Kris Marshall hints at big changes in Beyond Paradise: “Characters have a shelf life”
Beyond Paradise actor Kris Marshall, who has portrayed Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman since his Death in Paradise debut in 2014, has opened up on his belief that 'all characters have a shelf life'
Kris Marshall as DI Humphrey Goodman(Image: BBC)
As the fourth season of Beyond Paradise hits our screens, star Kris Marshall has candidly acknowledged that “every character has a shelf life” while opening up about the beloved programme.
Love Actually actor Kris, 53, has now devoted more than a decade to portraying Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman, but recently hinted that he has no plans to leave the role behind, due to a changing attitude towards career stability as he gets older.
Kris first appeared as the detective in Death in Paradise back in 2014, stepping up as the show’s lead investigator following Ben Miller’s departure, and subsequently making a string of cameo appearances in the popular BBC series.
Kris stayed with Death in Paradise for three series before passing the baton to Father Ted star Ardal O’Hanlon, though he would eventually reprise his role as DI Goodman in spin-off series Beyond Paradise.
The programme is set in Devon rather than the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie. Kris confesses that earlier in his career, he would get “itchy feet”, which led him to leave My Family after just five series, but is currently “having fun” portraying DI Goodman.
A photo of Humphrey and Martha(Image: BBC / Red Planet Pictures / Joss Barratt)
The father-of-two says he has come to value “solidity” as he grows older, though he acknowledges that nothing endures indefinitely. Speaking to The i newspaper last year, he said: “The kind of wanderlust I had early in my career is mostly gone.”
“I’m in a really happy place. That’s not to say I don’t have a personal feeling that all characters have a shelf life – because I do – but I’m really enjoying where I am at the moment, working on a show I love, with people I love.” Now, more than a decade following the debut of Death in Paradise, Kris believes there remains “still a place” for the comforting police drama. He appreciates that the format avoids the “gore and grimness” of true-crime dramas.
He continued: “You have to make it palatable for a broad demographic, you have to create a puzzle, and peril, and solve the puzzle – and do all that within a BBC hour.”
He describes it as a “real skill” to produce such a programme. The star reveals that his children Thomas and Elsie, whom he shares with wife Hannah, have “never shown any interest” in his career but will now gather as a family and watch Beyond Paradise, admitting they “love it”.
Kris Marshall revealed he has less ‘wanderlust’ now he’s older(Image: (Image: BBC))
Kris, who was raised in Bath, acknowledges that filming the programme also enhances his mental wellbeing, as it transports him back to the West Country. He reveals he spent an “enormous amount of time” in Devon and Cornwall during his younger years, both residing and surfing there.
In an interview with Principle Magazine last year, he stated: “I am and always have been a really big water person. I was a big surfer growing up. I wasn’t particularly good, but I loved it. I did it all over the world for fun. I love the sea. So every morning before work, I’m in the sea. I’m in the sea after work. I go hiking up on the Moors.”
He added: “It’s a huge part of who I am. We talk a lot about mental health these days and how the great outdoors is so good for your mental health.
“When you’re on a big shoot like Beyond Paradise, which is 70 hours a week for 23 weeks straight, one after the other, while it looks and is bucolic and lovely, it’s also quite hard work. I use Devon and Cornwall to keep my mental health stable.”
