don't believe you when you tell them how tough it was.

"I was so grateful for that part and everything else. And I look back on it now as a really great experience, kind of life changing experience, I would say, because it's not just that you're playing a lead in a popular BBC primetime drama. It's more of a lifestyle thing."

He added: "It was such a radical change of scenery for me going from a country where I hardly ever leave the house, to kind of living outdoors for six months of the year, for four summers, but it was gruelling because you have a huge workload.

"And, of course, I'm not complaining about the work, but you have so much to prepare every day, so you don't have much downtime at all, you don't have the chance to enjoy the attractions out there. I used to be so jealous of the guest actors! The suspects and the victim, you know, there'd be five or six guest actors every couple of weeks, and they would come over and they'd have such an amazing time."

"Like, they'd be there for a week or two, maybe in for two or three days, the rest of the time they're sitting by the pool, drinking cocktails and me working me arse off, 12 hours a day, six days a week! So I was very jealous of them.", reports the Mirror.

"You just have to prepare so much every day, and you have to think quick on your feet. There was so many reasons for leaving it, I'd done four summers. That takes its toll at home as well. I knew the writing was on the wall, but my family stopped coming out to visit me, that was really the decider."

He explained: "They kind of tell you that at the beginning, like they said, 'You know, you might last two years or three years, but you know, you probably won't last four! Nothing prepares you for it. I remember the producer came to visit me and we spent a day together. This is maybe a month before I went out there. And he was basically trying to go, 'You know, you can still get out of this, if you want! ' Do you know what I mean, he was kind of almost... he was really painting a very bleak picture saying, 'You know, like, it's gonna be tough.' You know, there's hurricanes to deal with. There's people going crazy because, like, people go stir crazy in that environment, you know, you're always dealing with something, like there's creatures that want to kill you."

The former Father Ted actor Ardal O'Hanlon was discussing his experiences to promote his upcoming 2025 stand-up tour titled Not Himself. On the theme of the show, he added: "I suppose it's loosely around that whole idea of identity. I do a lot of stand up in in the UK, and what I've noticed in recent years is comedy is a very diverse sort of platform now, and most people that you come across are talking about their identity, whether it's race or gender or social class or sexual orientation or whatever. In Northern Ireland religion will come into the mix as well, religious background."

"So it's a really big thing in comedy now and I suppose in the past, my approach was always like... I was a kind of a joke man, I would like to think of it as being a craftsman, where I was just trying to come up with perfect jokes, maybe with a slightly surreal twist or whatever."

"And I suppose in more recent years, I've just been, I suppose, inspired by all those comedians that I work with, I suppose reflecting a little bit more on who I am, where I'm coming from, my upbringing and my relationship with with world around me, with technology, for example, that's a big part of my show, how our identities are shaped by the technology we use."

Ardal was replaced on Death In Paradise by Ralf Little who played DI Neville Parker for 5 years. The new lead Don Gilet will join the show in the upcoming Christmas special as new lead DI Mervin Wilson. Death in Paradise remains one the UK's most watched returning drama across all broadcasters and streamers, with the 2024 series watched by over 8 million viewers."