Exclusive: ‘I worked on Dᴇᴀᴛʜ in Paradise – there’s a reason nobody stays on the show long’

Ardal O’Hanlon has warned new Dᴇᴀᴛʜ In Paradise star Don Gilet the job is “gruelling” and impossible to do for more than a few years – admitting he was working up to 12 hours a day for six days a week.

Promoting a new stand up tour, Ardal was asked about his time as DI Jack Mooney from 2017-2020 on the hit BBC drama and admitted it wasn’t easy and he was jealous of guest stars who could fly in and out of Guadeloupe. Producers even gave him a talk of doom to prepare him for the mammoth filming sessions in the heat when filming. Looking back, actor and comedian Ardal, 59, said: “God, that was tough. Like, people don’t believe you when you tell them how tough it was. I was so grateful for that part and everything else. And I look back on it now as a really great experience, kind of life changing experience, I would say, because it’s not just that you’re playing a lead in a popular BBC primetime drama. It’s more of a lifestyle thing.

“It was such a radical change of scenery for me going from a country where I hardly ever leave the house, to kind of living outdoors for six months of the year, for four summers, but it was gruelling because you have a huge workload.

“And, of course, I’m not complaining about the work, but you have so much to prepare every day, so you don’t have much downtime at all, you don’t have the chance to enjoy the attractions out there. I used to be so jealous of the guest actors! The suspects and the victim, you know, there’d be five or six guest actors every couple of weeks, and they would come over and they’d have such an amazing time.

“Like, they’d be there for a week or two, maybe in for two or three days, the rest of the time they’re sitting by the pool, drinking cocktails and me working me arse off, 12 hours a day, six days a week! So I was very jealous of them.

“You just have to prepare so much every day, and you have to think quick on your feet. There was so many reasons for leaving it, I’d done four summers. That takes its toll at home as well. I knew the writing was on the wall, but my family stopped coming out to visit me, that was really the decider.”

He added: “They kind of tell you that at the beginning, like they said, ‘You know, you might last two years or three years, but you know, you probably won’t last four! Nothing prepares you for it. I remember the producer came to visit me and we spent a day together. This is maybe a month before I went out there. And he was basically trying to go, ‘You know, you can still get out of this, if you want!’ Do you know what I mean, he was kind of almost… he was really painting a very bleak picture saying, ‘You know, like, it’s gonna be tough.’ You know, there’s hurricanes to deal with. There’s people going crazy because, like, people go stir crazy in that environment, you know, you’re always dealing with something, like there’s creatures that want to kill you.”

Former Father Ted star Ardal was speaking to promote his new stand up show for 2025 which is called Not Himself. Explaining the subject matter, he said: “I suppose it’s loosely around that whole idea of identity. I do a lot of stand up in in the UK, and what I’ve noticed in recent years is comedy is a very diverse sort of platform now, and most people that you come across are talking about their identity, whether it’s race or gender or social class or sexual orientation or whatever. In Northern Ireland religion will come into the mix as well, religious background.

“So it’s a really big thing in comedy now and I suppose in the past, my approach was always like… I was a kind of a joke man, I would like to think of it as being a craftsman, where I was just trying to come up with perfect jokes, maybe with a slightly surreal twist or whatever.

And I suppose in more recent years, I’ve just been, I suppose, inspired by all those comedians that I work with, I suppose reflecting a little bit more on who I am, where I’m coming from, my upbringing and my relationship with with world around me, with technology, for example, that’s a big part of my show, how our identities are shaped by the technology we use.”

Ardal was replaced on Dᴇᴀᴛʜ In Paradise by Ralf Little who played DI Neville Parker for 5 years.

The new lead Don Gilet will join the show in the upcoming Christmas special as new lead DI Mervin Wilson.

Dᴇᴀᴛʜ in Paradise remains one the UK’s most watched returning drama across all broadcasters and streamers, with the 2024 series watched by over 8 million viewers.

* Ardal O’Hanlon is on tour from September 2025 on his UK and Ireland tour Not Himself.