Ralf Little was very impressed by Death in Paradise fans’ sleuthing skills

When an image of the latest detective to join Death In Paradise was teased last year, Twitter went wild.

Sitting on a beach hammock, gazing out to sea, the actor in question – only identifiable by the back of his head – had people guessing in their droves, eager to figure out who would be stepping into the coveted role.

“Joe McFadden, maybe?” one suggested.

“Richard Madden #thebodyguard would do nicely,” said another fan of the BBC1 hit crime drama.

Those who guessed Ralf Little were right and The Royle Family star soon found his cover rumbled as the fourth actor to take the lead spot since the show began.

“I’d only joined Instagram a week earlier and (co-star) Shyko Amos had said, ‘You better follow me’ so I said, ‘Sure’,” he explains.

“Then a couple of people on Twitter went, ‘It’s definitely Ralf Little, he’s only just joined Instagram, he only follows about five people, one of them is Shyko who plays Ruby in the show and his other half has been posting about how she’s been in the Caribbean for the last two months.’

“I was like, ‘These people are detectives, they should be solving the murders, not me.’ It was quite impressive and terrifying at the same time.”

The reaction has been nothing but positive since then, Little, 39, says.

“I’ve literally just come from Bruges,” he says, having profusely apologised for running late for this interview.

“I was in a chocolate shop and this lady came up and said, ‘Excuse me, Mr Little, I’m so sorry to bother you.’

“I thought she was going to say, ‘I loved you in The Royle Family.’ And she said, ‘Is it true that you’re taking over in Death In Paradise? I’m so pleased – you’re going to be great, it’s my favourite show.’

“That was the first person who’s stopped me to talk about that, as opposed to the stuff I’ve done previously.

“So that was a lovely little moment for me. I hope people enjoy it half as much as I enjoyed making it.”

Little has taken over the mantle from Ardal O’Hanlon towards the end of its ninth series. He plays DI Neville Parker, a British import from Manchester CID. But how does he measure up to his predecessors, who were played by O’Hanlon, Ben Miller and Kris Marshall?

“His detective shtick is an eye for an otherwise insignificant detail,” he says.

“Whereas Kris was quite puppyish and excitable and would stumble into things and Ardal’s character’s thing was to be able to spin a yarn, almost storytelling to work his way into a case.

“Neville’s not an abrasive character, he finds life a bit tricky, and that can be quite frustrating for those around him.

“He’s not a hypochondriac and he’s not OCD either but he’s basically allergic to everything – particularly when he gets to Saint Marie.

“He has asthma and eczema… the salt water in the sea aggravates his condition, the wildlife aggravates that condition. If there’s an issue to be had, he’ll have it and he’ll get it.

“So he manages a lot of these conditions by having a very specific way of getting through life, which gets wearing to the team.”

Little, on the other hand, took the process in his stride – even the scorching heat.

“I think I slightly annoyed everyone on set because I was relentlessly positive,” he says.

“Admittedly, I was only out there for half a series so I’ve not done the full five months yet but every day I would come in going, ‘Isn’t this great? We’re in the Caribbean.’

“Whereas everyone else was like, ‘Look, I’m hot, I’m tired, I’ve been here four and a half months and I need to go home and see my kids – can you please stop coming in being so bouncy and bright?’ But I just loved it.”

Of shooting the famous denouement scenes, he recalls: “They were challenging but great.”

Death In Paradise is on BBC1, Thursdays at 9pm.