RETURN TO PARADISE: CASTING ANNOUNCED FOR THIRD SERIES OF DEATH IN PARADISE SPIN-OFF AS FILMING BEGINS

The BBC has announced filming is now underway in Australia for series three of Return to Paradise, the highly successful spin-off of the global smash-hit Death in Paradise. The series will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One later this year.

The compelling and entertaining six-part whodunit series is produced by BBC Studios Australia Productions, in partnership with Red Planet Pictures, a Fremantle company, for the ABC, and in association with the BBC.

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.

Reprising their roles in the Logie award-winning series are 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.

Series three also features a stellar guest cast line up including Mark Lee (A Place to Call Home, La Brea), Tina Bursill (Strife, Doctor, Doctor), 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).

Return to Paradise is produced by BBC Studios Australia Productions and Red Planet Pictures. The series is co-created and executive-produced by Peter Mattessi, James Hall and Robert Thorogood. 

Di Haddon is producer. Executive producers for BBC Studios Australia Productions are Kylie Washington and Sophia Zachariou, for Red Planet Pictures are Belinda Campbell, Tim Key and Alexandra Carruthers and for the ABC are Brett Sleigh and Rachel Okine.

Internationally distributed by BBC Studios, the third series of Return to Paradise will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK. The first and second series are available to watch now on BBC iPlayer.