Forget naff jumpers or manipulative TV adverts soundtracked by Ellie Goulding sound-a-likes. The biggest modern Christmas trend is ghosts – the more-over-the top, the better. In recent years, seasonal shades have been springing up everywhere, whether in Mark Gatiss’s annual A Ghost Story for Christmas series or Steven Knight’s dark do-over of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. Now, the chain rattling has reached the sleepy Cornwall setting of Beyond Paradise.
This cuddly and enjoyably low-stakes spin-off of Death in Paradise has trundled along in the slow lane for two series. Though this agreeably hokey Christmas special was a tad more hair-raising than usual.
It began with grieving widower Bob (Mark Heap) threatened by the spirit of his late wife, Linda. But was it really a ghost? Or someone playing a cruel trick? It was a job for DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall). He refused to believe poor Bob was truly being haunted by his dearly departed wife. Much less than he should take her seriously warning to “get out… get out of here…!”
But if it wasn’t a ghost of Christmas past, what was causing Bob’s visions? The answer was connected to the theft from the local chapel of the Virgin Mary mannequin. That case was being investigated by wet-behind-the-ears newish recruit Kelby (Dylan Llewellyn from Derry Girls), who was understandably stumped as to why someone would raid a nativity scene while leaving the church’s valuables undisturbed.
Spin-offs of a well-loved drama can be a tricky. There’s no point creating a carbon copy of the original. Especially when, as in the case of Death in Paradise, the source material is still on the air. But it also can’t be too different, for fear of putting off the pre-existing fanbase.
Beyond Paradise does an effective job walking that tightrope. Marshall retains the hang-dog quality that charmed viewers during his stint on Death in Paradise. But his new series has found its own groove. The crimes tend to be less grisly than those on the original series, while Humphrey’s relationship with fiancé Martha (Sally Bretton) has a satisfying touch of soapy melodrama.
It was at home, rather than at work, that Humphrey faced the biggest challenge. He and Martha were fostering teenager Jaiden (Austin Taylor). Alas, the uncommunicative adolescent was more interested in staring at his phone than in the fun excursions Martha had planned.
Teens are always reduced to self-centred clichés in these sorts of programmes, so it came as a pleasant surprise when Beyond Paradise flipped the stereotype by revealing that Jaiden was concerned for his younger brother, who was staying with a different family. Once Martha coaxed him out of his shell, Jaiden talked movingly about the challenge of keeping in contact with a loved one while in the foster system.
As for that ghost, it turned out to be a Scooby Doo-style wheeze dreamt up by Bob’s money-hungry son-in-law, Colin (comedian and notorious former Strictly contestant Seann Walsh). He wanted the old man to sell his house so that Bob’s daughter Fiona (Colin’s wife) could pocket her inheritance.
Colin was a serial flop at business, and his latest failing enterprise involved flogging mushroom compounds. That gave him access to the hallucinogenic mycelium, which he’d been sprinkling over Bob’s fireplace at night, bringing on the visions.
When Bob saw a mannequin (yes, the stolen Mary) dressed in his wife’s old jumper, he thought she was stalking him from beyond the grave. All Colin had to do was add a recording of Linda saying, “Get out” (from a home video where Bob had disturbed her baking), and presto, he had a ready-made haunting.
It was a ridiculous plot that would have been too cartoonish for Death in Paradise. But Beyond Paradise is its own beast and it was entirely on-brand to top off a feel-good Christmas episode with a silly twist. With those cold December nights drawing in, this was the perfect spooky treat pulled off with twinkling good cheer.
Beyond Paradise is streaming on BBC iPlayer
