Return to Paradise gives the well-known Death In Paradise formula a nice Australian twist. Take a misfit detective, a colorful location and a series of light-hearted murder mysteries. Death In Paradise has been a success on the BBC for years and it is therefore not surprising that the same formula is poured into all kinds of spin-offs. In addition to the first spin-off Beyond Paradise, this fictional universe now also has an Australian variant, Return to Paradise. This started in September 2024 on the Australian channel ABC, started in November on the British BBC One and can also be seen in the Netherlands on BBC First from January.
Anna Samson (Home and Away) plays Detective Mackenzie Clarke. This Australian detective has fled her hometown of Dolphin Cove for personal reasons and has gone to London to work for the police there. After being accused of tampering with evidence, she is suspended and returns to Dolphin Cove. While she awaits the outcome of the internal investigation, she joins the local Dolphin Cove police team where she is confronted with her past mistakes.
Return to Paradise hardly deviates from the familiar formula, but that's not a bad thing.
Apart from the setting and the main characters, Return to Paradise hardly deviates from the familiar formula that we have known for years from the mother series. Is that bad? Far from it. Series like this know exactly what they are made for. Despite the fact that the murder mysteries are not particularly high-flown, they are still entertaining to watch. For example, we see a poisoned runner, a strangled hairdresser and an old miner who apparently committed suicide.
Also, they make good use of an Australian coastal town as a setting. Just like the previous series, Return to Paradise is also exceptionally atmospheric. Expect a piece of Australian culture that includes surfing, the sport of Bowls (not to be confused with bowling) and the phenomenon of bushrangers (an Australian version of highwaymen). It is nice that these kinds of things are included, and this gives the series just that little bit more to distinguish itself from its predecessors.
The actors do a great job.
The cast does a great job. Anna Samson's character Mackenzie Clarke is initially rather unsympathetic and cold, but as the series progresses and more about her background becomes clear, she becomes a lot more sympathetic. It is a pity that not every character gets the same amount of interesting material to work with. In addition to the murder case of the week, there are a few other storylines involving the other agents at the station, but unfortunately not all of them come out equally well.
In principle, Return to Paradise is largely separate from all other series and can be watched without any prior knowledge. Because we have not seen either main character Mackenzie Clarke or the location Dolphin Cove in previous series, I was also curious how they could connect this to the other series. Yet they manage to cleverly incorporate a connection to the mother series into the story. This makes it extra fun for fans of Death In Paradise
Return to Paradise is by no means innovative or star-studded. It does offer a relaxing hour of entertainment every week. ABC and BBC have not yet released anything about a possible second season, but as far as I'm concerned, it could happen.
About the writer, Karzal
Mike (1995) has been a member of MySeries since 2016 and is mainly active on the English version of the site. Since 2018, he has been actively translating news articles, columns, reviews and basically everything that ends up on the Dutch site. The original articles, columns and reviews were actually written by others. During the week Mike can be found at IKEA, where he is a national systems specialist and occasionally also in the classroom to teach an English lesson. In addition, Mike logically enjoys watching series and has actually been spoon-fed this from an early age. The genre doesn't matter, there is a place for everything in the otherwise busy life.
