Above and BEYOND

The cast of the hit crime drama reveal why the second series will be even bigger and better...

Life wasn't always perfect last year for DI Humphrey Goodman and his fiancée Martha Lloyd in the debut series of BBC1's Beyond Paradise, as the stress of trying for a baby through IVF almost tore them apart. But as the popular Death in Paradise spin-off returns for a new six-part outing this week, their relationship is on the right track in more ways than one! As we arrive again in the fictional Devon coastal town of Shipton Abbott, Humphrey (played by Kris Marshall) and Martha (Sally Bretton) are taking the first steps towards becoming foster parents.

Meanwhile, Humphrey is delighted when he and colleague DS Esther Williams (Zahra Ahmadi) are asked to help an am-dram group stage a murder-mystery event on a steam train - but then the show's 'victim' is killed for real...

'It's amazing to be back for a second series,' smiles Kris. "The show has grown more confident as well as the murder on a steam train, we've got a local fishing legend who goes missing on a trawler at sea, a medium who predicts an act of arson, and a teacher who disappears in the dead of night and seems to have been abducted by a weird fog!"

Also back are plucky and persistent PC Kelby Hartford (Dylan Llewellyn) and Shipton Abbott police station's straight-talking office support Margo Martins (Felicity Montagu), along with Martha's widowed mother Anne (Barbara Flynn).

TV Times caught up with the cast to find out what's on the cards for their characters this time around...

ANNE LLOYD

BARBARA FLYNN on her character's dalliance with the world of dating apps