Beyond Paradise’s Kris Marshall finally has made his eagerly awaited return to screens as DI Humphrey Goodman in the BBC murder mystery’s season three premiere. Ahead of its comeback, the actor opened up about the storyline, which sees his character and onscreen fiancée Martha Lloyd (played by Sally Bretton), embark on their parenting journey.

The official synopsis for this season promises “a host of baffling cases” and “unexpected hurdles” for Humphrey and Martha as they continue on their fostering journey. Fans were hurled into the couple’s personal struggles in the first-ever episode, as the couple faced a heartbreaking pregnancy loss before making the decision to discontinue their IVF journey. The 2023 Christmas special saw their storyline progress as they met social worker Hannah Owen (Amalia Vitale), who opened up to the idea of them becoming foster parents.

However, things are set to change for the duo as they will accept an emergency placement of a nine-year-old called Rosie (Bella Rei Blue Stevenson).

In a recent interview, Martha star Sally revealed that the show worked with experts to authentically portray the fostering experience.

For this, showrunners spoke to a social worker and ran scripts past them to check tone as the actress shared: “It was really important the storylines felt right, and we’re a healthy representation of what fostering can be like.

“I feel, as in every different foster placement, I suppose it’s just how you react to it is according to each child, and they’re learning on the fly, and they’re trying to do the very, very best they can with something they haven’t done very much of yet.

Speaking to Hello! Kris added: “The truisms in the script have to be truly representative of people’s actual journey, for people who are actually experiencing this.”

The actor revealed that he drew on his own parenting experiences and told the publication: “Parenting is often three steps forward, two steps back, and when you think you’re winning, the rug gets pulled out from underneath you.”

Marshall and his wife, Hannah Dodkin, have two children, Thomas and Elsie, and have previously discussed the difficulties of working away from home.

Between 2014 to 2017, he starred as Humphrey in the show’s original series, Death in Paradise, before leaving and eventually leading its spin-off.

Although he was a fan favourite, the actor stated that he left to raise his young family and told Lorraine Kelly: “I realised I had to get my son to school.”

As Death in Paradise is filmed in Guadeloupe, he made the gruelling long journeys home repeatedly to be with his family, and filming Beyond Paradise works better for Marshall as it’s set in Cornwall.