As the fourth series of Beyond Paradise arrives on television, star Kris Marshall has openly admitted that "every character has a shelf life" while discussing the popular show.

The Love Actually actor, 53, has now spent over a decade playing Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman, but recently suggested he has no intention of departing the role, owing to a shifting perspective on career stability as he ages.

Kris initially took on the detective character in Death in Paradise in 2014, becoming the programme's principal investigator after Ben Miller's exit, and later making several guest appearances in the hit BBC drama.

Kris remained with Death in Paradise for three series before handing over to Father Ted star Ardal O'Hanlon, though he would later return as DI Goodman in the spin-off series Beyond Paradise.

The show is based in Devon instead of the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie. Kris admits that during his earlier career, he would develop "itchy feet", prompting him to depart My Family after only five series, but is presently "having fun" playing DI Goodman.

A photo of Humphrey and Martha [A photo of Humphrey and Martha]
Kris Marshall as DI Humphrey Goodman

The father-of-two reveals he has grown to appreciate "solidity" as he matures, although he recognises that nothing lasts forever. Speaking to The i newspaper last year, he said: "The kind of wanderlust I had early in my career is mostly gone.

"I'm in a really happy place. That's not to say I don't have a personal feeling that all characters have a shelf life because I do but I'm really enjoying where I am at the moment, working on a show I love, with people I love."

Now, over a decade since Death in Paradise first aired, Kris reckons there's "still a place" for the feel-good detective series. He values how the format steers clear of the "gore and grimness" found in true-crime dramas.

He added: "You have to make it palatable for a broad demographic, you have to create a puzzle, and peril, and solve the puzzle and do all that within a BBC hour."

He describes it as a "real skill" to create such a programme. The actor discloses that his children Thomas and Elsie, whom he shares with wife Hannah, have "never shown any interest" in his work but will now sit down together as a family to watch Beyond Paradise, confessing they "love it".

An individual dressed in a dark green jacket is walking along a bustling street lined with various storefronts and other pedestrians. [An individual dressed in a dark green jacket is walking along a bustling street lined with various storefronts and other pedestrians.]
Kris Marshall has no plans to leave Beyond Paradise

Kris, who grew up in Bath, recognises that shooting the series also benefits his mental health, as it brings him back to the West Country. He shares that he devoted an "enormous amount of time" to Devon and Cornwall in his youth, both living and surfing there.

In an interview with Principle Magazine last year, he revealed: "I am and always have been a really big water person. I was a big surfer growing up. I wasn't particularly good, but I loved it. I did it all over the world for fun. I love the sea. So every morning before work, I'm in the sea. I'm in the sea after work. I go hiking up on the Moors."

He went on to say: "It's a huge part of who I am. We talk a lot about mental health these days and how the great outdoors is so good for your mental health.

"When you're on a big shoot like Beyond Paradise, which is 70 hours a week for 23 weeks straight, one after the other, while it looks and is bucolic and lovely, it's also quite hard work. I use Devon and Cornwall to keep my mental health stable."