Death in Paradise actor Ben Miller has announced that he is living with an 'unmanageable and unpredictable' health condition.
The much-loved actor, 58, appeared on the BBC One drama series from 2011 until 2014 when his character, DI Richard Poole, was killed off in a sudden and shocking twist.
Behind the scenes of his acting, Ben has been dealing with his health battle in secret. However, the actor - who has also appeared in Bridgerton and Paddington 2 - has now opened up about his mental health.
Ben lives with OCD, otherwise known as Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. According to the NHS, OCD is a mental health condition where a person has obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviours. An obsession is an unwanted and unpleasant thought, image or urge that repeatedly enters your mind, causing feelings of anxiety, disgust or unease.
While a compulsion is a repetitive behaviour or mental act that you feel you need to do to temporarily relieve the unpleasant feelings brought on by the obsessive thought.
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Ben Miller appeared in BBC's Death In Paradise from 2011 until 2014 (BBC / Red Planet / Denis Guyenon)The actor revealed his own symptoms, admitting that he if very "funny about doorways and doors". He said: "I thought if I touched an object a certain number of times, then bad things won't happen. Of course it doesn't work - I constantly had to amplify my behaviours to try and reduce my anxiety. Mine was quite a mathematical one. I have quite a mathematical mind and sometimes that goes a little bit into overdrive."
The former Death In Paradise star added that his anxiety was driven so far that he would end up experiencing panic attacks when his OCD was triggered. And at one point, it got so bad that he had sought professional help.
Sharing his own experiences, Ben further explained: "I did struggle a lot with OCD, particularly in my twenties, and I'm very lucky in that it's all very manageable now. But there were times where it was unmanageable, as it is for Professor T, so I know how that feels and I know how I dealt with it."
Professor T - an ITV crime series that first aired in 2021 - sees the actor play Professor Jasper Tempest who is a genius University of Cambridge criminologist, but the professor lives with obsessive compulsive disorder. The eye-opening show sheds light on what it's like for an individual who lives with the disorder. It also features though-provoking scenes where Ben's character imagines himself without OCD, and what life would be like if he was free of it.
Speaking to the Express, Ben admitted that the show did an incredible job of portraying what it's like to live with OCD. He said: "I've found these sequences - where in the Professor's imagination he doesn't have OCD and he's free of all those behaviours - are a great way to show what's going on inside. Seeing somebody lining up items on a desk looks pretty innocuous but inside, that person can be a lot more complicated."
If you think you might have OCD, visit your GP, and you can find further information at .
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