Death in Paradise star Ralf Little has taken to social media with an explanation for why he failed to appear for an interview on Radio X on Thursday.
The actor was due to sit down with host Toby Tarrant to chat about the final few live shows of his podcast tour, Two Pints With Will and Ralf 2024 April Fools Tour, but failed to show up.
© BBCDuring the broadcast, Toby, who was filling in for Chris Moyles on the breakfast show, told listeners: "All morning I've talked about how he's regarded as one of the nicest and loveliest men in the business, and he stood me up."
His co-host Dominic Byrne chimed in: "There's been a diary issue, hasn't there? I think," prompting Toby to speculate: "I mean, there's two options here. I reckon either we'll get a message saying, 'We thought it was tomorrow'."
© Denis GuyenonIn a video posted to Instagram on Thursday, Ralf explained it was an innocent mistake and reassured fans that "everything is fine".
"Hi, just something to clear up because some people have been a little concerned," he began. "I was supposed to be on Radio X and Heart Radio this morning to talk about my podcast live show, which has its final few shows this weekend, but I wasn't on the radio.
"Both Heart Radio and Radio X said, 'We have Ralf Little coming in to talk later,' and I wasn't there, didn't turn up."
© Red Planet Pictures/Denis GuyenonSharing the reason for his absence, Ralf continued: "Now the reason for that is, I wish I had a funny anecdote to tell you but I don't, it's more rubbish than that. I have stupid, fat thumbs and typed the wrong date into my calendar. I thought it was tomorrow morning and it was in fact this morning.
"I was in the gym and when I came out, I had a lot of messages going, 'Are you ok? You were supposed to be on the radio this morning, is everything alright? Are you alive?'
© Red Planet Pictures/Denis Guyenon"I am ok, everything is fine. I'm just a fool," he said, before apologising to both radio stations and fans who were expecting to hear from him. "Hopefully, we'll get to do it again sometime and I'll turn up," he added.
It comes just a month after Ralf announced his departure from Death in Paradise after four years of playing its lead detective, Neville Parker.
During an appearance on ITV's Lorraine earlier this month, Ralf shared the reason for his departure after four seasons. "This last series was always going to be my last series," explained the 44-year-old. "I spoke to the BBC and Red Planet, the production company, and we all agreed.
"If it was just a heart decision I would have wanted to do it for 20 more years. But just for the show and for my character Neville it just sort of felt like his story was finished and his journey deserved to be completed. He deserved a happy ending and it just felt right."
