BBC’s Death in Paradise recently concluded its season 14 finale, which saw DI Mervin Wilson (played by Don Gilet) debate whether to return to the UK or stay in Saint Marie. Although fans will have a lengthy wait until its upcoming season, Friday (March 28) also marked the season three premiere of its UK-based spin-off, Beyond Paradise.

DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) and his partner DS Esther Williams (Zahra Ahmadi) made their comeback to investigate a mysterious death. However, unbeknownst to many viewers, the beloved actress Ahmadi previously starred in Death in Paradise before landing her role in the sleepy Devon town. After a stint on EastEnders, she appeared in the drama in 2018 as Daisy Anderson, a charity worker who was found dead but had also engaged in an affair.

Reflecting on her time in the drama, Ahmadi confessed that filming on the sun-soaked Caribbean island was challenging due to her fear of insects.

During an appearance on Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, she admitted: “I don’t like bugs, so I had a lot of bug incidents in Guadalupe.”

The actress revealed that filming had to be halted at one point when she found a poisonous centipede on her leg.

She recounted: “All of a sudden, someone said, ‘Get up, get up, get up!’ So I kind of stood up and I had this dress on, and 10 people descended on me, shaking it out, brushing down my legs.

“And nobody would tell me what was going on, and then eventually, I got it out of my makeup artist.

Ahmadi shared: “And it was a scolopendra – quite a poisonous centipede and it was on me and they have quite nasty bites and can give you quite a bad allergic reaction.”

In this season of Beyond Paradise, Esther finds herself navigating an unexpected shift in her personal life and dealing with her daughter Zoe’s (Melina Sinadinou) daring choices.

The storyline will also explore Humphrey and Martha’s (Sally Bretton) journey as foster parents to nine-year-old Rosie.