DEATH In Paradise star Ralf Little has opened up on his “quieter” time on social media as he revealed the “toll” trolls took on him following his Tweets about the NHS.
The actor, who plays DI Neville Parker in the BBC One series, opened up about the backlash after he initially took to his page to support junior doctors.
In 2018, he stood up for the cause of junior doctors in their dispute over contracts and pay.
Meanwhile this year, he told how he would not be clapping for the NHS during the first coronavirus lockdown before highlighting medics’ battle with life insurance companies.
On his Twitter page, the British actor, 40, wrote: “Not that anyone asked, but I’m not going to be clapping for the NHS this week.
“Instead I’ll continue to march for it, protest for it, advocate for it, stay at home for it, & most importantly, vote for those who actually support it. Not judging those who want to clap, but I’m out.”
In an interview with The Guardian, The Royle Family star has revealed why he’s toned things down of late, due to the “angry response.”
He confessed: “I’m a lot quieter, partly because I’m filming out in the Caribbean.
“You’d be surprised what a toll it can take: it’s tiring having people angry at you all the time, even if they’re mostly bots.”
“But it felt important, and I stand by everything I said.”
Addressing his two-year-old posts on the subject of the NHS, he added: “I was enraged by the way the public was conned into turning against junior doctors.
“My brother’s a doctor, my sister’s a nurse and they were telling me that the long hours simply weren’t safe.”
In 2018, he tried to lay out his reasoning as he put: “I was going: we must support the junior doctors, obviously. This is terrible.
“If ever there was a demographic you knew you could trust, who aren’t selfish and who are intelligent, it’s junior doctors.
“Then suddenly this vitriol came back my way, going: ‘They’re greedy, it’s a vocation, they shouldn’t ask for more money.’”
Yet Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps actor Ralf insists he “stands by” every comment made, even now.
He has been filming his second series of Death in Paradise in the Caribbean, which is the setting for the show’s fictional base, Saint Marie.
A teaser trailer for season 10 shows his character suffering a red-faced moment when he reveals a “rash” down below.
Death in Paradise series 10 returns on Thursday, January 7 at 9pm on BBC One.
