EXCLUSIVE: Kris Marshall spills secrets from Beyond Paradise season three
The star has swapped his comedy chops for a role that's a tad more serious.
You may recognise him best from playing Colin “God of Sex” Frissell in the cult 2003 Christmas film Love Actually, but nowadays, actor Kris Marshall is better known for his role as DI Humphrey Goodman in BritBox’s gritty detective series Beyond Paradise.
Ahead of season three of the fan favourite show premiering on Aussie screens, New Idea sat down with the 52-year-old for an exclusive interview where he opened up about what audiences can expect from the new episodes.
“There’s a confidence to the show, sort of like a quiet confidence that I really love. And everyone knows what they’re doing, and so it kind of sings… I find the show really finds its rhythm,” he says.
Kris has been playing Humphrey since 2014, originally playing the character in Death in Paradise, before landing Beyond Paradise, a spinoff show.
He reveals that even though there’s a part of him in his character, Humphrey is a “much nicer person” than he is.
“He certainly has a stronger moral compass than I do. I think he’s a kinder person and less selfish than I am,” he says.
He tells us that this season of Beyond Paradise brings new challenges to his character.
“We see a little bit more of his personal life and also the challenges that he faces that he didn’t have to face when he first arrived in Sainte-Marie in Death in Paradise,” he says.
“Humphrey and Martha are now on this fostering journey. They get to foster this lovely and wonderful 10-year-old girl. It seems like she’s gonna be a bit more of a permanent addition, and obviously the challenges that come with that,” he says, adding “you start to get a bit blindsided, I think, by the permanence, because even though you know in the back of your mind it’s temporary, the nature of foster placements are temporary in nature”.
Kris reflects on how there are some likenesses between Humphrey’s storyline to his own personal life.
“I have a 9-year-old girl, and it’s a delightful age really, because they’re really starting to come into their own. They’re getting the sass as well – or I’ve got a very sassy 9-year-old – and they’re great fun,” he says, cracking a smile.
“They’ve got really crackling personalities,” he adds.
In terms of each episode’s puzzles, Kris says he’s in awe of the team who come up with them, as there are only “so many crimes” out there.
“I’m constantly in awe of how they can change and keep them intricate and how they work it out. And I guess that’s why I’m not a writer because I don’t think I could do that,” he reveals.
And – if there’s a puzzle that he gets a say on – he says he’d like for it to be a surfing crime as he “loves his time in the water”.
“That means I could go surfing at my lunch break, which I’m not sure my makeup team would like very much… but for me, that would be awesome,” he says.
Kris enjoys the action and loves doing his own stunts.
“Even now I’m 52, I still love to throw myself off things – but you have to keep it as a part of the storyline,” he says, adding “I grew up with Michael Crawford doing Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em and all that kind of stuff, and he always used to do his own!”.
Beyond Paradise S3 is available to stream exclusively on a bigger and better BritBox.
