Australian Death in Paradise spin-off Return to Paradise is not fresh nor distinct - but that’s the point

How do you define paradise?

To many Australians, a small, tropical island in the Caribbean with its beaches, lush plant life and laidback vibes definitely qualifies.

Is the south coast of NSW paradise? It has beaches, yes, and even lots of greenery. It also doesn’t have too much traffic, unless you’re trying to drive in and out of Hyams Beach with its white sand shores. On paper, it could be paradise.

When 85 per cent of Australians live within 50 kilometres of the coast, that part of the world seems more reminiscent of childhood summers at nearby motels than wonderland. But it’s all objective, isn’t it?

Likely any Brits from industrial cities would consider the fictional beachside NSW town of Dolphin Cove to be paradise, and a massive chunk of the audience for Return to Paradise, an Australian spin-off of the long-running crime procedural Death in Paradise, will be from Old Blighty.

Return to Paradise starts this weekend on ABC, and the series is a co-production between our national broadcaster and the original Aunty, the BBC, which owns the rights to the series set on the fictional island of Saint Marie.

Death in Paradise already has 13 seasons under its belt and shows no signs of ending soon. There’s even a spin-off called Beyond Paradise, following one of the show’s popular detectives, Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall), as he settles back into an English village.

There’s no real mystery to the franchise’s popularity. Crime procedurals are an enduring genre for a reason. You know what you’re going to get — a clever detective will noodle it out and restore justice to the chaos wrought by the crime — and there is great comfort to that. Imagine if every problem could be solved at the end of 53 minutes.

Return to Paradise features the brand’s first female lead, Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson), who’s the prodigal daughter returned. An Australian who was serving in London’s Met Police, she’s home to sort out her mum’s house.

She didn’t intend to stay but professional problems back in England left her with few options but to join her old force as a casual contractor. The original series always had an element of “fish out of water” for its central character and here it’s that Mackenzie is disliked by the town after running away from an engagement to a beloved local son.

But her prodigious skill and addiction to crime-solving see her rubbing up against that community.

The supporting cast includes Catherine McClements, Tai Hara, Aaron McGrath, Celia Ireland and British import Lloyd Griffiths.

Return to Paradise follows the Death in Paradise formula – a body, a crime, a limited pool of suspects and a last-minute realisation leads to a Hercule-Poirot-in-the-parlour reveal in the presence of every suspect. Meanwhile, the quaint police station is filled with lovable personalities and no one comments on the high rate of murders in such a small geographical precinct.

As to whether or not there’s anything distinctly Australian about it, yes and no. By virtue of the setting and the accents, sure, but given that it hews so closely to the original series, it’s just a variation on it, not something fresh.

But that’s all it needs to be, even if, for some of us, it doesn’t necessarily fulfil the “paradise” part of the promise.

Return to Paradise is on ABC and iView from Sunday, September 8