What to Watch Verdict
Pros
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Anna Samson is a joy as Mackenzie
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Good comedy chemistry between the leads
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Sticks to successful murder an episode format
Cons
- -
Aussie setting doesn't quite match the magic of Saint Marie
Return to Paradise is officially a spin-off of Death in Paradise. But unlike the first spin-off Beyond Paradise, which follows past Saint Marie favorite DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall), this Aussie version isn't about a character from Death in Paradise. Indeed, other than a quick cameo by Ardal O Hanlon as former DIP lead DI Jack Mooney, it's a bit of a stretch to call this a spin-off!
However, once Anna Samson appears on the screen as DI Mackenzie Clarke you forget all this and suddenly you feel like you truly are in the so-called "Paraverse". Anna told us she believes her character is like DI Richard Poole, Death in Paradise's first and I think best detective. Mackenzie has that awkward brilliance Poole displayed while struggling to deal with social situations.
Indeed Mackenzie has managed to offend the people of Dolphin Cove, the fictional Aussie setting, so much that when a cab driver realizes it’s her he kicks her out of his car! Mackenzie is on leave from London, where she's a top cop working with DI Jack Mooney. But she's left London under something of a cloud and ends up back in a place she loathes. Desperate for help on a murder, the local police chief Philomena Strong (Catherine McClements) — a sort of Commissioner Patterson type — asks Mackenzie to lead the case, much to the upset of Detective S.C Colin Cartwright (Lloyd Griffith) who thinks he can crack the case by himself.
Death in Paradise has always hinged on the central relationship between the lead detective and their deputy and luckily Return to Paradise on early evidence gets this right. There are some nice comedy moments between Mackenzie and Colin. On discovering Mackenzie is living at her mum's place, Colin gleefully says you can often see someone bathing naked out the back. Mackenzie replies yes that's her mother! There's another great moment where Colin buys Mackenzie a coffee only for her to just dump it in the bin and declare she doesn't like coffee! The supporting cast is all perfectly fine, but it's Anna's show and your engagement lifts every time she's on screen.
The first murder she has to solve is very Death in Paradise with an estate agent found with a dagger in his back on the beach. He was last seen miles away from where his body was found, so how on earth could he have got there? If you’re a DIP fan you’ll enjoy all the nods to the series like the murder board in the police station. One thing Return to Paradise has over Beyond Paradise is that Mackenzie is investigating murders, which are much more interesting than some of the lower-level crimes DI Humphrey Goodman gets stuck with in Beyond Paradise.
In some ways then Return to Paradise is actually closer to Death in Paradise than Beyond Paradise. It has that fish-out-of-water vibe that Beyond Paradise lacks as Humphrey is now settled with Martha.
If you love Death in Paradise there's more than a good chance you'll enjoy Return to Paradise. And if you’ve never seen it in your life then you don’t actually need any prior knowledge to appreciate Return to Paradise. It's a fun, gentle crime series lifted by a great central performance.
Return to Paradise is airing on BBC One on Fridays at 8 pm. The whole series is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.
