Nina Wadia, 51, guest-starred in season nine of Death in Paradise playing the role of love-interest Anna Masani to former Detective Inspector Jack Mooney, portrayed by Ardal O’Hanlon.

The actress graced our screens for four episodes before her character left idyllic Saint Marie alone despite asking Jack to travel the world with her – with the episode set to be repeated on Friday, 19 July on BBC One.

But turns out, filming on the exotic isle of Guadeloupe was not all smooth sailing as the ex-EastEnders star shared her reasons for a temporary stage exit.

Spilling the beans on a recent episode of Channel 4’s Countdown, Nina said: “It is a dream job. You get to bathe in the sunshine and swim in the sea and the actual job is beautiful.”

Nina went on to add: “It’s fantastic and actors fight over getting this job because it means you’re looking at something you don’t usually get to look at and you’re getting paid to look at it.”

“You do a little bit of acting in-between everything else,” she continued, prior to revealing an unexpected island secret BBC bosses failed to brief her about. What they don’t tell you about is Scolopendras. They are the most hideous creatures. They can grow up to almost a metre long.” She described them as resembling “centipedes with scorpion front bits. They’re really Jurassic.”

Moving onto her own terrifying encounter, the distressed actress remembered refusing to film after one had scampered mischievously over her foot. “I had the misfortune of one running over my foot at one point during filming and it took me a while to get back onto the set,” Nina confessed.

The actress voiced her fears about the native creatures in the Caribbean, saying: “They can bite. They can sting you very badly and you have to be taken to hospital. I also wasn’t expecting the occasional flying cockroach in my bedroom,” she continued, adding that crabs would often join the cast’s dinner.

Contrarily, Executive Producer Tim Key offers a different opinion on the scolopendras scattered across the set. He stated previously: “They are unpleasant but they’re not dangerous – there’s nothing there that is really dangerous. Someone got stung by a tiny one and he said it was the most painful one he’d ever had.”

Anna Masani hoped former Detective Inspector Jack Mooney would leave Saint Marie with her, but instead, he left to return home to London with his daughter, Siobhan (Grace Stone). Ralf Little took over the role from Ardal and played DI Neville Parker) for four series before giving up the role last year.

It was later revealed that Don Gilet would be the next detective on the island and would make his first appearance in the show’s feature-length Christmas special in December 2024.