'Return to Paradise' Sets Date for U.K. Debut

When Death in Paradise debuted in 2011, it was just supposed to be a cute little Ben Miller (Professor T) vehicle in which he played DI Richard Poole, a fish-out-of-water, pale-faced, stuffy white colonialist who crankily hated living in a relaxing paradise. But life imitating art turned out to be a problem, as Miller did hate living and working in paradise, as it took him away from his wife and baby son for too many months out of the year. Over a decade later, the series is now on its fifth detective and third series in the franchise, as the newest entry into the "Para-verse," Return to Paradise, arrives on the BBC.

Return to Paradise is a riskier bet than Death in Paradise's first spinoff series, Beyond Paradise, which kicked off the franchise expansion by bringing back DI Poole's initial replacement, fan-favorite DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall), and his love interest from the series, Martha Lloyd (Sally Bretton) for their own crime-solving series. Despite having several more detectives who have come and gone from St. Marie who could anchor their own variations, the Paradise producers decided to try an entry based more on location than crossover actors. Return to Paradise stars an entirely new roster of characters living in a completely different paradise, this one in Australia.

Set in the wild paradise of Australia's Sapphire Coast in New South Wales, the newest entry is about as far as you can get from Saint-Marie as it is from the U.K., which is why none of the original detectives made sense to wind up there. Instead, the new series is less more of a "spiritual spinoff," refashioning the show's original premise of a detective forced to solve cases in one of the most beautiful places on Earth when, in reality, they'd rather be just about anywhere else.