Monday 27 February 2023

BEYOND PARADISE - SERIES 1, EPISODE 1 (BBC ONE)

[Favourite of the Month] Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman, formerly posted in the Carribean and in London, settle on the Devon coast with his fiancee Martha Lloyd in the enjoyable premiere of the spin-off from Death in Paradise.

Death in Paradise, the much loved BBC One detective drama filmed in Guadeloupe, was launched in 2011. Created by Robert Thorogood and produced by Red Planet Pictures, the series was sold in more than 230 territories. Since its start, five lead detectives of the Honoré police station have investigated all sorts of murders on the beautiful (but fictional) island of Saint Marie: DI Richard Poole (played by Ben Miller in the first couple of series), DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall, series 3 to 6), DI Jake Mooney (Ardal O'Hanlon, series 6 to 9)  and DI Neville Parker (Ralf Little, from series 9).

The bumbling (and fan favourite) Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman left the island in 2017 with his love interest Martha Lloyd (Sally Bretton, Not Going Out). Now both return in Beyond Paradise, a 6 x one-hour spin-off series of Death in Paradise created by Robert Thorogood and Tony Jordan. Freshly arrived with Martha in her hometown of Shipton Abbott in Devon, Humphrey gets stuck in a tree before introducing himself to his new colleagues. After conducting the interview of a shoplifter in his unorthodox style, DI Goodman goes to the hospital with DS Esther Williams (Zahra Ahmadi). They interrogate a woman who claims she was attacked in her house by a 17th century witch named Old Mother Wheaten.

Humphrey Goodman is back and it's nice to watch Kris Marshall and Sally Bretton in their roles again. In this episode, the likeable detective arrives in a picturesque environment similar to the small coastal town of Doc Martin to bring some lightness in a 60-minute Midsomer Murders. Beyond Paradise takes the Martha/Humphrey couple in an interesting new direction and we meet Martha's mother Anne Lloyd (Barbara Flynn). The rest of the Shipton Abbott police station is composed of Office support Margo Martins (Felicity Montagu, Alan Partridge) and Police Constable Kelby Hartford (Dylan Llewellyn, Derry Girls). 
 
The guest cast of the first episode includes Yasmine Akram (Carol Meadows), Peter de Jersey (Patrick Wiley), Davood Gadami (Ben Tyler), Chris Jenks (Josh Woods), Montserrat Lombard (Gwen Tyler), Dan Mersh (Peter Meadows), Samantha Spiro (Yvonne Wiley), etc. Produced by Red Planet Pictures (an Asacha Company) for Britbox and the BBCBelinda Campbell, Alex Jones and Kris Marshall exec produce with Tony Jordan and Tim Key. Tommy Bulfin exec produce for the BBC. Stephen Nye and Diederick Santer exec produce for Britbox. Cat Fox is the Head of Production. Mike O'Regan is the line producer. Music by Magnus Fiennes. Closing title music by Bellowhead. Cinematography by Simon Walton. Editing by John Blackwell.

Shipton Abbott is as fictional as Saint Marie. Beyond Paradise was actually mostly filmed in Looe, Cornwall. Death in Paradise was recently renewed for two further series. It remains the most watched foreign drama in France. Episode 1 written by Tony Jordan and directed by Sandy Johnson. Beyond Paradise is distributed by BBC Studios.

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