This year’s Christmas television scheduling has left some disappointed, but Beyond Paradise fans were delighted – and in floods of tears – after the show’s emotional festive special.
The third series of the Death In Paradise spin-off aired earlier this year and the latest Christmas episode arrived on iPlayer on Sunday (21 December).
The episode saw Detective Inspector Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) approached by an elderly man living with dementia (Ade Edmonson), who arrived at the police station clutching a photograph of the detective and asked for help finding his sister.
Meanwhile, Constable Kelby Hartford (Dylan Llewlyn) was called to a more unusual emergency – helping a man trapped inside a snowman suit after his head was glued on as a prank.
Posting on X after watching the episode, fans commended the show for balancing its lighter and more serious storylines, with many saying the special left them emotional.
“This was such a beautiful, heartwarming, funny, emotional Christmas episode, had me in tears at one point,” said one fan.
Another posted: “What have you done to me, I am a 49-year-old man and I’m crying my eyes out, that is how you do a Christmas episode, emotional, funny, heart!! Absolutely fantastic and Ade Edmondson is a National Treasure.”
“Same here… Crying my heart out like a kid,” a third replied, before a fourth viewer wrote: “What a great watch #BeyondParadise Christmas special was. This lovely show gets better and better. Perfect.”
While Death in Paradise was set on the fictional Caribbean island of Saint Marie, and filmed on the real island of Gaudeloupe, Beyond Paradise has seen Humphrey relocate to the Devon coast with his fiancée Martha Lloyd.
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The Christmas special included a special guest, as Death in Paradise favourite Commissioner Selwyn Patterson turned up for their wedding.
“Best surprise ever?” one fan asked on X. “Ade Edmondson was incredible and the best surprise ever with Selwyn!” another wrote.
Lead star Marshall previously said of the Christmas special: “It’s such a personal story for Humphrey. A man turns up on his doorstep with a picture and we’re not sure why, but it soon becomes a deeply touching story.
“I find it becomes especially personal because of the eventual reason as to why he has Humphrey’s photograph – it’s a very Christmassy story that warms the cockles.”
The BBC has confirmed a fourth series of Beyond Paradise is in production. An airdate is yet to be revealed, but it’s expected to arrive on our screens in 2026.