Death in Paradise star Ralf Little fights back tears as he gets heartbreaking news on Who Do You Think You Are?
DEATH in Paradise star Ralf Little fought back the tears as he was given some heartbreaking news on Who Do You Think You Are?
The actor – who plays DI Neville Parker in the BBC show – was interested to find out what his grandad Arthur got up to when he was alive.
Ralf, 42, found out that he started off his career as a physiatric nurse, but soon qualified as an air mechanic in 1943.
The star met historian Sarah Miller to chat about his past and she told him he was an air mechanic that specifically worked on guns on aircraft.
She told him that he had a “very important job” with “a lot of responsibility” working on cleaning, maintaining and loading them.
He found out that his grandad was working as part of something called the Fleet Air Arm and that he left Orkney in November 1944 and headed for battle.
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The voice on the show over explained: “Arthur’s ship, HMS Indefatigable, was part of the British Pacific Fleet formed to help the US in its fight against Japan.”
Ralf was left lost for words when he was told that his grandad was on board when a kamikaze landed on his ship during World War II.
“The Japanese kamikaze pilots deliberately crashed their planes into Allied aircraft carriers,” the voice over explained.
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“They launched some of their deadliest attacks of the wear in the waters around Okinawa.
“The pilot who hit Arthur’s shop, HMS Indefatigable, carried a 550lb bomb to inflict as much damage as possible. “
Ralf questioned Sarah if there was a chance that the horrific experience had changed him as a person.
Sarah replied: “Quite possibly. There’s a lot of cases where men come back from these kind of incidents in war and they can’t talk about it. It’s too traumatic.”
Reflecting on what he was told, Ralf confessed to the camera: “What an amazing story about my grandad, that I had no idea about.
“I had no idea he had such a tough life, big life. He just faced hardship a lot and just took it and did it for the greater good.
“I wish I’d asked him about it now.
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“I wish I’d kind of got to know him better.
“I guess I never realised that there was that much to talk about.”
- Who Do You Think You Are airs on BBC1