As the sun sets over the sea in St Marie for the series finale, fans of Beyond Paradise will be pleased to hear the show will be back and will get a Christmas special

After the slightly cheesy crossover between Beyond Paradise and Death in Paradise, and a wish we’d have had more time on St Marie, the BBC let us know Beyond Paradise will return for a second series, and there will be a Christmas special. This means both shows will be on over the festive season, thought maybe not one after the other on Christmas Day!

We’ve enjoyed the chance to see what happened next for DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) and Martha Lloyd (Sally Bretton) as well as new characters DS Esther Williams (Zahra Ahmadi), PC Kelby Hartford (Dylan Llewellyn), office support Margo Martins (Felicity Montagu) and Anne Lloyd (Barbara Flynn). While we’ve got to know some of them a little, there’s plenty more to learn, we feel.

Apart from the change of scenery, there’s been a focus on police work in general, fewer murders (!) and a good storyline running through the series (something we also had to a lesser extent with the recent series of Death in Paradise). Our only real complaint is a lack of longer story involving the trip to St Marie and a proper crossover. Perhaps it will still happen?!

As to series 2, no details yet, but we’re hoping for a chance to see Ardal O’Hanlon back as DI Jack Mooney for an episode. We’ll let you know if that happens.