BBC's Beyond Paradise star Kris Marshall has paid tribute to Welsh actress Ruth Madoc, who passed away last December aged 79 after surgery she underwent following a fall. Ruth will make her final television appearance alongside Kris in the new Death in Paradise spin-off, which starts on Friday, February 24.
Hi-De-Hi star Ruth, who famously played Maplins camp's chief announcer Gladys Pugh, had filmed her role in the new series before she died last December, she will guest star in the show as Rosie Colbert. You can read more about that here.
Speaking about Ruth, Kris said: "I grew up watching Hi-de-Hi with my family when I was young. We used to light a fire and toast crumpets watching it, which does sound a bit twee but it's true."
Read more: Ruth Madoc: A life lived with charm, humour and abundant talent
"Ruth's relationship with the actor Simon Cadell was so integral to that show," Kris, who plays DI Humphrey Goodman in the new series, told Metro, before adding: "It's a tragedy what happened but she is wonderful in this."
Beyond Paradise starts on Friday, February 24, and will see Kris reunite with Sally Bretton, who once again plays Humphrey's fiancee Martha Lloyd. In the series, the on-screen couple find themselves in an "interesting dynamic" as they adjust to life in the spare room of Martha's mum's small cottage.
A synopsis reads: "A new adventure awaits as we find them arriving in Shipton Abbott, Martha’s hometown near the beautiful Devonshire coast, having left London. As they embark on their new life whilst temporarily living with Martha’s mum Anne Lloyd (Barbara Flynn), the couple are quickly thrown in at the deep end as Martha sets out to pursue her dream of running her own restaurant and Humphrey joins the local police force.
"Quickly making an impression on the somewhat eclectic team; DS Esther Williams, PC Kelby Hartford and Margo Martins, Humphrey sets out to help crack a host of baffling cases, with the Shipton Abbott squad witnessing a whole new approach to police work…
"Each week the team will face a new crime with a unique puzzle at its heart. The not-so-sleepy town of Shipton Abbott will be rocked by an entire family disappearing without a trace, a woman claiming she was attacked by a suspect from the seventeenth century, the robbery of a highly prized painting, a body bizarrely discovered in a crop circle and a serial arsonist with a seeming distaste for local businesses."
Beyond Paradise begins on BBC One on Friday, February 24 at 8pm. For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
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