Death in Paradise star Kris Marshall has QUIT show after four years and will be replaced by Father Ted’s Ardal O’Hanlon
ACTOR Kris Marshall has quit hit BBC show Death In Paradise after four series, The Sun can reveal.
Father Ted star Ardal O’Hanlon has been drafted in to replace him - but will be playing a new character.
Details of what will happen to Kris’s character Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman are being kept a closely guarded secret.
His departure comes just days after he admitted finding the show’s six-month filming schedule in the Caribbean difficult.
A source said: “Despite shooting in one of the most glamorous locations on the planet, being apart from wife Hannah and their two young children for most of the six-month filming schedule has proved too tough for Kris.
“It’s been a hard decision as he’s helped draw in huge figures since taking on the role, but after 17 years in the business he wants to spend more time with his family. That’s his priority now.”
Kris, 43, joined at the beginning of the third series of Death In Paradise, following the exit of Ben Miller, whose character DI Richard Poole was intrinsic to the show’s success.
The gamble paid off for Kris, whose portrayal of accident-prone Humphrey helped to pull in more viewers with an average of 8million tuning in.
Comedy icon Ardal, 51, is the third actor to take top billing and appears in his first episode of the seventh series on BBC1 this evening.
Kris, famed for his breakthrough role as teenage son Nick Harper in sitcom My Family, wed wife Hannah, 35, in his hometown of Wells, Somerset in 2012.
They have two children, son Thomas and daughter Elsie.
Kris recently spoke about the pressures starring in the hit series.
He said: “My one concern about taking this job was that I didn’t want to turn a show that gets nearly eight million viewers into a show that gets four million viewers.
“That’s not going to look good for me.”
Ardal will start filming for series seven on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe this spring.