User Reviews

PC Kelby Hartford is tasked to guard a valuable artwork, The Solo Mare. A horse looking out at Shipton Abbott.

It has been recently purchased by Louise Fitzallan as it was painted by her ancestor. However there has always been controversy as to who really did create it. Some say it was a village girl.

The night before the painting's official unveiling, it was stolen right under PC Hartford's nose.

There was a power cut and he just stepped out of the room for a brief moment. He did see a man in an orange cap running away.

The story owed more to an episode of Jonathan Creek. There was an important clue imparted in the episode. Therefore it was not too difficult to conjure up who it might be.

More a case of how the theft took place. Still it was enjoyable to see DI Humphrey Goodman mentally working it out.

I would have thought though if DI Goodman was going to headquarters to see his boss, he might had checked up on the internet as to what they would look like.

I could do without the comedy police officer routine, or some of the guest cast giving performances so hammy you're waiting for a moustache to be twirled, but on the whole this is another good episode of the spin-off, and again proves you don't need a murder for it to be entertaining.

If anything the show doesn't need such hammy performances because at the centre of it you've got Kris Marshall and the lovely Sally Bretton (who now has someone other than Lee Mack to roll her eyes at) giving quite grounded and at times touching performances. The theatrics elsewhere create a bit of a jarring tone.

I'm enjoying this show so far, it feels fresher than its Caribbean set parent programme!

I love mysteries, but get a bit fed up with murders every time, so Beyond Paradise is perfect for me. Plus putting a double bill of BP followed by Death in Paradise works well because they are different enough but still both feel-good television. Also, despite their losses, Humphrey, Martha and Anne are a great contrast to the over represented mournful avenging detective that happens in too many shows. This series continues to breath new energy into the mystery genre in a down-to-earth way rather than getting too full on like some set ups. I really hope we have many more seasons of Goodman, Lloyd and co.

We've seen three of these so far, and the people wailing because it's not Death in Paradise should give their heads a wobble. No, it's not the Caribbean, well done, but as the vast majority of British series are set here, so what?

The stories look set to be mysteries, not all murders, and that's fine too. We got used to the barmy spectacle of Midsomer Massacres wiping out half of southern England, the Oxford population being decimated (Morse), and that small West Indies island also having a murder rate slightly worse than the Colombian drugs suburbs.

The show looks like they've got a good cast, with a variety of characters to give the viewers a few funny moments along with the impenetrable crimes, the station has a well-meaning idiot, a nerdy junior detective, an old sourpuss, and Marshall's eccentric DI Humphrey, newly shifted to Devon as his fiancee has moved back home. Sally Bretton gives expert help in that role, and - JOY - the wonderful Barbara Flynn is playing her mother. Flynn can do no wrong - though we have to excuse her that recent ITV Kate & Koji tosh she was in, everyone has bills I suppose?!

This show should catch on, decent plots for the crimes, and a bit of a twist with Humphrey's lady having her ex boyfriend (ex-fiance apparently!) as her new business partner, bailing her out (Jamie Bamber in that role). Given the many series that the original DiP show has had (so far, more to come), the viewers clearly like this type of thing, a little mystery to consider, and sympathetic characters, with a few funny lines thrown in. A further twist is the relative novelty of dropping the 2 detectives into the crime scenes as they work through the plot possibilities, a kind of enhanced flash-back? Seems to work well so far.

So, clever plots, a good cast, nice scenery, and the cases are hard enough to give viewers a chance to solve them without being too easy (this one had a good clue re an escapologist interest!) . Hopefully further series will be commissioned!

Shipton Abbott may well be a sleepy hamlet, nestled in the Devonshire countryside.

But it does have a claim to at least artistic fame, in the shape of a painting known locally as the Solo Mare.

Fame because it has been signed by a famous artist, but this has at least shades of notoriety about it.

Notoriety as there is strong local feeling, that the true artist was really non other, than the painter's chamber maid.

The Solo Mare is due to be presented at a prestigious local gathering, with the police protection in the capable hands of the Shipton Abbott constabulary.

Humphrey Goodman was more than happy to settle into, the rural idle of Shipton Abbott.

In what his former Metropolitan police colleagues, may well consider as somewhat bucolic surroundings.

But he felt his personal life belonged where, his fiancée Martha Lloyd called home.

However in deciding to do so he was not to know, that an aspect of his beloved's past, may appear on their horizon.

A valuable painting is stolen from under the very nose of PC Hawton, the painting, The Solo Mare, had only recently gone into the hands of the proud Fitzallan family.

This wonderfully entertaining show gets better and better with each passing episode, this was yet another satisfying, rewarding drama. I liked that it was a little bit different, nice to see a different kind of crime.

The solution was a really clever one, very well thought out. This was a really fine mix of drama and comedy, very light viewing.

Margot was good fun once again, her Kenny Everett costume was hilarious, her frosty character seemed to have thawed just a little bit.

Loved the cast that was assembled here, Rufus Jones and Annette Badland were excellent, I thought Pooky Quesnel was great, she plays the role of The Lady of The Manor incredibly well.

9/10.