BBC’s Death in Paradise is set to receive a spinoff with Kris Marshall returning as Humphrey Goodman for the lead role in Beyond Paradise.
British-French crime drama Death in Paradise made its debut on BBC One in 2011. The first 3 seasons of the series follow Richard Poole (Ben Miller) a detective for the London Metropolitan Police who is sent to Saint Marie, an island in the Caribbean, where a British police officer was murdered. After solving the murder, he takes over as the island’s official detective inspector. However, things don’t last in this detective series, and the rest of the show’s seasons follow a series of officers who take over the job on the island. The current DI officer is Neville Parker who takes time to warm up to the island life.
Beyond Paradise will pick up with DI agent Humphrey Goodman who took over after agent Richard Poole’s death in season 3. Goodman moved back to London to settle down with his girlfriend, Martha Loyd, after resigning from his position on the island. The awkward and uncoordinated character was a departure from his poker-faced inscrutable predecessor. This show will explore his work as a detective back in London.
A spinoff had been discussed many times before over the past several years. BritBox’s Chief Creative Officer, Diederick Santer, stated that approving the spinoff for Death in Paradise was a “no brainer” and went on to explain why the series would have a successful spinoff series, stating that “familiarity is so key and that comes with well-known IP, spin-offs, talent, and location.” BritBox has joined up with parent company BBC to produce the spinoff and is set to produce several other series alongside ITV as well.
Properties lined up for production include ITV’s Crime Season 2, Three Little Birds, Karen Pirie, BBC’s The Cleaner Season 2, Make it at Market, and more, which are planned to air on the subscription video-on-demand service available in the U.S., Nordics, Australia, and South Africa. Santer and BritBox International CEO, Reemah Sakaan, said that the lineup was meant to “challenge the producers a bit.” Either way, it appears to be a compelling collection of commissions; it will be interesting to see what becomes of them.
The original series is much like Doctor Who meets NCIS and serves as an interesting idea that proves there’s a lot of talent behind the scenes. Hopefully, this new spinoff show will live up to the hype of its predecessor.