Death in Paradise favourite Ralf Little struggled to hold back tears as he revealed the devastating reason why he doesn't have children. On the latest episode of Will & Ralf Should Know Better, the 46-year-old TV star and his co-star Will Mellor decided to face their fears on their comedy reality show. The dynamic duo, who previously starred on Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, pushed themselves to their limits by dangling on a trapeze and tackling fatherhood before taking part in the ultimate horror of performing a stand-up comedy show in Glasgow.

At the start of the show, the Corrie star, 49, pointed out to Ralf: "I think I've actually done something that you would find more frightening than any of that. What I've done that I think you'd find more frightening... is have a child.

"Actually commit to something, commitment. I have had two kids and brought them up. So, to give you a little taste, I'm taking you to a place, it's like a charity set-up, where dads can go and learn how to be good parents. What to expect from a baby, how to be a parent."

It was at this point that Ralf admitted: "This is my living nightmare!" When they arrived at the event, Rald was asked why he was terrified to become a father, to which he replied bluntly: "It's a lot of work, innit?

"I bought a bread maker once, and I loved making that bread, but after a little while, I was like, 'I'll just unplug it and put it under the cupboard'. You can't really do that with babies, can you?"

The charity leader followed up with, "Ralf, what is it that you're most afraid of?" which forced the actor to be a bit more candid about his struggles with the idea of fatherhood. He admitted: "I've lived a lot of my life having a mentality where there's nothing I can't walk away from.

"It's actually terrifying to me, the idea of loving something so completely and irreversibly. I can't walk away from it intact. That's terrifying to me." After being forced to look after a baby doll for a day, it made Ralf think deeper about his decision not to have children.

He mused: "It's been a funny old day just in general for me", as Will added: "I can see it threw some questions into your mind that you weren't expecting. I could tell from your reaction that you were a bit like, 'Maybe there is a reason a bit deeper why I haven't had children'."

Ralf emotionally admitted: "For sure. My parents were fantastic with us and did the best that they could. But their relationship broke down in a really difficult way, and that was very difficult for us.

"You know, there's no way of putting this that's not blunt, but they had three kids in an idyllic family life, and then one of the kids was alive one week and dead the next. Everything, their entire lives, crumbled right in front of their eyes from that moment on. It's like you can't protect them."

As he struggled to compose himself during the emotional confession, he continued: "My mum was really protective of us. Really protective. And it happened anyway. It happened anyway because you can't wrap your kids in cotton wool and protect them 24/7. It's a lot, and it's only when I'm forced to say these things out loud that I realise what a lot it is."

Ralf was just nine years old when his 14-year-old sister, Ceri, fell 150ft to her death from a cliff during a family holiday in Cornwall. Ralf said that the tragedy was partly to blame for his parents' divorce and deeply affected his other sister, Rowena, but it pushed him to excel academically as well as in extracurricular activities.

Will and Ralf Should Know Better is available to watch on Channel 4 as well as U.