Kris Marshall has been playing the role of Humphrey Goodman for quite some time now. So long, in fact, that the shoes he wears to play him have become increasingly threadbare.
Perish the thought of throwing them out, though.
“For me, characters are all about shoes,” he says. “I don't know why, but I immediately know in a costume fitting when the shoes are right. It's almost like a weird Cinderella thing.”
For Humphrey, that goes double. “I've been in the same set of brogues for about seven years. They've had five new pairs of soles. Every year the costume designer who I've worked with since Death in Paradise [began] is like, ‘Do you think we should buy some new shoes this year?’ I'm like, ‘Absolutely not.’”
These days, he’s probably better known for playing the irascible detective than he is for any of his other roles: Sanditon’s Tom Parker, My Family’s Nick Harper and (of course) Colin in the 2003 rom-com Love Actually.
He’s also been doing it for close to a decade now. In 2014, we were first introduced to Humphrey as he appeared on the island of Saint-Marie, with a penchant for drinking milk and an awkward yet brilliant personality that has become the calling card of the lead role.
In 2017, Marshall quit to spend more time with his children – as he says, they got older, and “I can't drag them around as much as I used to.”
But when the BBC came calling again with the chance to shoot a follow-up series, he leapt at the chance. Now, he’s four seasons in, and going strong: Beyond Paradise is one of the BBC’s most popular shows, and far more weird and wild than its Caribbean-set counterpart. Over the years, the show has tackled issues like fostering, paganism and 17th-century witches, all interspersed with shots of the beautiful Devon-Cornish countryside as Humphrey goes about solving cases, and the occasional murder.
“It’s no secret that modern scripts have to reiterate plot line three or four times, because most people are scrolling on their phones and their tablets whilst watching TV”
The secret to its success, according to its star, is how cross-generational it all is. “I think these days, it's something that can bring families together. You can watch it with your mum, your partner, your dog, your kids, whoever,” he says.
“We get so many choices in consuming media. It’s no secret that modern scripts have to reiterate plot line three or four times, because most people are scrolling on their phones and their tablets whilst watching TV.”
Surely not for Beyond Paradise, I ask? “Yeah, we do. I mean, it's across the board. I do it. Honestly, we're too busy, we’re scattergun, because we've got so many choices with media these days.”
At least being a part of the show for so long has its own perks – including the chance to tinker with the character of Humphrey, who, as Marshall puts it, is “not getting any younger. I was 39 when I started playing Humphrey, and now I’m nearly 53.”
With age comes opportunities, though. “I started making him less clumsy,” he says. “Not emotionally or mentally clumsy, but bit less physically clumsy. I think he's become a bit more graceful as he's got older.”
That, plus a chance to add in some homages to the great TV detectives and personalities of the 80s – which, as he puts it, were “omnipresent” on British TV sets as he was growing up – including heroes like Harold Lloyd, James Garner (of The Rockford Files) and Jean-Paul Belmondo.
“So I do keep changing him. I think if I stopped finding stuff to do, or new ways of playing him, or at least changing the mould on him slightly, then I think I would stop, because otherwise I don't see the point.”
Despite his love of the old detectives, Marshall didn’t see acting as a career path until after school. Born in 1973 and with an RAF pilot father, he spent his early years living in Hong Kong and Canada and eventually enrolled at Wells Cathedral School.
It didn’t go well. As Marshall puts it, “I had no real wish to become an actor until I gave myself no other option by screwing up my scholastic studies and not being able to go to uni… I was just full of youthful exuberance. You look back on these things and go, ‘Wow. Being 18 is so young’.”
Undeterred, Marshall worked a series of odd jobs before enrolling at the Redroofs Theatre School in Maidenhead. “I couldn't get into any of the established drama schools, because I completely flunked my A levels,” he says. “I had no way of getting into the industry, apart from grabbing a copy of The Stage and literally cold calling people and then going, well, if you don't give me a job, I'm just going to fax you my CV.”
That included the National Theatre, which he ended up repeatedly faxing. “I ended up actually working for the National about five years later. I said to them, do you remember me? And they were like, no.” He laughs. “So that was a waste of money.”
The risk-taking paid off. Eventually, Marshall landed a role in police show The Bill, but his real breakthrough came in 2000 when he appeared as Nick Harper in the sitcom My Family, then Love Actually a few years later. Now, after a youth spent constantly hustling, he’s finally at a place where he can enjoy the fruits of his work.
“I'm super happy,” he reflects as the conversation winds up. “I'm really content with where I am right now. That's not to say that I don't want to change the dial at some point. Just because I'm content doesn't mean I'm dead.
“I certainly don't have any laurels to rest on. If you asked me when I was 20, or if you ask any 20-year-old, 53 is really old. But actually, to me, 53 is quite young still.”
Beyond Paradise Season 4 airs on BBC One from 8pm tonight
