'Return to Paradise' Gets a U.S. Premiere, a Season 2 & a St. Marie Connection
It wasn't a surprise when the production studio behind (what I will continue to hate calling) the "Para-verse" announced that it was doing a second spinoff of the hit series Death in Paradise. The first spinoff, Beyond Paradise (or Solving Crimes Within A Commutable Distance of London), was a smash hit right out of the gate, picking up with ex-St. Marie resident DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) as he resettles with his partner, Martha Lloyd (Sally Bretton), in her hometown. However, the second spinoff idea was a bigger reach. Instead of following another of Death in Paradise's former leading men, the team went for a "gender flipped spiritual spinoff," Return to Paradise, set in Australia.
Like the original pitch for Death in Paradise, Return to Paradise is about a person miserably stuck solving crimes in one of the most beautiful places on earth. In this case, it's Dolphin Cove in Australia, and the cop stuck there, DI Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson), is miserable because this was the hometown she's spent her life trying to escape. Changing the dynamic meant the show could cast Australian actors instead of asking London-based ones to commute halfway round the globe, solving Death in Paradise's ultimate issue while also getting to film in another gorgeous location.
However, the show's Australian-ness meant it was an awkward fit for BritBox, which is emphatically "British Through and Through Thank You," despite the other two-thirds of the franchise streaming exclusively to the platform. Acorn TV didn't pick it up either, even after the BBC announced there would be a second season, probably because the other two-thirds weren't fully available*. In the end, that's left the show to wind up in the oddest place of all: U.S. linear cable TV on Ovation.
