As the first episode of Beyond Paradise begins, Gwen Tyler climbs onto a ladder to climb her lightbulb. She sees something in front of her before falling to the ground below. Josh Woods (Chris Jenks) flees from PC Kelby Hartford (Dylan Llewellyn) and flings something into the water nearby. Josh nearly gets away, but Kelby manages to capture him after hijacking a boat. Once they reach the station, Kelby tells Margo Martins (Felicity Montagu) that he threw something in the harbor. Margo calls DS Esther Williams (Zahra Ahmadi) to tell her about an incident that needs to be checked out.

Once Esther arrives at the scene, she finds DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) stuck in a tree. Martha (Sally Bretton) arrives to check on Humphrey. Martha tells Esther that Humphrey is her fiancée. Esther soon learns that Humphrey is the new DI. She calls Margo to tell her everything is okay. Once Humphrey gets down, he tells Martha that he is going to get Esther to show him around. Humphrey explains to Esther that Martha was born there and that’s why they came. He is shocked to find gloves in Esther’s glove box. Esther takes him to the station where she introduces him to Kelby and Margo.

After learning that the old DI retired, Humphrey is told what is in the log including the suspected shoplifter and a woman who claimed she was assaulted. The injuries are nasty and they’re worried she might have long-term spinal damage. The woman claims she was assaulted by a witch, but Esther says she was confused so it’d be best to talk to her again later. At home, Anne Lloyd (Barbara Flynn) talks to Martha about Humphrey and the hand gliding lesson. Anne isn’t surprised that he got stuck in the tree. Josh is questioned about stealing a bottle of perfume and throwing it in the harbor, but he won’t cooperate.

Humphrey suspects the perfume was a present for someone. Josh admits it is for his girlfriend’s birthday tomorrow. He tells Humphrey why he couldn’t have given her a card. Humphrey says he could’ve put a lottery ticket in the card to make the gift better. After Josh says that is a good idea, Humphrey tells him that women aren’t terribly impressed by material things. He believes Josh would’ve got more points for a grand gesture and something he’d put thought into. Humphrey argues they can let him go with a caution if he admits to stealing the perfume so they don’t ruin his girlfriend’s birthday.

Then, they go to the hospital to speak to Gwen (Montserrat Lombard). Esther tells Humphrey that Gwen and her husband were alone in the house until he left at 8 PM to go to a business meeting. No one entered the house until Gwen’s assistant arrived and found her unconscious an hour later. Esther confesses she is not impressed with the way he conducted the interview because it was reckless. Humphrey says it sometimes takes a little common sense. He questions who hasn’t stolen from a shop when they need a gift for their girlfriend. Esther doesn’t think she has ever stolen anything. Kelby warns Josh before he is released. Gwen is adamant that she was pushed.

Ben Tyler (Davood Ghadami) says his wife thinks she was attacked by a witch. Their house is built where an old barn used to be. A witch was caught there during the witch trials before she was dragged outside and burned alive. Gwen says her memory is hazy since she just keeps getting flashes of things. She remembers Ben leaving and the bulb blowing above her. She felt a hard push before she fell to the ground. Then, Gwen saw her and she was standing over her. She was pulling Gwen. She knows what it sounds like, but she insists she was conscious. Although Gwen says she was real, Ben admits his wife has a vivid imagination. Gwen claims to have a gift because she felt her presence before and she is still there.

Humphrey says he wants to see the house. Kelby asks Margo about it being so quiet before they receive multiple calls. Humphrey tells Esther it is important to look into Gwen’s claims to see why she believes what she does. Esther points out the facts in the case including how long the witch has been dead. The witch supposedly stole newborns and took them back to the woods to eat. People claim to have seen her up there. Humphrey says the witch must’ve left her broom. Ben arrives. Anne prepares treats for the school charity store. Martha is meeting a letting agent. She is going to check café properties first to see how much money that takes up before they consider a house.

Humphrey finds the painting of the witch. Ben explains Gwen thought acknowledging her presence would allow her spirit to settle. Humphrey checks the spot where Gwen fell. He looks at pictures from the crime scene. He is told Sarah Dodds (Nina Singh) found her when she was dropping off some paperwork. Gwen owns 15 shops selling natural beauty products to tourists. Ben tells them about his meeting last night, but Gwen didn’t go. Gwen and Peter were business partners until it ended acrimoniously just recently. Humphrey learns that Ben’s hobby is military history. He mentions that Napoleon Bonaparte said history was a set of lies that everyone agreed on.

Outside, Humphrey tells Esther he doesn’t think she was found where she fell. There were marks on the handrail where the steps fail. They were feet away from where the ladder was. Humphrey believes they moved Gwen. If someone pushed her from that height, it would be attempted murder. Humphrey and Esther speak to Sarah who shows them Gwen’s text from 8:41 asking her to bring the papers over. There was so answer so she looked through the glass and saw Gwen. Since she couldn’t tell if she was breathing, she called an ambulance. When asked if she could think of anyone who would harm her, Sarah says she was always bickering with Ben and she could be short with people.

She also knew about Gwen falling out with Peter Meadows (Dan Mersh). As they leave, Humphrey says whatever happened took place between Gwen sending the text at 8:41 and Sarah getting there around 9:00. Although Esther says there has to be a simple explanation, Humphrey finds it odd that she was found 10 feet from where she fell. He wants to see the camera footage from that night. When Esther gets back, Margo tells her that the world went mad when she left. Humphrey sits with her as they begin looking at the security footage from the night in question. They find that Ben left at 8:02. Esther has checked every frame and no one else enters the house until Gwen’s assistant arrives.

She got in through an open patio door and called an ambulance. Even though it looks like an accident, Humphrey still wants to speak to Peter Meadows. They approach Peter as Esther admits their daughters are around the same age. Peter confirms that Ben was with him last night. His wife, Carol (Yasmine Akram), comes over to say it was 8:30. When the doorbell rang, she thought it was Yvonne and Patrick Wiley, but it was Ben. Peter says Ben stayed until he got the call from the hospital around 9:15. When asked about his falling out with Gwen, Peter says she can be difficult. Carol says Gwen got her way. Sam (David Reed) meets Martha who learns he is the letting agent.

When the police leave, Carol calls Ben to tell him that they were there and question what they’re going to do. He reminds her that he told her not to call him. Esther tells Humphrey her daughter’s dad is not on the scene anymore and she isn’t upset about it. They see the Wiley couple so they decide to speak to them. Yvonne is vying to become their next MP. She questions whether they should be investigating a woman falling off her ladder. Yvonne is her accountant and was at the hospital this morning. They arrived at Peter’s house just after 8:30 and Ben was already there. Since Patrick is in home security systems, he is asked about the system in the Tyler house. He fitted it just over a year ago.

Patrick tells them why the footage couldn’t be tampered with. At the station, Kelby tells Humphrey that he thinks he saw Old Mother Wheaten once. Margo tells Esther that Chief Superintendent Woods called asking about their quarterly report. Esther admits that the new guy is annoying her. When they leave, Humphrey learns that the witch is popular among tourists. Later that night, he looks over the security footage again. He talks to Martha about whether she believes in ghosts while she urges him to get ready. She thinks she has found somewhere for the café and it’d be amazing if they can afford it. He asks if they should tell her mom tonight, but Martha wants to wait for the scan.

Once they agree, they go downstairs and join Anne and Nan (Anne Lester) for dinner. Martha asks Humphrey to tell them about his ghost. They talk about the witch and Gwen. After an embarrassing dinner, Martha and Humphrey return to the bedroom. When she asks if he likes it there, he says it is what they talked about. They talk about starting a family before Humphrey says he thinks they should be honest with her mom about the IVF. Martha argues it is too early. In the middle of the night, Humphrey looks through the footage again. Later, he goes back to the house and walks through the woods nearby. He sees an old woman who scares him.

Humphrey runs into a tree and knocks himself out. Esther finds him and tries to wake him up. He is told the woman is Mrs. Summerville and she works at the visitor’s center. Humphrey explains he thought an intruder would come through the woods. Esther admits he might be onto something. She went through the phone records for the day Gwen fell. Gwen made a call that morning that lasted around 15 minutes. The same number called her back six times and none of the calls lasted more than 10 seconds. When Esther stopped at the hospital to ask her about it, Gwen has no recollection of the call at all. The phone number belongs to Carol Meadows.

When they approach her, Carol claims they were talking about Peter. She also says Gwen mentioned her doing some floral displays for her shop windows. Carol tried calling back a few times to ask how many shops, but she couldn’t get through. She suspects one of them had no signal. When they get back to the station, Margo says they didn’t find anything on Ben besides a parking ticket a month ago in Bristol. She asks if she should continue because it’s the most fun she’s had in a long time. Humphrey asks her to run some financial checks too. Esther asks her about the car theft, but Margo doesn’t have any new information to provide. Esther says there must be something that links them all since all the cars are red.

Sam helps Martha with the café. He promises to call when he gets the lease. As Martha leaves, her stomach begins hurting. Esther learns that Carol Meadows was in Bristol at the same time Ben got his parking ticket. There were also two credit card transactions on the same day. Both were close to his motel. Humphrey suggests it has to be about sex or money like every other crime. Ben admits to being in a relationship with Carol briefly, but says he ended it when they got back. He insists it was just sex. Gwen refused to go with him that night because she found some text messages. Humphrey and Esther discuss whether Carol might’ve visited the house that night because Gwen wouldn’t answer her phone.

Martha returns home without her mom noticing. Esther discovers an entry in Gwen’s business accounts that shows 180,000 pounds set aside for a corporation tax, but she can’t find it. She wonders if Gwen couldn’t find it either and that is why she asked Sarah to bring financial papers to the house. Humphrey wonders if they got the time wrong since the only source was the text message. He suggests Gwen wasn’t the one who sent that message. Esther wants to find out where the phone was when the message was sent. Margo is asked to look into anyone who had access to Gwen’s accounts. When she mentions a broom, Humphrey notices something with the broom in the security footage.

Esther learns that the message was sent from the Meadows’ house. Humphrey shows her how the broom fell and someone put it back up. Martha has stomach pains. Humphrey does an experiment that replicates the camera’s footage. He says Gwen was supposed to go with Ben, but didn’t after she learned about the affair with Carol. The cameras recorded what they saw, but they didn’t see everything. Humphrey explains how the intruder would’ve gotten into the house without being picked up by the cameras. Margo learns that Patrick’s business filed for bankruptcy, but the application was withdrawn last week. They believe it only makes sense for Yvonne to steal the money.

Humphrey believes she intended to pay it back, but she disabled Gwen’s banking PIN to hide her actions for the time being. She didn’t expect Sarah to get the statements for Gwen. Yvonne couldn’t live with a bankrupt husband or being labeled a thief so she had to get the statements back. When she found that Gwen was still in the house, she had to push her over. She pulled Gwen over so Sarah could see her through the window. Yvonne also had to move the step ladder to match. She left the house with Gwen’s phone so she could call from the Meadows’ house. Yvonne is taken away in handcuffs moments later as she blames Patrick.

Humphrey and Esther go to the hospital to tell Gwen. They find that Josh has arranged a surprise for his girlfriend using the stolen red cars. When they leave the hospital, Josh flees the scene with Kelby chasing him. Humphrey calls Martha. Gwen begins remembering what happened before the fall and her husband’s affair. Esther ignores a call from Chief Superintendent Woods. Humphrey goes home and learns that Martha has lost the baby. Ben is forced to move out of the house.

 

Beyond Paradise Review

The opening episode of Beyond Paradise showed some promise even though it wasn’t perfect. Kris Marshall is enjoyable as ever as DI Goodman while Sally Bretton is a good choice for his soon-to-be wife. Chris Jenks, Dylan Llewellyn, Zahra Ahmadi, and the others were good in their respective roles as well.

The story was mostly interesting although it felt a bit too long towards the end of the episode. In other words, it could’ve gotten to the point sooner, but it makes sense to fill the hour time slot. Some of the jokes were eye-rolling more than humorous nor were they even necessary.

The investigation and final reveal were a little messy, but clever enough to make sense. Truthfully, Beyond Paradise could’ve been better but it could’ve been a lot worse too. The episode was mostly enjoyable and cheerful compared to other crime dramas that take themselves too seriously. As viewers connect more with the characters, it could get even better.

Beyond Paradise can be an enjoyable show if viewers aren’t looking for an overly serious or deeply emotional series, but the humor can be slightly annoying at times. The episode scores a 6.5 out of 10. Recaps of Beyond Paradise can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site here. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery at this link.