Death in Paradise star Tobi Bakare says the relationship his character develops with a model in next week's episode reminds him of his own marriage.
Tobi plays JP Hooper in the sun-kissed BBC crime drama, the plucky young police officer who helps Kris Marshall's DI Humphrey Goodman investigate murders on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie.
In next week's third episode of Death in Paradise, JP gets a blast from the past as Humphrey and the team investigate when a model is killed at a fashion show.
Tobi told What's on TV: "JP's in the middle of a crime scene and he sees this young lady who he believes is from his past and he realises he used to fancy this girl, who's a model – of course! They develop a relationship; it happens really fast. It actually reminds me of my own marriage!"
Tobi added: “JP grows up a lot and finds out what life is outside of work. He decides to man up because he now has to deal with being integral to who he is as a person. When you start a new job, you’re kind of trying to navigate your way through it, find out what your co-workers are like, but JP starts to grow into himself a bit more now - he starts to learn about who he is and that's how he grows up.”
Although there are murders galore in Death in Paradise, Tobi reveals there's never a dull moment during filming, especially working alongside his co-star – and Red Dwarf favourite – Danny John-Jules, who plays fellow officer Dwayne Myers.
"I love working with Danny, he's inspirational and really makes you have to work as an actor," said Tobi. "I love the fact that he knows how to extract the wit and the comedy out of every moment – even when there's no comedy in the text. It keeps my acting muscles trained and the show extremely light – his fluffiness is infectious!"
Death in Paradise continues on Thursdays at 9pm on BBC1.
Watch the interview with Tobi Bakare, above."]
