Ralf Little is probably best known for his portrayal of Anthony in hit BBC sitcom The Royle Family.
The 41-year-old actor, who appears on Saturday Kitchen this morning, moved on to Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps before taking on the role of DI Neville Parker in Death In Paradise.
But the star's career very nearly took a different turn as he was headed for medical school.
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Born in Bury, Ralf studied at Bolton School and went on to attend Manchester University.
But just four weeks into his first term, the university agreed he could take a year out to pursue his TV career after producers tracked him down for a screen test.
“I was going to be a doctor,” Ralf told the Manchester Evening News at the time.
“I might never get this opportunity in acting again. So I’ve got to try, otherwise I’ll wonder for the rest of my life what would have happened.”
The Manchester United fan also showed potential in football, and played for a number of semi-professional clubs.
He has also shown up to the pitch for charity sides at Old Trafford and Wembley, along with Soccer Aid.
In past interviews, Ralf has credited a family tragedy that took place when he was a child with spurring him on to achieve success.
At the age of just nine, his eldest sister, Ceridwen, 14, died on holiday after falling 150ft from cliffs at Porthcothan Bay, near Padstow in Cornwall.
Ralf said the shocking death was partly to blame for his parents’ divorce and deeply affected his other sister Rowena – but it made him push himself academically and in extracurricular activities, the Mirror reports.
Speaking with Radio 4 last month, he said: “It was devastating. It’s incredibly difficult to recover from something like that, particularly as parents.
“Out of everyone in the family I was the one that was affected least because I was nine years old. Kids are quite resilient anyway, but I just had stuff to get on with, all these activities.
“It could have gone either way. I could have gone to school and just had this massive meltdown, rebelling, and being angry. I know now I was absolutely filled with rage.
“But I channelled that rage into getting all of life and giving it a kicking. So, my grades went up. My achieving excellence at school just like, I was on every team; I was winning prizes.”
He added: "I came out fighting. Ceri was a real tour de force of a personality. She and I didn’t really get on that well but that’s because I was a snotty younger brother.
“Rowena, my middle sister, was very much Ceri’s shadow. She used to follow her around and do what she was told because she was the older sister and she loved her. I think she was quite lost for a few years.
“She just kind of had no guidance, really. She had no one to follow. Suddenly, she’s got to be the oldest and just go, ‘where do I fit in the world?’
“So, I think she struggled a lot more than I did. My parents struggled about 10 years and split up about 10 years later. But I won’t blame them for that. Grief is such a difficult thing. People process it differently.”
When it comes to his own relationship, Ralf proposed to his partner Lindsey Ferrentino, who is an American playwright, in 2018.
The long-distance couple do not have children together.
Ralf told The Mirror in early 2020: "People ask us about children, but we need to think where we are going to live first – we have the longest of long-distance relationships, she lives in the States."
