Beyond Paradise: Kris Marshall on Death in Paradise spin-off and quaint English mysteries

When Kris Marshall lived in America, every day an American would ask him to say the word “bottle”.

“I did a show out in the US, so I spent two years living in LA, and yeah, daily, absolutely daily, any bar I went into,” he recalled to The Nightly.

Marshall only had a few minutes of screen time among the large ensemble cast of Love, Actually, but the popularity of that film means that his character, Colin Frissell, and the group of American women who couldn’t enough of his accent, especially the way he said “bottle” was something that has followed him around in the 22 years since that film.

For many actors, being recognised for one iconic role is a gift. For Marshall, he has had several. There’s Nick from five seasons of the comedy My Family and, of course, Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman, whom he played for four seasons in the global phenomenon Death in Paradise.

“It was travelling around France and Italy, and people started to come up to me, going, “Oh, inspector”. Whenever I go out there, it’s “the inspector”,” he said.

Marshall left the series in 2017 after being away in the Caribbean for up to half the year took a toll on his young family. “When they were super young, which is when I was doing Death in Paradise, they’re very easily transportable, you stick them on your back and off you go,” he said.

“Once the established their own lives, they don’t want to do that, and it’s kind of unfair to expect them to do that, so then you end up going on your own and missing out on stuff.”

But he wouldn’t be away from the character for too long. Soon after he left the show, he was asked if he was interested in a UK-based spin-off, but the nature of pitching and making TV, plus the COVID years, meant that the show didn’t make it to broadcast until 2023.

Beyond Paradise is now in its third season, and it’s the shortest work commute he’s had in a long time. The series films in Devon and Cornwall, fewer than 300kms from Marshall’s base in New Forest. During production, he gets to go home every weekend.

It’s also a part of the world he knows well, having grown up the next county over in Somerset.

“Cornwall thinks of itself as not even in England,” he said. “You cross the border there and they’re like, ‘Oh, you’ve come from England’. I guess I could equate it to Tasmania in a way.

“There’s a sort of wild savagery to the southwest because it sticks out to the Atlantic. But coming from Somerset, one of the three counties on the peninsula, there’s definitely a resonance, I feel a kinship with the people down there.

“It’s a world I know well because I surf as well, so it’s good surfing country down there. We have beautiful beaches and gorgeous golden and white sand, but people don’t really attribute those things to England. They have the Surfing World Championships down there as well.”

And, yes, he has pushed for a surfing storyline, so, if nothing else, he can ride the waves on his lunch break.

What is globally perceived as quintessentially English are cosy murder mystery shows set in small towns, like Beyond Paradise, which follows Humphrey back to the UK, to his fiancée’s hometown, where there are plenty of crimes to be solved.

Whether it’s Marple, Midsomer Murders or Rosemary and Thyme, the genre has always been prolific, creating an international impression of life in a small British town, all hedgerows, antique shops and scones.

Real life is not quite like that, although it’s great for tourism. Marshall said the townspeople where Beyond Paradise is filmed would probably say they’re not “quaint”, and it’s actually far more touristy than what is captured on TV.

“We sort of move the tourists behind the cordons when we’re filming down there. But it’s a gorgeous place to spend some time,” he revealed. “We don’t tend to film too much in the main town because of the logistical issues, and we film in summer, and that’s peak tourist season. It’s pretty noisy but we rub along all right.”

When he recently returned to Guadeloupe for a Beyond Paradise/Death in Paradise crossover, he was surprised by how much the original series had become part of the island’s tourist trail.

“I was taken back. They have tours now, and people wearing Death in Paradise t-shirts,” he said.

Part of Death in Paradise’s success over its 14 seasons is Marshall’s tenure (the show changes leads every few seasons). Humphrey remains one of the most popular detectives, so it’s a no-brainer to centre a spin-off on a character whose surname is literally Goodman.

“People tend to have an affinity with him, because he’s generally a good person,” Marshall explained. “He doesn’t necessarily have any dark side, he doesn’t really have any at all. He’s quite naïve and yet he’s sort of disarming and arming himself at the same time.

“His great skill is that he often comes across as inept.”

Could that be an act? Marshall still hasn’t quite figured it out, even after 12 years. “That’s what I’m still working out, and I tend not to try and imagine it’s too much of an act. That would make him cynical, and I don’t want him to be cynical.”

So, perhaps it’s more to do with Humphrey’s open nature than any particular location vibe that makes Beyond Paradise another classic of the cosy crime genre.

With three seasons under its belt, 14 of Death in Paradise, and production rolling on the second season of the Australian spin-off, Return to Paradise, there’s no end it sight.

There’s now even a name for it: Para-verse.

Beyond Paradise is streaming on Britbox