Death in Paradise star Ralf Little opens up about 'painful' family revelation

Death in Paradise star Ralf Little has opened up about an "extremely painful" revelation he discovered about his family during his time on the BBC documentary series, Who Do You Think You Are?

MORE: Meet Death in Paradise star Ralf Little's family

The actor took to Instagram on Tuesday to share a behind-the-scenes video from the show after learning that his great-grandfather, Albert Lockley, gave up an international career in football in favour of religion following a great religious revival in Wales in the early 1900s.

WATCH: Ralf Little opens up about 'extremely painful' family revelation

In the clip, Ralf addresses his followers while sitting on a church pew. "So here I am, having just discovered that my great-granddad gave up his international football career and renounced it all in favour of this," he said, panning the camera around to show the inside of a church.

"Religion. Now, not to disparage anybody's beliefs but I am an atheist. And as an atheist who loves football, that's extremely painful to me."

He captioned the post: "Probably the worst thing I learned [lauging face emoji]."

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During the programme, which aired last Thursday, Ralf said he was "disappointed" and "kind of heartbroken" after learning the news.

Ralf learnt about the "upsetting" revelation on Who Do You Think You Are?

He told one of the show's historians: "So he gave up playing football for religion? I can't begin to tell you, as an atheist, how upsetting that is to me."

Ralf's family revelation comes just weeks after Death in Paradise released a first look at the Christmas special. The new snap shows the 42-year-old and his co-star, Don Warrington, in character as DI Neville Parker and Sergeant Selwyn Patterson respectively, as they stand on the terrace outside the St Marie Police station, decorated with tinsel and festive foliage.

Death in Paradise recently released a first look at the Christmas special

Along with the photo was a statement from the show that read: "This brand-new festive, feature-length episode will see the return of its much-loved crime-solving stars Ralf Little, Don Warrington, Élizabeth Bourgine, Tahj Miles, Shantol Jackson and Ginny Holder as they attempt to work out a Christmas cracker of a case."

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