Summer might be ending, but September will start three months of BritBox’s Tuesday night cozy crime shows set in beach towns. Return to Paradise Season 1 and Beyond Paradise Season 3 will air back-to-back this fall.
Fans of Death in Paradise and its spin-offs (we’re still avoiding calling it “the para-verse”) were surprised in May 2025 when Return to Paradise, the newest spin-off, was announced for a U.S. release. It wasn’t surprising that it was coming to America—both the main show and first spin-off Beyond Paradise are big hits for BritBox.
Read More: New Series of Beyond Paradise Filmed in More Areas of South West
The surprise was where it first aired: Ovation. This cable channel, which dropped its streaming service last year, also airs Murdoch Mysteries months before Acorn TV gets them. Return to Paradise was a strange fit, made in Britain but set in Australia, with only a small link to St. Marie, making it awkward for BritBox and not quite right for Acorn TV, which usually takes Australian shows, since BritBox competes with them.
Ovation’s lack of a streaming platform made it a good place to test the show’s appeal while keeping streaming rights open. The test worked, BritBox has decided to overlook the “Australia factor” and will release Return to Paradise in September 2025. The six-episode series will run weekly until mid-October, followed immediately by Beyond Paradise Season 3, which BritBox has held back since April as part of a plan to keep fresh content year-round.
Set in the beachside town of Dolphin Cove, Return to Paradise delivers six twisty, clever murder mysteries against stunning Australian scenery. Australian-born Mackenzie Clarke, once a star detective at London’s Metropolitan Police, is forced to move back to her hometown. She hates it there, and the feeling is mutual, especially since she left years ago with unresolved issues, including an ex-fiancé she abandoned. But when a murder happens, Mack can’t resist using her skills, deciding she might as well deal with the past while solving cases.
Anna Samson (Home and Away) plays DI Mackenzie Clarke. She is joined by Tai Hara (Colin From Accounts) as Glenn Strong, her ex-fiancé and a forensic pathologist; Catherine McClements (Ms Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries) as Glenn’s mother and Mackenzie’s boss; Lloyd Griffith (Nolly) as DSC Colin Cartwright; Aaron McGrath (Gold Diggers) as Constable Felix Wilkinson; Celia Ireland (Wentworth) as Reggie Rocco; Andrea Demetriades (The Artful Dodger) as Glenn’s new girlfriend, Daisy. Ardal O’Hanlon returns as DI Jack Mooney from Death in Paradise Seasons 6–9, serving as the show’s link to St. Marie.
Beyond Paradise returns with DI Humphrey Goodman and fiancée Martha continuing their coastal life. They face new mysteries, a body in a river, a poisoned chocolate box, a historic farming feud, and a spiking incident on the water, while navigating personal struggles. Martha and Humphrey face challenges as foster parents, Martha’s old flame Archie stirs tension, Esther has an unexpected personal encounter, Anne faces a health scare, and Kelby works on self-growth.
Kris Marshall (Sanditon) and Sally Bretton (Lewis) lead the cast, joined by Barbara Flynn (The Durrells in Corfu), Zahra Ahmadi (The Beast Must Die), Dylan Llewellyn (Derry Girls), Felicity Montagu (Tom Jones), Melina Sinadinou, Jade Harrison (The Midwich Cuckoos), Chris Jenks (Karen Pirie), Jamie Bamber (Cannes Confidential), Eva Feiler (The Crown), Amalia Vitale (Big Mood), Chizzy Akudolu (Best Interests), and Selwyn the Duck.
Guest stars include Steve Oram, Gabby Best, Hugh Dennis, Kevin McNally, Caroline Quentin, Angela Curran, Abra Thompson, Joseph Ollman, Alexandra Gilbreath, Alicia Charles, Matthew Gravelle, Brandon Fellows, Abdul Salis, Jason Hughes, Silas Carson, Syreeta Kumar, Amy Morgan, Oliver Hembrough, Murray McArthur, and Dean Boodaghians-Nolan.
Robert Thorogood and Tony Jordan return as lead writers for Beyond Paradise Season 3, with Sandy Johnson directing and Lindsay Hughes producing. Return to Paradise is co-created and written by Peter Mattessi, James Hall, and Robert Thorogood.
Return to Paradise Season 1 starts on BritBox on Tuesday, September 2, 2025, with one episode each week through mid-October. Season 2 is already in production. Beyond Paradise Season 3 begins Tuesday, October 14, with weekly episodes until late November 2025. Season 4 is also in production. All 14 seasons of Death in Paradise and the first two seasons of Beyond Paradise are streaming on BritBox.
Source: Tellyvisions