You'll be guest-starring in the new series of Death In Paradise - what is it about the show and your character that drew you to taking part?
Jack Donnelly in Death in Paradise / Credit: BBC
Well in one simple answer, it's filmed in Guadeloupe - actually in paradise on location, so beyond that I don't know how many more reasons you need. Of course the fact that it's a brilliant show for the BBC [and] that it's a wonderful family drama. I have a friend who has worked on it and they said, 'Oh, you've just got to do it, it's a dream job!' and they weren't wrong!
How was the chemistry on-set, with you coming in as a new face to the show?
Great, the whole crew and all the actors there, Kris (Marshall) and the others and Danny (John-Jules), they're unbelievably accommodating! It's a lovely show, everyone's so very friendly, everyone gets on and the French crew are just brilliant! They kind of make you feel at home straight away. The producer, Yvonne (Francas), she was out there as well, she was lovely.
It's a long-running show and I'm in episode seven so I was coming along at the end of the shoot and usually if you guest in a show and you're there at the very end, people are tired, they want to get home, but it didn't feel like that at all! Everyone was super friendly.
As for the other guest actors who I was working with, Roger Griffiths and Jill Halfpenny, they were lovely, we all got on great and Lorcan Crantich, who I've worked with before, was brilliant! We just hung out the whole time and once when we were out driving on the island in Don Warrington's car with one of the other actors, Ade (Oyefeso), we got stuck at the top of the mountain and very nearly crashed, because Lorcan put the car into reverse and then we nearly went off the side of the hill, it was all just terrifying. That said, it was a really magical experience.
What was it like filming in such an exotic and picturesque location?
Amazing! Absolutely amazing! You see it on TV and that's not special effects, that's not done up in any sort of way, it really is like that. It's golden sands, crystal blue sea, blue skies, amazing scenery, mountains and, what's lovely is that in the breaks, everyone just runs off and jumps in the sea. At first, I was like, 'is this cool? I've got make up and costume on, can I do that?' And they were like, 'Oh yeah, just take it off and go run and jump in the sea'. I've never worked on a job where you've been allowed to do that. To be fair, I've never done a job that's set in that sort of location so it was brilliant.
As one of the guest actors as well, you're not in every day like the series regulars who will do long days. For them it's really more of a job, but the guests get time off, so you get to go explore and take in the island, it was wonderful.
Death In Paradise is now in its fifth series - what do you think it is about the show that makes it such a success?
I think it's the fact that it's obviously a murder mystery, the 'who did it?' kind of thing. We have a lot of those on British TV and they've done well but it's what's underneath, it's the lightness of touch that the writers get so right, the character that Kris Marshall plays and he himself as an actor, it's those relationships between the people that they continue from episode to episode that give the audiences at home something to tune in for. That's tricky to get the balance right over the course of a series, to develop those journeys whilst still delivering a whole murder mystery and investigation wrapped up by the end of every episode. And they nail it, they nail it dead on, they've got that magic formula. Who's to say exactly what that ingredient is? But they have it. Set in that location, going out in the winter time, it's just lightning in a bottle.
Fans of yours may know you from Atlantis - how hard was it to leave that show behind without it being able to fully wrap up?
It's frustrating when that happens with a show and I know there are a lot of situations, not just like Atlantis, where that happens with series. You invest the time and the energy into developing stories and building up characters to a certain point for where you want to take it and then, for whatever reason it doesn't go.
As an actor it's frustrating because with Atlantis we got it to a good place. We were about to embark on this Jason and the Argonauts story and in terms of the material, Greek mythology, there's brilliant stuff there. I think it would have made for a good episode but more than that I think it's disappointing for the fans and for anyone watching because they invest time in the show and they want to see where it goes. When that goes away, no-one's going to be happy about it but there are other factors at bay that have to be considered and sometimes that's just the way it is.
I was disappointed I think like everyone, but I understand these things, it happens. I had a great time doing it, I loved working on it and it will always be one of the best jobs I ever did. I've made great friends out of it who I'm still in touch with. I was able to walk away with happy memories and that's all you can really ask for in this career.
Do you have any big aims or goals for your career?
Just to keep working. To begin with I spent a lot of years as a waiter and a bartender and doing promotional work. Once that changed and I was able to just make a living doing what I love, which is acting, my goal was to continue to do that. If I can continue to do projects, to do theatre, television, film, whatever, then I'll consider myself very lucky and very happy with that.
What's next for you?
I have something lined up but I can't tell you! Nothing's been made official yet. I have something that I can't talk about because the contract's not been signed and if I announced casting before they did, then that's the quickest way for them to go, 'Actually, you can't do it!', so I'm not jinxing it.
Death In Paradise continues on Thursday, 9pm, BBC One
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