Former Death in Paradise star Ardal O’Hanlon has opened up about his time on the BBC crime drama
Ardal O’Hanlon left Death in Paradise in 2020(Image: ITV screengrab)
Ardal O’Hanlon has revealed how much he misses former co-star Don Warrington since his departure from Death in Paradise.
The comedian and actor, who portrayed DI Jack Mooney in the popular BBC crime drama, exited the show in 2020 after a three-year stint, reports the Express.
During an appearance on ITV’s Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh on Sunday (February 22), he reflected on his time on the series after Alan asked whether it had been “emotional” to leave the island and long-time co-star Don, who portrays Commissioner Selwyn Patterson.
“He’s just brilliant, he’s brilliant,” Ardal enthused. “I miss him more than anything, actually. I loved Don and we’re still very good friends, but yeah that was kind of a bromance actually.”
He continued: “It always starts off the new detective and you know very, very wary around the inspector but eventually the inspector softens by the end.”
Although the programme is set on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie, most of the filming takes place in Guadeloupe.
The star said he did “love it” but also acknowledged it was “a commitment”, as it involved being away for months of the year for filming.
“I’m kind of in one way glad I don’t have to do it now because it’s like, it’s gruelling, but I look back at it very fondly,” he shared. “It was just a great adventure apart from anything else, as well as being like a, you know, a challenging acting job.”
He also shared how he enjoyed having a variety of different actors join the cast every few weeks.
“All these great great people… these people I adored,” he said. “And then you’d also get the hot shots, the up-and-coming people who have gone on to Hollywood now. We got them raw.”
Ardal, who is also known for his portrayal of Father Dougal McGuire in Father Ted, went on: “Because you take great pride in the island, because I’ve been there for a few years and you get to love it and you can’t wait to show it off to them.
“So on the rare days off you’d bring them to some waterfall that only you know about or some boiling hot part of the sea like, right where the volcano heats the water, you know, that side of it I really, really loved.”
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Death in Paradise broadcasts on the BBC and Love Your Weekend with Alan Titchmarsh is on ITV.