Beyond Paradise is a Mystery of the Week crime drama from the BBC. It is a spin-off of Death in Paradise, and debuted on 24 February 2023.
Back in the UK after his attachment in Saint Marie, DI Humphrey Goodman has moved with his fiancée, Martha Lloyd, to her seaside hometown of Shipton-upon-Abbott. There Humph joins the local police force and starts tackling strange and unusual cases while Martha supports her widowed mother and pursues her own dream of running a restaurant.
The first season was followed by a 2023 Christmas special and a second season began at the start of 2024.
Beyond Paradise provides examples of the following tropes:
- Accidental Murder:
- In season two, Old Harry Trevellen tries to bribe Father Michael to abandon Harry's granddaughter and move away, but when he throws the bag of money at Michael, it knocks the priest down and he hits his head on a rock. In a panic, Harry dumps the body in a small boat and sends it out to sea. Subverted with the reveal that Father Michael wasn't actually dead, as the injured and confused priest later regains consciousness in the boat.
- In one season two episode, Humphrey finds the body of Lewis Kirby, who supposedly moved to Montana, but has actually been buried on his brother Patrick's land for a decade. Patrick claims they argued and Lewis unexpectedly hit his head after falling over, but the truth is never revealed.
- Agent Mulder:
- Humphrey is willing to at least humour the thought that paranormal and supernatural forces are at play in his cases while still looking into more mundane solutions.
- In one season two episode, Margo repeatedly warns Humphrey about "the devil on the rocks" at Cannons Cove, saying that there are "dark forces at play around those parts" and telling the story of a local fisherman's doomed Deal with the Devil.
- Agent Scully: Unlike Humphrey and Margo, Esther brushes off any notion of things like evil spirits and UFOs and gets on with her job of investigating local crimes.Esther: Margo, we're the police. A Faustian pact is not a proper line of inquiry in a missing person's case.
- Always Murder: Notably averted, unlike its parent show Death in Paradise. As one reviewer pointed out, the lack of "Death" in the title means that episodes can revolve around non-fatal crimes. It's not until episode four of the first season that a body turns up - and that one's not actually a murder. In fact, there are no successful murders until the start of season two.
- And Starring: Barbara Flynn receives the "and" billing amongst the main cast while Jamie Bamber, who plays Martha's ex Archie, receives a "with" billing right afterwards for the episodes he appears in.
- Artistic License – Law Enforcement: While it's possible that it could have happened offscreen, there are no visible consequences when Humphrey gets into a very public fistfight with Archie in the final episode of season one.
- The Atoner: The 2023 Christmas special features an old man deciding to basically return everything he stole in a series of robberies fifty years ago, going to each of the houses he robbed and leaving an item equivalent to what he stole originally.
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: This show explains why Humphrey takes notes with loose pieces of paper: he has trouble retaining information in a linear fashion and needs to be able to shuffle things around so it all makes sense to him.
- Blatant Lies: in the 2023 Christmas special, the small boy Kelby detains for stealing a sausage roll claims to be a 27 year old Canadian named Rishi Sunak.
- Book Ends: The first episode of season two starts with Humphrey being The Klutz and accidentally knocking the controls of a stationary steam train. It ends the same way.
- British Brevity: The first season consists of only six episodes.
- By-the-Book Cop: Esther is a stickler for the rules, and reacts with horror when Humphrey conducts an interview without following proper procedure because it might give the suspect legal cover to contest his charges.
- Cameo Cluster: The season one finale ends with Humphrey returning to the Caribbean island of Saint Marie, setting of his original series Death in Paradise, to clear his head and make some decisions. While there, he meets up with the current cast of that show - Commissioner Selwyn Patterson, Catherine Bordey, Marlon Price, Naomi Thomas and his own replacement, DI Neville Parker. Harry the lizard, who lives around Humphrey's old beach house, also makes an appearance. Notably, it's the first time Humphrey has met Marlon, Naomi and Neville.
- Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Esther takes over from Camille and Florence, from Death in Paradise, in trying to keep Humphrey's quirks from getting too out of hand at work. Martha does the same at home.
- Continuity Nod: Humphrey continues to jot down notes on scrap pieces of paper, just like he did in Death in Paradise. Lampshaded in episode two of the first season, when Esther buys him a notebook; although Humphrey uses it, he ends up ripping out the pages and rearranging them - because he finds it easier to work out the crime that way.
- Cowboy Cop: Kelby wants to have an action-packed career. However, he's too enthusiastic for his own good.
- Crazy-Prepared: In episode one of season two, Martha's mother, Anne, is trying online dating to find companionship, and has a date, and as such locks Martha - and, by extension, Humphrey - out of the cottage for privacy. When Martha requests some random items in order to try and gain entry to the house and meet the man, ranging from a cup of sugar to a lightbulb, Anne, for whatever inexplicable reason, just so happens to have those exact items by the front door, ready to hand over. It's the last one that forces Martha to give up and leave.
- Crop Circles: Episode four of season one starts with lights in the sky and a man's body discovered at the centre of a newly created crop circle. A local farmer is deliberately creating them to draw tourists. The light in the sky was his drone.
- Da Chief: Humphrey and Esther sometimes have to contend with Chief Superintendent Charlie Woods, who wants to shut down Shipton's local police station in favor of a more centralized policing strategy. She's also not a fan of Humphrey, especially after he accidentally spilled coffee all over her. Kelby, on the other hand, has an awkward crush on her.
- Death by Falling Over:
- In season two, Harry Trevellen throws a bag of money at Father Michael, knocking the priest down and causing him to hit his head on a rock. Harry dumps the body in a small boat and sends it out to sea. Subverted with the reveal that Father Michael wasn't actually dead, as the injured and confused priest later regains consciousness in the boat.
- One season two episode involves the disappearance of Lewis Kirby, who's supposedly moved to America to escape an unhappy marriage. A decade later, Humphrey finds Lewis's body buried on his brother Patrick's land. Patrick claims they argued, Lewis fell and accidentally hit his head — but the truth is never revealed.
- Disowned Parent: One season two episode sees the team investigating a supposed suicide, after terminally ill Maisie Morgan seemingly jumps from a fishing boat. It's revealed that Maisie's daughter Jenny completely cut ties with her after the death of Jenny's father, Maisie's ex-husband. Jenny made it clear that Maisie was blamed for his death and she'd only be coming back to Shipton for her mother's funeral.
- Driven to Suicide: In the second episode of season one, Matthew Colbert is devastated by his wife's affair and isn’t sure how badly he injured the man she was seeing in an opportunistic hit and run. So he's parked his car on a cliff top, with the whole family inside, and is threatening to drive off the cliff. Humphrey tries to calm him and he lets his family go - but then the car goes over the cliff. It's only after it hits the beach below that Humphrey realises the car had a faulty handbrake, and rolled off after Colbert got out.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- Kelby is introduced doggedly running after a local crook, even commandeering a boat to cross the harbor, showing his enthusiasm for crimefighting.
- Humphrey is introduced stuck in a tree, having gotten tangled during a paragliding lesson and accidentally ejecting his instructor, reinforcing that he is still the cheerful, but clumsy character he was in Death in Paradise. Then he conducts an interrogation and immediately guesses the suspects motives before easing out a confession by striking a deal, showing that he has razor-sharp intuition and prefers policing with a light touch.
- Expansion Pack Past: Margo lets out small drips about her past — which includes globe-trotting escapades, elopements, mysterious tattoos, and strange hobbies — but says that she'll never give out the full details about any of her experiences.
- Failed a Spot Check: In the first episode of season one, Kelby's struggling to find any connection between twelve stolen cars. Esther takes one glance at the crime board photos and points out that all of them are red.
- Frame-Up: In the season one finale, Atticus Styles is a convicted burglar who used to make sandwiches in his victims' kitchens. When someone living a few roads away from him is burgled and a half-eaten sandwich is left behind, he's the obvious suspect - which is because the actual culprit, one of the lawyers representing him, has carefully copied his methods to frame him for her crime.
- Framing the Guilty Party: In season two, Niamh Kirby is certain that her husband was killed by his brother Patrick, a decade ago, but unable to prove it. She fakes an attack on herself in the hope that police will arrest Patrick. He unexpectedly has an alibi, but the staged attack still leads to Humphrey Reopening The Cold Case and charging him with the murder.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Towards the end of season one, knowing that Humphrey greatly wants children, Martha tearfully calls off their engagement because she's unwilling to go through IVF again and believes he'll be happier finding someone who'll want to keep trying. They get back together in the season one finale.
- Medium Blending: In season two, when Margo tells the team a local legend about a fisherman's supposed Deal with the Devil, her voiceover accompanies an animated segment illustrating the tale.
- The Missus and the Ex: Returning to Shipton-Upon-Abbot brings Martha back in acquaintance with Archie, her ex-fiance. They end up forming a business partnership in her fledgling cafe, leading to awkward encounters between Humphrey and Archie. Martha buys Archie out of the business in the season one finale.
- Mood Whiplash: While there is a fair bit of foreshadowing leading to it, the highly comedic end of season one's first episode is capped off with Humphrey discovering that Martha has miscarried.
- Murder by Inaction: The death in episode four of season one has elements of this. A farmer watches one of his father's criminal contacts die from a heart attack, rather than allowing him to call an ambulance and potentially get help. The coroner's report notes that he would have died anyway - but the farmer didn't know that.
- Mystery of the Week: The first season is composed of six standalone investigations. There is a season arc, of sorts - but it's about Humphrey and Martha's relationship, nothing to do with the crimes he's investigating.
- Never a Runaway: In season two, Lewis Kirby supposedly abandoned his wife Niamh and left for America. Niamh is convinced Lewis's brother Patrick actually murdered him and, a decade later, Humphrey finds the proof and uncovers his body.
- Never Suicide: One season two episode begins with a terminally ill woman seemingly jumping to her death from a fishing boat at sea, leaving a suicide note behind. Humphrey isn't convinced, especially after hearing she'd planned changes to her will, and starts investigating. It's not suicide, but it's not murder either - she's Faking the Dead to bring her estranged daughter back to Shipton.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Humphrey's attempt to offer a minor thief relationship advice in the first episode of season one results in the thief stealing twelve red cars as a romantic gesture (he arranged them in the shape of a heart in front of the hospital where his girlfriend worked).
- Parachute in a Tree: DI Goodman is introduced, during the first episode of the series, hanging from a tree by a parachute, after he caused the instructor, who performed the jump with him, to veer off course through sheer clumsiness.
- Running Over the Plot: Kelby's case in the second episode of season one is a hit and run incident where the main clues to the culprit's identity are fragments of a broken headlight. It's set up as a Two Lines, No Waiting sub-plot while Humphrey and Esther investigate a family's disappearance. However, it's revealed that they're Working the Same Case, and when Kelby identifies the car it gives the others the breakthrough they need.
- Separate Scene Storytelling: The Summation of the episodes are visualised as Humphrey and Esther being present within the crime scene as the events unfold. This gets faintly surreal in the first episode of season two, as Humphrey and Esther were at the murder scene, so they're watching their past selves.
- Sequel Goes Foreign: Inverted. As a follow-on to Humphrey's time as the lead of Death in Paradise, this show is set in Britain.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: In season two Mrs Goddard, headmistress of the prestigious St Barnabas School for Boys, enjoys using extremely obscure words to show off her vocabulary when talking to Esther and Humphrey. Humphrey later returns the favour while explaining that he's arresting her.
- Shout-Out:
- In season one episode three, art dealer Terence Witham is said to be a huge fan of Banksy. Which doubles as foreshadowing, as his plan to steal the painting is based on Banksy's Girl with Balloon trick, which concealed a shredder within a painting's frame.
- In the season one finale, Kelby mentions that Hayley Collins was very drunk, had clambered into a shopping trolley, and was singing Culture Club's "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me" when he arrested her. Although, thinking back, he admits it might have been "Karma Chameleon" instead. The flashback for The Summation suggests he was right first time.
- In season two, Margo suggests a supernatural explanation for one case and comments that "the greatest trick the devil pulled was convincing us he didn't exist", misquoting a line from The Usual Suspects. Kelby, who doesn't seem to recognise the quote, is impressed.
- Smokescreen Crime:
- In episode five of season one, the first arson attack is revenge for a sexual assault. The others are the arsonist's mother trying to shield her daughter from suspicion.
- In episode six of season one, the burglary is an attempt to hide the fact that a ring was already stolen the previous night - and to help divert suspicion by framing known burglar Atticus Styles for the crimes.
- Spin-Off: The series follows Humphrey and Martha, characters from Death in Paradise, after their return to the UK. Death in Paradise continues in parallel, now with a new lead detective.
- Stupid Crooks: Josh Woods, a local petty thief. He's well-known to the police and is always caught swiftly because he can never figure out how to cover his tracks nor when to stop talking.
- The Summation: Upon figuring out the crime, Humphrey provides a summation. Unlike the original Death in Paradise series, where it is a speech given to the gathered suspects and illustrated by flashbacks, Beyond Paradise has Humphrey walk Esther through an imagined recreation of events. Some scenes are accompanied by Esther's horrified reactions, as if she was seeing the events for real.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Whereas parent show Death in Paradise is Always Murder, Shipton Abbot gets very few murders. The first one, at the start of season two, overcomplicated and tactically staged in traditional Death in Paradise fashion, makes national headlines because of how damn weird it is.
- Talking Down the Suicidal: The first season's second episode centres around the disappearance of the Colbert family. When the police finally find them, they're in a car on a cliff top, pointing toward the edge. Humphrey has to talk Matthew Colbert, who's shaken by the discovery of his wife's affair, out of driving off the cliff with his wife and children inside the car.
- Tempting Fate: In the first episode of season one, Kelby complains that it's too quiet. Every phone in the police station immediately rings off the hook.
- Two Dun It: In season two, the murder victim in the first episode is independently targeted by a husband and wife, who blame him for their son's suicide. One poisons him, the other stabs him. Neither realises their spouse has made their own plan.
- Two Lines, No Waiting:
- Downplayed in the first episode of season one, where the focus stays on the attempted murder of Gwen Tyler for most of the episode, with Kelby's shoplifter successfully arrested near the start of the episode, and the sudden rash of car thefts later in the episode only briefly shown. Except that the shoplifter - released with a caution - is eventually revealed to be the car thief as well.
- Initially played straight in the second episode of season one, with Humphrey and Esther searching for a vanished family while Kelby tries to identify the car and culprit behind a hit and run. When Kelby identifies the car and discovers that it was loaned to the missing man, they realise that they're all Working the Same Case.
- We Named the Monkey "Jack": Humphrey and Martha's houseboat came with a resident duck. Humphrey dubs it "Selwyn" after St. Marie's police commissioner because he was missing the man. This later comes back to bite him in the final episode of season one, when he visits Saint Marie and talks to the actual Selwyn. The season ends with Humphrey trying to stammer out an explanation when Martha mentions the duck.
- Wimp Fight: Humphrey and Archie come to blows in the season one finale, but the fight consists of awkward slapping and kicking plus some headlocks and biting.
- Working the Same Case: Kelby often gets sent off to handle a separate incident only for the team to find that it's related to the central case.
- In the second episode of season one, Humphrey and Esther are trying to find the missing Colbert family and Kelby's trying to solve a hit and run incident that hospitalised local man Christopher Bromley. The plotlines converge when Kelby discovers that the car was on loan to Matthew Colbert - and it's then revealed that Bromley was having an affair with Laura Colbert.
- In the season one finale, the two incidents are linked almost immediately - Humphrey and Esther are trying to solve a burglary. But all of the physical evidence points to a young woman Kelby had already arrested on other charges hours before it happened, giving her a perfect alibi.
- In the 2023 Christmas special the team is dealing with a child who stole a sausage roll and now refuses to give his real name, plus a burglar who doesn't seem to have stolen anything from the four houses he broke into. The burglar is revealed to be the young boy's grandfather.
- In the first episode of season two, Kelby's dealing with a report of a peeping tom, spotted lurking outside an elderly lady's house. It's not until he finishes his interview and leaves that he encounters Humphrey and Esther visiting the house next door, which belongs to the murder victim in their own case. It wasn't the lady Kelby spoke to who was being watched...
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In season two, Niamh Kirby stabs herself through the shoulder with an arrow. She believes that her brother-in-law Patrick killed her husband, but can't prove it, so hopes to frame him for attacking her instead.
