A new PARADISE

ANNA SAMSON on joining the world of Death in Paradise and Beyond Paradise with an Australia-set mystery

- VICTORIA WILSON

Anna Samson is proud to be making Paraverse history as she takes centre stage in BBC1’s much anticipated new whodunnit Return to Paradise.

‘I’m pleased as punch to be playing the first female lead in the franchise, but it is also incredibly surreal and nerve-racking!’ smiles the former Home and Away star, 34, as she joins TV Times for a chat about her role as bolshie DI Mackenzie Clarke – who will be unravelling mysteries in fictional Australian beachside hamlet Dolphin Cove.

The six-parter is the latest spin-off from Death in Paradise, which over the past 13 years has seen Ben Miller (AKA DI Richard Poole), Kris Marshall (DI Humphrey Goodman), Ardal O’Hanlon (DI Jack Mooney) and Ralf Little (DI Neville Parker) respectively at the heart of the action as hapless British cops posted to the Caribbean to solve crimes on fictional island Saint Marie.

Fans were delighted when the Paraverse expanded in 2023 with its first sibling show, Beyond Paradise, centred around Humphrey as he took charge of policing fictional Devonshire town Shipton Abbott.

Here, Anna, who was born in England and moved to Nigeria before settling in Australia during her early teens, tells us why she’s thrilled to be putting her stamp on the franchise…

Congratulations on joining the Paraverse, Anna! How did you feel when you first found out you’d been cast as Mackenzie?