Death in Paradise's first female lead opens up on major difference in Return to Paradise

Actress Anna Samson has highlighted the notable differences in the BBC spin-off series Return to Paradise ahead of its new season.

Appearing on Morning Live via video link on Monday, November 18, the 34-year-old discussed the variations between the Australian version of Return to Paradise, a spin-off of the original detective series Death in Paradise, and its counterpart.

Filmed in Australia, Morning Live hosts Helen Skelton and Gethin Jones inquired about the glamour of the set. However, Anna swiftly dispelled their illusions, saying, "No."

She elaborated: "No, it's not that glamorous, you know, shooting is a lot of hard work, and I'm on set quite a lot in this show, so it's a decent amount of hard slog."

Anna added: "Also, it looks warmer and sunnier than it is. You know, it's the magic of television. We were on the coast of New South Wales, it's very windy."

Regarding the series' differences, the actress explained: "Another departure from the original show is that this detective has quite long hair, so the wind was not our friend, and you know when you're shooting a show, continuity is important."

Tugging at her brunette strands, she said: "You can't have this bit of hair up here for one shot and down here for another, so yeah, we were kind of battling the tempestuous weather quite a lot."

Return to Paradise will chart the journey of DI Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson), an Australian expatriate who has carved out a reputation in London's Metropolitan Police for solving seemingly impossible murder cases.

However, when she finds herself accused of tampering with evidence in London, Mackenzie is forced to return to Australia, specifically to Dolphin Cove, her hometown and the last place she ever wanted to be.

Return to Paradise airs Friday 22 November at 8pm on BBC One.