The Return to Paradise cast have discussed a Death in Paradise Christmas special crossover and are keen to get the ball rolling. During an exclusive interview with Digital Spy, lead actor Anna Samson revealed that she and fellow cast member Tai Hara had even talked storylines.
“We do have an episode in our head where he and I go to Guadalupe and we’re meant to just go there for a nice time and a murder happens. This is what we talk about when we’re waiting in the makeup chair,” she said.
Samson added: “I want to do a Christmas episode, because Christmas in summer is a strange thing for our British audience. It was a strange thing for [me] when I moved to Australia and I think Mackenzie would hate it. I think that would be brilliant.”
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In a separate interview with Digital Spy, Hara, who plays Mackenzie’s ex-fiancé Glenn, also shared his enthusiasm for a Christmas special crossover, stating: “Anna and I always joke that we’ll be popping up in Guadalupe for the Christmas special.
“We keep putting it out there. We’re like, if we say it enough, maybe they’ll be like, ‘That’s a really great idea’.”
The pair are keen to expand Return to Paradise’s crossover opportunities further to include Beyond Paradise as well.
BBC
“I think there’s such an opportunity for it,” Hara told Digital Spy. “We had Kris Marshall in town promoting Beyond, while we were shooting.
“His schedule and our shooting schedule… didn’t time out, but I think there’s such an opportunity to link up the detectives in the worlds. I mean, they’re all part of the Paraverse for a reason.”
Samson echoed the same sentiments, telling Digital Spy: “I think that would only ever be satisfying for us and for audiences. I think there’s a lot of comedy in getting the detectives together because I find the idea of Mackenzie with some of those characters very amusing. Their oddities meeting her oddities I think would only ever be fun to watch.”
BBC
Return to Paradise already has a crossover link to Death in Paradise through former Death in Paradise lead detective Jack Mooney (Ardal O’Hanlon), who is back in the franchise and is Mackenzie’s remote, London-based mentor. However, the pair have never met in person.
“Every single interview I do, I say I want to [meet O’Hanlon],” Samson told Digital Spy. “I’m trying to get the word out that I want to meet the other detectives, and I’m not doing it very well because no one’s made dinner plans at all.”
While Samson has shared that she’s “desperate to meet Ardal” because their characters interact in the show, she’s also “desperate to meet all of them”.
“We have a shared experience that’s very unique, and I think they’re all very groovy and cool. I want to be their friend,” she said.
Return to Paradise season 2 debuts Friday 31 October on BBC One at 8pm and BBC iPlayer after airing. Season one is available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.
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Freelance film & TV writer, Digital Spy
Critic and writer Jo Berry has been writing about TV and movies since she began her career at Time Out aged 18. A regular on BBC Radio, Jo has written for titles including Empire, Maxim, Radio Times, OK!, The Guardian and Grazia, is the author of books including Chick Flicks and The Parents’ Guide to Kids’ Movies.Â
She is also the editor of website Movies4Kids. In her career, Jo has interviewed well-known names including Beyonce, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks, Kiefer Sutherland, Tom Cruise and all the Avengers, spent many an hour crushed in the press areas of award show red carpets. Jo is also a self-proclaimed expert on Outlander and Brassic, and completely agrees that Die Hard is a Christmas movie.
TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. Â For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. Â She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
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