Beyond Paradise has asked a question we already know the answer to – but that doesn’t really matter
A storm is brewing for the Shipton Abbott police department… but don’t despair.
Shipton Abbott police department might be a micro-operation, but underestimate it at your own peril.
DI Humphrey Goodman and his three-strong team – DS Esther Williams, PC Kelby Hartford and office support Margo Martins – have pooled their insights and doggedness to become a force to be reckoned with in BBC murder mystery series Beyond Paradise, which returns for its fourth season.
Across the show's first three seasons, they've solved a plethora of puzzling – sometimes poignant, at times eerie and occasionally absurd – cases, from a woman claiming she was attacked by a suspect from the seventeenth century, to a man turning up on the doorstep of the police station with a photo of Humphrey and no memory of why he was there in the first place – or why Humphrey.
While the DI's left-field sleuthing and keen eye for details others often miss always get their moment in the spotlight, Esther also weighs in with her own crucial observations and is a trusted sounding board for her senior officer.
Kelby, who you might initially have thought wasn’t cut out for police work, has grown in stature and is now contributing more than his fair share as the lone bobby on the beat – with the lower-level incidents he’s assigned to often providing a vital piece of evidence in the central case.
And it would be total chaos without Margo manning the phones, occasionally chipping in with an invaluable piece of local gossip, and doling out a kick up the backside or some much-needed advice here and there – all of which is on display across season 4.
The latest instalment opens with the death of crime novelist Kenneth Linder, who appears to have predicted his own demise – because, it tuns out, he orchestrated it, knowing his daughter would be financially protected if his plan succeeded.
With the case closed, the team gathered at the pub to toast a job well done while secure in the knowledge that they’ve got a really good thing going on – both professionally and personally because they aren't just colleagues who work extremely well together, "they are genuinely like a family unit", Zahra Ahmadi, who plays Esther, said in an interview with Radio Times.
"They get along as friends, sure, but I do think it is more familiar than anything else. They've all got their roles within the family, and that's why they're able to be so effective."
But of course their situation isn't secure, far from it. Humphrey is sitting on a secret – and one that will destroy all of that if the loathsome Mr Smith gets his way.
After being called into The Hub – which is rarely a good thing – Humphrey is told that Chief Superintendent Charlie Woods, their only real ally at the top, has left for pastures new. But that's not all: funding cuts are back on the table, meaning he'll have to let one of his team go (and this time, Woods won't be there to back them up).
It's a double blow for the DI, both personally and for the work they do.
"Humphrey knows, as well as it being a tug at his heart strings to have to get rid of someone that he really cares about and values professionally, he also knows how that will impact the policing they're able to do, which is also what he really cares about," added Ahmadi.
“I think everyone's so important, and everyone plays their part. And if you remove just one person, you really feel it,” she said.
When Humphrey returns from The Hub, carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, Esther asks him if he has any news to share, so he tells them about Woods' departure. But for the time being, he decides to keep Mr Smith's directive to himself. No need to put the cat among the pigeons just yet – and he's solved bigger conundrums than this, after all, so he's naturally hoping that a solution will eventually present itself.
But the longer he avoids Mr Smith's calls, the more determined he becomes to get an answer.
Yet – and this is just a hunch, I haven't been given access to the season in its entirety – the Shipton Abbott police team will undoubtedly remain firmly in tact because to lose anyone wouldn't be in the spirit of the show, not to mention the fan uproar if there was an exit on the cards.
In these most fraught and uncertain of times, tearing the gang apart would be an unnecessarily cruel manoeuvre – unless of course there's a scheduling conflict we don’t yet know about, à la Ginny Holder on Death in Paradise.
But if the writers' hands weren't tied, I'd be confident that Esther, Kelby and Margo's positions would be safe by the end of the latest chapter, because it simply wouldn't be Beyond Paradise without a full house. That's not to say the series isn't comfortable with tackling difficult moments that elicit a painful response, such as Martha's miscarriage, or challenging the viewer, but there's always a sense that everything will be alright in the end – which raises a more interesting question: how will they get out of this particular pickle?
Like the cases they solve, the problem is laid out before Humphrey and it's now about how he – or possibly someone else – will solve it.
And when that victory comes to pass, it will only strengthen their bonds further (they'll be unstoppable, like the Shipton Abbott Avengers) – such is the nature of coming out the other side. That, above all else, is the beating heart of Beyond Paradise, a show arguably more concerned with relationships than the case of the week.
So Humphrey, over to you. I don't know how you'll do it this time, just as I don't how you solve every seemingly impossible case that lands on your desk, but do it you surely will.
Beyond Paradise season 4 airs on BBC One and iPlayer on Fridays at 8pm.
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Authors
Abby Robinson is the Drama Editor for Radio Times, covering TV drama and comedy titles. She previously worked at Digital Spy as a TV writer, and as a content writer at Mumsnet. She possesses a postgraduate diploma and a degree in English Studies.
