Return to Paradise- Lloyd Griffith & Anna Samson

Return to Paradise – BBC trailer and the cast speak

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Ahead of its BBC debut, the corporation have dropped a trailer for the Aussie Death in Paradise spin-off. 

Return to Paradise, the latest in the Paraverse family of shows, lands in Blighty on Friday 22nd November.

In anticipation, there’s now a brief BBC trailer (adding to the much longer ABC one we saw back in August).

The show takes the tried and tested format of a reluctant detective in a sun-drenched locale and gives it new twist. This time, DI Mackenzie Clarke has returned home after six years in London, while her sidekick is a Brit abroad.

The BBC have also released interviews with the show’s two leads.

Anna Samson plays DI Mackenzie Clarke

Return to Paradise - Tai Hara & Anna Samson
Return to Paradise Glenn Strong (Tai Hara) and DI Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson) (Image: Red Planet/BBC Studios)

Why did this role appeal to you?

This genre is part of my DNA I guess. I grew up watching murder mysteries. Mackenzie Clark really appeals to me because she is unlike many women I’ve played before. She thinks quickly, and that’s always fun to play on camera.

Who is Mackenzie Clarke and what kind of person is she?

Mackenzie is a detective with the Metropolitan Police in London who is forced to return to her childhood home, where she does not want to be. She battles against community, emotion, love, and friendship – all things that we as human beings need; but she thinks she doesn’t. So that’s where a lot of the drama and comedy comes from – and from her being placed back in the community that she left six years ago in quite extreme circumstances. She left someone at the altar. It’s no small thing to have to return to that, and she brings home with her a great sense of guilt. She’s pushing against all the emotions that being back home brings up – old places, memories, and relationships. She’s trying to push them down, but they have a habit of coming back up, don’t they?

She’s got a great big heart and a real sense of justice, but it’s a fun thing to play a woman who is not necessarily concerned with being liked.

She has an eye for things that other people don’t spot straight away, she gets hyper-focused and has tunnel vision sometimes about things that other people don’t notice. Again, she doesn’t get distracted by emotion in her work. She may not know how to act on her empathy, but she does have empathy. So, she can spot when someone’s lying to her. She can spot when someone is genuinely going through something emotionally. She doesn’t always know how to deal with it, but she can spot it. She deals with logic. This equals that, this puzzle piece goes here, and that’s why she finds emotions so hard, because there’s no logical answer to human emotions. So, they stump her.

How is Return to Paradise similar or different to Death in Paradise? What can audiences expect?

Return to Paradise is in the wheelhouse of Death in Paradise. It has to be because that show’s so fantastic, it is such a phenomenon. In a way, it’s quite overwhelming to step into those shoes. I think audiences can expect the spirit of what they love in Guadeloupe. But there’s something about the Australian way of life, accent and landscape that is so different and informs the story. So, there are a lot of differences too. One is that I’m a woman, but there’s the cheek and a charm of the original that I really hope we’ve captured.

Murder is pretty dark, it’s one of the most desperate acts of humanity. So, you take that darkness and smash it up against an environment of bright sunshine and there’s something where that juxtaposition is delicious.

There is something about Return to Paradise that’s not just about Australia. It’s about a small coastal town in Australia, and that comes with its own idiosyncrasies. Regional small towns have a specific vibe – and where we’re shooting on the south coast of New South Wales has a vibe. Shooting there gives an authentic quality to the show.

Lloyd Griffith is Detective SC Colin Cartwright

Who is Colin Cartwright and where does he fit into the story?

Colin is the heart of the community. He’s a police officer. He’s been in Dolphin Cove for about five years. He loves the community. He loves the sense of togetherness and belonging. I think it’s something that he probably didn’t have back in England. They’ve really accepted him here. They love him. He’s got a slightly different accent, but you know, he pulls his sleeves up, literally and metaphorically, and he just gets stuck in.

Return to Paradise - Tai Hara & Lloyd Griffith
Glenn Strong (Tai Hara) and Detective SC Colin Cartwright (Lloyd Griffith) (Image: Red Planet/BBC Studios)

How does Colin respond to Mackenzie’s arrival?

At first there’s a little bit of friction between them, because essentially, he wants her position. Colin’s not a bad police officer, but Mackenzie is just that little bit better, having probably had more experience in the policing game. A common theme is that they want to solve these crimes, so they have to work together and put any differences aside.

What makes Colin a good cop?

The fact that he is the beating heart of the community. People trust him. I think he’s got a little bit of intuition, not a huge amount, but there is a little bit of, you know, there are certain things that he says, especially later on, where Mackenzie thinks, oh, actually, he’s not such a bad cop.

Will fans of Death in Paradise enjoy Return to Paradise?

I think any fans of Death in Paradise will love Return to Paradise because it’s a part of that world. There is a death every week, which is suspicious, isn’t it? And also you fall in love with paradise. I think every time you watch Death in Paradise or Beyond Paradise, you fall in love with those locations, and it makes you want to live there, although, you know, the chance of being murdered is quite high. These locations are unbelievable. The beaches in Australia are just out of this world. You’ve got that lovely little whodunit every single week, you know that someone’s going to get murdered, and at the end of it, you know that you’ll find out who is responsible and that’s what people love about the show.

Whenever there’s something Australian on TV, Brits will absolutely consume it. I think they fantasise about having that life on those beaches.

Return to Paradise begins on BBC One and iPlayer at 8pm on Friday 22nd November.