Death in Paradise cast call guest star Hayley Mills 'a living legend'

Hayley Mills appeared as a guest star in Death in Paradise's newest episode, with the cast calling the actor a "living legend" when reflecting on her appearance on the show with Yahoo and other publications.

The Oscar winner appears in series 13's second episode as Nancy Martin, a woman living at a care home. The episode centred on Neville Parker (Ralf Little) and the team solving a murder in a care home that was committed during a bingo game. The catch? The victim is Nancy Martin.

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Nancy was killed with one of her knitting needles, and it was up to the team to figure out what happened and why. And while Mills was only in a brief part of the episode, the cast were delighted to have her appear in the series even briefly.

Discussing the guest stars in series 13, Little couldn't help but gush at The Parent Trap star joining their cast, saying: "I still can't believe that I was in an episode with Hayley Mills. It still astonishes me. An absolute living legend, and she was absolutely glorious. So, you know, it's all very exciting."

Ginny Holder felt similarly to Little, calling Mills her "favourite guest star" of all time and saying: "Hayley Mills, she's a legend, right? We all know that she's a legend, and we've grown up with her films and things but this woman has grace, proper, full on grace, and she's a woman's woman.

"She doesn't mind talking about her life experience, she shares with you she just holds you actually. She doesn't have any kind of frills or anything, she'll chat straight. She talked about her life, relationships, family, everything I thought 'you really are a star. You are a proper, proper star with grace, beauty, elegance and just a sensitivity and kindness'. Miss Hayley Mills, amazing, my favourite."

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The actor went on: "I think we're so lucky actually, we're really lucky with the people that come on, like all the guest cast. Everyone was a gem and brought something, a really positive, beautiful energy and vibe.

"I think we're really blessed, actually. I love the fact that we get all these new people that come in, people that you can play with... they bless us with their gifts and their talents and their hearts. We're very lucky."

While the cast were delighted by Mills being on the show, some fans were shocked that her character was killed off so early on in the episode — given how iconic she is as an actor. Several viewers took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their thoughts.

One person shared in despair: "What did they do to the icon Hayley Mills", while another fan lamented: "I know they have not just killed Hayley Mills off in the first 5mins?"

Another person wrote: "Nooo. Why get an iconic actress like Hayley Mills to guest star then bump her character off after 2 mins."

Some saw the funny side in having a star of Mills' calibre take on such a small role by writing: "Hayley Mills getting a trip to the Caribbean for three minutes of acting. Good move!"

While one viewer amusingly wrote: "Lesson learned. Don’t say they won’t kill Hayley Mills’ character because it’s Hayley Mills….."

BBC's cosy crime drama will continue to feature guest stars each week, and Little spoke of the delight the main cast have when welcoming them in: "It's one of the joys of the show is that you do two to three weeks and every guest cast that comes in comes in with its own dynamic.

Read more: Death in Paradise’s Ralf Little says Neville has ‘to repair his damaged heart’ in series 13

"Sometimes they already know each other, sometimes they don't, and if a guest cast particularly gels with each other and embraces what the show is —it's very difficult to describe what filming Death in Paradise is like— you just know that they're having a better time, and it's just a magical thing."

Death in Paradise series 13 continues on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Sundays at 9pm.

Watch the trailer for Death in Paradise season 13: