Ralf Little

Ralf Little is best known for his roles in Death in Paradise, The Royle Family and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.

Ralf Little became a household name back in 1998 when he joined the beloved BBC sitcom The Royle Family.

Since then, he’s gone on to feature in Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps and Death in Paradise, which he departed in 2024.

Although he’s featured in a plethora of other shows, including his popular series with friend and former co-star Will Mellor.

This weekend, however, he’s back on our screens as he’s due to appear on Sunday Brunch alongside Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer.

Having been firmly in the public eye since the age of 17, we take a closer look at the star’s life away from the cameras.

Childhood tragedy

The BBC actor suffered a devastating personal loss as a youngster when his elder sister Ceri passed away while he was just nine years old. At only 14, Ceri tragically lost her life after falling from a 150-foot clifftop during a family holiday in Cornwall.

Opening up about his late sister on his programme with Will Mellor, Ralf was visibly moved as he touched upon his own decision not to have children, reports the Express.

He said: “My parents were fantastic with us and did the best that they could. But their relationship broke down really in a really difficult way and that was very difficult for us.

“You know, there’s no way of putting this that’s not blunt, but, you know, they had three kids and an idyllic family life and then one of the kids was alive one week and dead the next.

“Everything, their entire lives, crumbled right in front of their eyes from that moment on. It’s like, you know, you can’t protect them. My mum was really… my mum was really protective of us. Really protective.

“And it happened anyway. It happened anyway because you can’t wrap your kids in cotton wool and protect them 24-7. Like, it’s a lot. And it’s only when I’m forced to sort of say these things out loud that I realise quite what a lot it is.”

Ralf has also opened up about how the loss of his sister drove him to pursue greatness and push himself to be the very best he could be.

Death in Paradise exit

Ralf became a firm fan-favourite on the long-running BBC crime drama after joining the cast as DI Neville Parker in 2020. He confirmed his departure four years later, with Don Gilbet stepping in as DI Mervin Wilson.

The actor chose to leave the show after both he and the producers felt his character had naturally run its course. At the time, he announced: “My time on Saint Marie has come to an end – what an end! New adventures await Neville, and he got to sail away into the sunset with his best friend. Who knows what happens for them next!”

However, his mother feared his departure would spell the end of his acting career, as he revealed to The I last year: “About six months ago, I went to visit her. My mum’s done this my whole career – she’s always worried about me.

“She went: ‘So, I’ve been thinking, now that your career’s over, you could go back to medical school this September and qualify in five years, and the good news is you could still work till you’re 75.”

Medical dreams

Best known for his roles in Death in Paradise, The Royle Family and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, Ralf could easily have ended up on a very different path in life.

Prior to launching his acting career, Ralf had ambitions of becoming a doctor, studying at the University of Manchester Medical School. He ultimately dropped out, however, when he landed the role of Anthony Royle, choosing to pursue acting full-time instead.

It seems a talent for medicine runs in the family, as Ralf’s brother is a doctor and his sister works as a nurse. When quizzed about whether he ever wonders what might have happened had he stuck with his medical studies, he told The Telegraph in 2021: “Yes. Being a doctor is a calling. I was serious about it. Acting was just a fun hobby.

“I look at NHS workers now, and they’re unbelievably heroic, but I guess I’m lucky not to have to deal with the s**t that’s thrown at them.”

Medicine wasn’t the only alternative career Ralf could have pursued, either. He was once a semi-professional footballer, having turned out for semi-pro side Maidstone United in the early 2000s.

A Death in Paradise star has given fans a major career update.

A Death in Paradise favourite is teaming up with a Strictly star for a sinister mystery drama.

Ralf Little joined BBC‘s Death in Paradise in January 2020 as the anxious DI Neville Parker, whose romantic life was rather unlucky.

However, when he bid farewell in 2024, Neville departed hand-in-hand with DS Florence Cassell (Josephine Jobert), sailing towards a happy ending.

Two years following his exit, Little is preparing to feature in Channel 4‘s forthcoming psychological thriller, Hunting Alice Bell, described as a “whodunnit with shades of family drama and social satire”.

Based on its official synopsis, the six-episode drama promises to be considerably darker than what Death in Paradise viewers have come to expect from Little.

Hunting Alice Bell centres on the eponymous character, a former nurse and the romantic partner and accomplice of a “notorious anesthetist serial killer”.

She now resides in the UK under a fresh identity, but when Fran Da Silva is accused online of being Alice Bell, “her happy family life implodes into a wave of mob hate”.

The synopsis adds: “Then she discovers she’s not the only woman to suffer this fate. Fran and the other accused women band together to fight back and clear their names.

“But as they battle to prove their innocence, what if one of the group is lying – and is the real Alice Bell?”

Few details are known about Graham Hunter, the character Little will play, with additional information about his involvement in the Channel 4 series remaining under wraps.

He’ll be accompanied by Nightsleeper’s Alexandra Roach as Fran, Sherlock and Strictly Come Dancing favourite Amanda Abbington as Julie, Mobland’s Emily Barber as Vanessa, and Shaun of the Dead legend Simon Pegg as Dr Jason Nash.

Hunting Alice Bell, which will explore the “devastating effects” of rumours, is scheduled to broadcast later this year, though no specific release date has been announced.

Co-creator David Baddiel remarked, “Technology has created a whole new spin on the idea of mistaken identity.

“We are told that in the present culture, anyone can be who they want to be. But that also means that anyone can have who they are taken away from them: the hive mind can decide who you are.

“This happens to the five women in Hunting Alice Bell: in a world where identity is very fluid, they have lost control of theirs.”

Death in Paradise is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.