BBC reveals future of Beyond Paradise after surprise twist

Beyond Paradise will return for a third series and a Christmas special the BBC has confirmed.

The BBC announced that the Death in Paradise spin-off, starring Kris Marshall as DI Humphrey Goodman and Sally Bretton as his partner Martha, will feature six new episodes in series 3, which will air next year. Before then fans will also get to enjoy a festive episode, which will be the second Christmas special for the show.

All the key cast — Zahra Ahmadi (The Bay, Tracey Ullman's Show, EastEnders) as DS Esther Williams, Dylan Llewellyn (Big Boys, Derry Girls) as PC Kelby Hartford and Felicity Montagu (This Time with Alan Partridge, Landscapers, Vanity Fair) as office support civilian, Margo Martins — are all expected to return.

Tim Key, executive producer for makers Red Planet Pictures, says: "The response to series two has been fantastic. So much love goes into the making of the show and we’re delighted that the audience have enjoyed it so much.  We can't wait to get back to Shipton Abbott for another Christmas special and series to continue the story and learn more about our characters and the town they live in — I can promise that we'll be making the viewers laugh, cry, laugh a bit more and then baffling them with a series of ingenious puzzles. There will also be a duck."

So, spoilers ahead if you've not seen the finale of Beyond Paradise season 2… notice we didn't call Martha Humphrey’s wife. Yes, in a shock twist ending to series 2 Humphrey and Martha didn't get married.

Humphrey, Martha and Martha's mum Anne (Barbara Flynn) had a major falling out over the wedding. Anne planned a wedding far more lavish than the couple wanted although to be fair to Anne the way the pair were carrying on there probably wouldn't have been any wedding at all. There's one thing being relaxed about your wedding, guys, but you do need to organize something!

After getting the message that the big wedding wasn't what Humphrey and Martha wanted, Anne canceled the bookings. The ending is likely to split fans who were looking forward to the wedding and might feel cheated. The episode ended with the couple enjoying their non-wedding on the beach, with Humphrey opening up the ring box and asking Martha if she'd do him the honor of not marrying him today.

As the whole series had been heading to that moment, it seems a bit of anti-climax although hopefully they will finally get married in Beyond Paradise season 3!

Of course, the Death in Paradise universe has expanded further with the Australian set spin-off Return to Paradise also in the pipeline. All the episodes of Beyond Paradise are available to enjoy now on BBC iPlayer.