Beyond Paradise season 4 cast are 'totally game' for a BBC crime drama franchise crossover episode — now there's just one piece of the puzzle that's missing

I'm coming up with so many potential TV show ideas for BBC iPlayer that I'm basically a freelance commissioner. With all episodes of Beyond Paradise season 4 now available to stream, let me walk you through my latest concoction.

If you were a fan of TV detective shows in the late 1980s, you might remember the golden age of big names sharing a crossover episode in the middle of a season's run (Colombo and Murder, She Wrote being my personal favorite). My pitch to the BBC is to bring this format back in the most obvious way possible.

Currently, the studio has three separate — but distinctly linked — crime dramas in Death in Paradise, Beyond Paradise, and Return to Paradise.

Each is racking up more and more seasons as the years pass, but despite Beyond Paradise being a direct spinoff of Death in Paradise (with lead Kris Marshall having starred in both), the three have never met.

It surely wouldn't be too hard for the three shows to cross over for a single episode, and it would undoubtedly be a fun novelty idea that also makes canonical sense.

I've already got Anna Samson from Return to Paradise on board with the idea, and now I've convinced the cast of Beyond Paradise season 4 that it needs to happen, too.

'We would be up for that, for sure — it sounds epic'

Beyond Paradise Series 4 | Official Trailer - BBC - YouTube

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"We would be up for that, for sure," Zahra Ahmadi, who plays dogged detective Esther Williams, tells me. "That sounds epic. Why haven't they done that yet? Maybe we could do it in... I don't know what's the most luxurious location you can think of? Hawaii?"

"Let's do it then. I would be so up for that, and I think everybody else would be as well."

Smells like a revival of Hawaii Five-0 to me, which isn't exactly a bad idea either. However, there is a small caveat for Marshall (DC Humphrey Goodman), who doesn't want Beyond Paradise to morph into something indistinguishable from Death in Paradise.

"What's always been important to us is that Beyond Paradise, whilst sharing the same DNA as Death in Paradise, retains its own unique thread and style," he explains.

"I feel that's always been super important to us, and that's no different now. Obviously, when you've done a show for four seasons, you know, everyone's a lot more comfortable in where they are and the way the show runs."

He continues, "But it has to stand alone. Otherwise, I don't think it would have made it to four seasons. And I don't think I would have wanted to do it."

Surely, for a single episode, we can make some concessions. I'm hearing an overarching yes, and I'm going to run with it, at least.

All that's left to do is get the Death in Paradise cast on board, then it's officially over to the BBC.

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