Kris Marshall reveals ‘challenging’ 182-mile living situation with children

Kris Marshall is a familiar face thanks to his previous role as the lovable detective, Humphrey Goodman, on Death in Paradise and, more recently, on its spin-off show, Beyond Paradise.

But it seems his dedication to the role often means sacrifices for family life.

The actor, 52, has revealed the challenge of his 182-mile commute between Bath, where he lives, and Cornwall, where he films scenes for Beyond Paradise.

© Red Planet Pictures/Joss Barratt/BBC

While filming Death in Paradise between 2014 and 2017, Kris’s wife of thirteen years, Hannah Dodkin, and their two children, Elsie and Thomas, resided in the Caribbean with him, and so were used to relocating.

However, these days, as Kris explains it, his family prefer staying in one place, meaning Kris has a bit of a commute between home and where he films the show.

Kris Marshall’s comments on filming away from family

“Now my kids are at an age where they have their own lives and so they don’t want to be moved wherever I’m filming,” he told HELLO! “They want to stick with their mates and so I still have that thing where I live away from home during the week, but it’s closer to home [than Guadeloupe].”

Not only that, but Kris admitted that he’s out of the loop of family life when away from home during a hectic filming schedule.

© BBC / Red Planet Pictures / Mark Harrison

He added to HELLO!: “Certainly something I could draw from [while filming Beyond Paradise series three] is that I when I’m away from home for a long period of time, I’m not doing the more mundane facets of parenting, school runs and washing the clothes and trying to get them to bed at a decent time.”

The Love Actually star continued: “When I’m away filming, I stop doing those things for a good long while, and when I come back, I’m out of touch. 

“I’m out of touch with the tricks and the management of the whole situation, and the way you work with your kids to make the whole thing work.”

© Tullio M. Puglia

Kris Marshall’s idyllic family life in the West Country

Kris and his family are lucky to live in a gorgeous home in the West Country, so, as Kris said, his two-hour car commute to Cornwall is nothing compared to flying back and forth from the UK to Guadeloupe.

The actor no doubt relishes being by the beautiful English coast. In fact, it’s perhaps bittersweet for him as he and his family were previously forced to give up a business property there, which they were running from afar while residing in the Caribbean.

© BBC/Red Planet Pictures/Joss Barratt

In a 2016 interview with The Times, Kris explained that their Grade II-listed converted chapel home called Kirk House had become “impractical” to rent out while overseas.

“I ended up running it as a full-time holiday let for 10 years. It’s been brilliant. The house had been converted into a wow-factor holiday let when I bought it, but I’ve done a lot of work.”

On his decision to relinquish the property, he said: “I still love Cornwall, especially when the sun is out, but there’s give and take when you do holiday lets. We can’t just bolt down there as a family, and I don’t want to run the business anymore. It’s impractical to do it from the Caribbean — it’s just too far.”

Perhaps now he’s closer to home and the Caribbean is a distant memory, it’s time for the family to reopen the business!