Anna Samson and Tai Hara return for ABC cosy crime, now filming in the Illawarra and Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

Filming is underway on season three of Return to Paradise, for ABC in association with the BBC.

The six part spin-off of Death in Paradise produced by BBC Studios Australia Productions, in partnership with Red Planet Pictures, is now filming in the Illawarra and Sydney’s Northern Beaches.

DS Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson) is back, fresh from having wrecked another of Glenn’s (Tai Hara) weddings and determined never to follow her heart again.

But ignoring her heart won’t be easy. The arrival of her force-of-nature mother Jillian (Kerry Armstrong) puts Mack’s mettle to the ultimate test and there’s something undeniable about the raffish charm of the new pathologist Leo (Jacob Collins). And as for Glenn, who has gone away to ‘find himself’, well that’s a whole other puzzle for Mack to try and solve …

And, while Dolphin Cove may still look like paradise, it continues to serve up a steady stream of baffling murder mysteries – from the artist stabbed in full view of the public, to the wildlife worker dead in a locked cassowary cage. Mack will solve it all with her usual brilliance, and the off-beat help of her loyal team.

Returning cast include Lloyd Griffith as Colin Cartwright, Tai Hara as Glenn Strong, Catherine McClements as Philomena Strong, Celia Ireland as Reggie Rocco and Aaron McGrath as Felix Wilkinson.

Season three guest actors includes Mark Lee (A Place to Call Home, La Brea), Tina Bursill (Strife, Doctor, Doctor, Caper Crew), Ngali Shaw (Ladies in Black, The Twelve), Anthony Hayes (The Slap, Total Control), Zöe Ventura (Packed to the Rafters, Time Bandits), Zindzi Okenyo (Troppo, Critical Incident) and Matt Day (Rake, The Unusual Suspects).

It will screen later this year on ABC and BBC One, distributed globally by BBC Studios.

Produced by BBC Studios Australia Productions, Red Planet Pictures. Major production support from Screen NSW’s Made in NSW – TV Drama Fund. Post, digital and visual effects also supported by Screen NSW. Created by James Hall, Peter Mattessi and Robert Thorogood. Producer: Diane Haddon. Executive Producer: Peter Mattessi. Executive Producers for BBC Studios Productions Australia are Kylie Washington and Sophia Zachariou, for Red Planet Pictures are Belinda Campbell, Tim Key, Alexandra Carruthers and Robert Thorogood, and for ABC are Brett Sleigh and Rachel Okine.