Ralf Little appeared on Who Do You Think You Are? in 2022(Image: BBC)

Ralf Little fights tears amid painful family discovery - 'I had no idea'

Death in Paradise star Ralf Little made a candid admission as he shared an some extremely painful discoveries he made about his family on Who Do You Think You Are?

27 Sep 2024, 15:00 by Lucy Robinson, Sabina Rouse · The Mirror

Death in Paradise actor Ralf Little shared an "extremely painful" personal revelation with his Instagram followers after discovering a family secret on BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? back in 2022. The 42 year old TV star, who boasts a hefty online following of nearly 200,000 on Instagram, posted a clip from the show saying: "Probably the worst thing I learned," paired with a tongue-in-cheek laughing emoji.

The candid post featured Ralf inside a church as he revealed: "So here I am having just discovered that my great-grandad gave up his international football career and renounced it all in favour of this," hinting to the church surrounding him. Then, channeling his usual humour, he deadpans "Religion," into the camera, reports OK!

Ralf Little opened up about an extremely painful discovery on the BBC show( Image: GETTY)

The actor then addressed his fans, saying: "Now, not to disparage anyone's beliefs, but I'm an atheist," before concluding with a touch of self-deprecating humour: "And as an atheist who loves football, that's extremely painful to me." During his emotional journey on the hit genealogy series, Ralf was overjoyed when he uncovered his great-grandfather's football finesse and learned about a pivotal game-winning goal.

One standout moment captured him light up with joy when he was shown an ancient team photo, in which he curiously asked upon spotting a young sportsman, "Oh, this guy?". When Ralf unearthed the athletic past of his forefather, he couldn't hide his amazement, remarking: "Oh, you see I've only seen pictures of him from when he was about 40. But I guess he's, what, 20 here?" The expert's confirmation that indeed the young man was in his prime not only revealed his position as a forward but that, according to some match reports, he was noted as the illustrious centre-forward and goal scorer.

Ralf made a big discovery about his great-grandfather( Image: BBC)

Whilst exploring historical archives on the telly, Ralf caught sight of a newspaper extract detailing a significant sports event and read it out with due respect: "'25th March, 1894. Wales and border counties challenge cup final tie, Chirk v. Westminster Rovers', what a headline!" He was taken aback by the magnitude of the match, exclaiming: "Wow, okay. This is quite a big cup final, then."

However, it wasn't all sporty success on the show. Ralf found himself holding back tears as he learned about the wartime hardships faced by his grandfather, Arthur, an air mechanic in World War II. The narration shared chilling details: "Arthur's ship, HMS Indefatigable, was part of the British Pacific Fleet formed to help the US in its fight against Japan."

Ralf discovered his great grandfather had been a talented sportsman( Image: BBC)

The reality shook Ralf when he found out Arthur was aboard during a dire moment a kamikaze attack aiming to wreak havoc with a massive bomb. Pondering over these revelations, Ralf spoke with heartfelt acknowledgment of his grandfather's sacrifices: "What an amazing story about my grandad, that I had no idea about. I had no idea he had such a tough life, big life. He just faced hardship a lot and just took it and did it for the greater good."