As this episode of Beyond Paradise begins, everyone is in Saltleigh for the last day of the regatta. PC Kelby Hartford (Dylan Llewellyn) tries to keep everyone safe. Hugo Digsby (Jason Hughes) brings milk to Martha (Sally Bretton). Hugo admits it’s a big day before leaving. Ben Taylor (Lance West) picks up several bags from Martha later. Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) arrives with Rosie (Bella Rei Blue Stevenson) with the binoculars. Martha tells them to go ahead and she’ll catch up with them. They see Nate Dalton (Silas Carson) who won the same cup in the same race before Rosie was born. Margo Martins (Felicity Montagu) tells Rosie he did it by nobbling the boat operated by Hugo Digsby. Now, their daughters, Francine Dalton (Laura Euler-Rolle) and Polly Digsby (Madeleine Day), are facing. Ben gives the girls to the women. A TV interviewer (Sarah Bowden) asks Francine and Polly about the race. Nate says Francine is a Dalton and winning is what they do.
Hugo isn’t thrilled with Nate who he calls smug, but Polly asks him to leave it be. Martha joins Humphrey just before the race starts. Polly seems to start feeling ill during the race. Francine stops when Polly falls into the water. She dives into the water to save her. After the intro, Polly is checked out by medics. She tells Humphrey she believes someone did this to her. Polly shows them a note she found in her bag. She didn’t show it to anyone because she thought it was a joke. The note says, “Race today and it will be your last.” Polly reveals she’s been on anti-depressants for a couple of months. She started feeling unwell just after she sailed down the start. Polly had a fruit smoothie just before the race. DS Esther Williams (Zahra Ahmadi) and Humphrey find out that the smoothie came from Martha’s booth. At the station, Esther says she hopes the lab can find fingerprints or DNA on the note. Humphrey asks Margo about the race involving the fathers.
She explains that Hugo accused Nathan of sabotage. Nathan got new sponsors, sailed in the Olympics, and won a gold medal. Hugo disappeared from the racing scene and ran a local sailing club. Kelby mentions that Francine gave up the race to help Polly. The lab didn’t find anything in the energy bar, but significant traces of zopiclone were found in Polly’s smoothie. The sleeping pill would’ve knocked her out alongside her anti-depressants. Humphrey and Esther check in with Martha and Zoe (Melina Sinadinou). Martha says they’re going to rerun the women’s race. She also confirms she made the smoothies. Martha says the bags were collected by Ben. Humphrey and Esther speak to him moments later. Ben says he took them straight to the water and didn’t put the bag down at any point. Ben remembers Polly opening the bag and drinking the smoothie. He says he’s known Polly for a long time and wishes they were together.
Ben says Polly was with her dad and they were being interviewed by the television crew. At the station, Humphrey and the team watch the footage from the television crew. They won’t get any fingerprints back on the bottle until the morning. Margo wonders if Ben is lying. They realize that Martha is the only one who had an opportunity to tamper with the smoothie. Humphrey speaks to Martha who says she’ll leave Rosie at the café with Zoe. He admits Martha is his prime suspect. Martha thinks it will get easier when they find Rosie a school place. Anne Lloyd (Barbara Flynn) is asked to take Rosie tomorrow afternoon. Martha promises to cook her a meal in exchange for her help. Esther hangs out with Archie Hughes (Jamie Bamber). They talk about what they like about each other. Then, they talk about what they don’t like about each other. Esther says Archie thinks too much. She also says he should avoid leaving people with an empty glass.
Hugo checks on Polly. He wonders if she should be resting. She says she’s ordered a rerun for tomorrow and she wants to run. Hugo doesn’t want her out there until they find out who did this. Polly thinks she should race. Anne calls to ask about the biopsy results. There’s no news. Martha has to rush out because Humphrey set the alarm for the wrong time. Anne doesn’t say anything about the biopsy. At the station, Kelby tells Margo he gets messages on the app, but he’s never sure what to say back. When Esther arrives, she learns that the forensics have come back. Humphrey enters and learns that they found fibers on the letters. As for the fingerprints on the bottle, they found Polly’s prints and someone who is not on file. Esther suspects they belong to Martha. She suggests Martha may hold the answers without realizing it. They keep pestering Humphrey until he agrees to bring Martha in for an interview. Esther and Humphrey tell her about the fingerprints. Esther asks if anyone else was in the catering van.
Martha reveals Zoe came in to make Kelby a cup of tea but she was only in there for two minutes. She’s convinced no one else came in. Humphrey explains they’re trying to jog her memory. Martha says she arrived at the quayside to open up at 6:45. Health and Safety signed off 15 minutes later. She did the stock check, breakfast prep, and lit the grill. Martha started work on the sailor’s breakfast bags just after 8:30. Hugo brought fresh milk from the clubhouse just before 9. Zoe came to make Kelby a cup of tea and Ben arrived to get the competitor’s breakfast bags. Martha reminds Humphrey he was a witness to that. Martha doesn’t think anyone could’ve tampered with them without her noticing. Hugo passed the bottles of milk to her through the backdoor. Martha leaves a short time later. Humphrey and Esther confront Hugo who is on the beach. He says Polly wants to race again and he’s worried she might be in danger.
Hugo also says he took milk to Martha every day this week. He tells them about passing off the milk to Martha. Hugo says there’s only one person who would benefit from doing this and that’s Nate. Hugo tells him to stop him or he will. Kelby tells Margo that the fiber turned out to be a blonde hair so it probably belonged to Polly. He’s getting frustrated with the whole thing. Margo throws her South West Sailing Today magazine at him. Kelby notices the letters are the same as those used to make the note. Esther gets a call from Margo who tells her that Nathan Dalton is up to his eyeballs in debt. Nate tells them it was a couple of rogue investments and he’s handling it. Humphrey says they have the most to gain from Polly losing. Nate says she will lose without any help from him. He says Francine has been trained by the best sailors in the world. Kelby tries to piece together the threatening note. He believes the words were cut from the same magazine.
He shows the magazine to Humphrey and Esther. Kelby also reveals that part of the hair was stuck under one of the letters. Francine is on the front page of the same issue used and she has blonde highlights. She is brought in for an interview. Kelby and Humphrey confront her about sending the letter. Francine knew her dad would be upset if she lost. She sent the letter to try to throw Polly off her game, but she never meant for her to get hurt. She denies doing anything to hurt her. After Francine is released on a caution, Nate says he’ll have to move mountains to get her to race tomorrow. Esther admits she’s starting to dislike Nate the more she sees him. Humphrey is beginning to realize why she wrote that letter. Margo interrupts to tell them Polly has been given approval to race tomorrow. Humphrey thinks that might give them a chance to catch the culprit. Zoe talks to Humphrey about missing another college day. She lets it slip that there’s something going on with Anne. Martha speaks to Anne about it later.
She tells her mom that this is a big deal. Anne urges her to stop it. She also says her father went through it on his own. Martha argues he wouldn’t have wanted her to go through that alone. Anne realizes how he must’ve felt being frightened there alone. They agree not to have any more secrets. Esther joins Archie who offers her wine. Margo catches them together and kissing. Humphrey returns home with the takeaway. Martha tries to help and they end up dropping a bottle causing a cut on Rosie’s leg. She screams like a banshee. They take her to the clinic where she gets butterfly stitches. Humphrey and Martha have to convince Rosie that everything is okay between them. In the morning, Margo confronts Esther about her relationship with Archie. Esther says no one knows yet. Margo says her secret is safe with her although she’s only kept one secret in her life. She promises not to tell anyone. Esther heads down to the race.
The milk from Hugo is dropped off to Martha who is with Humphrey. Ben arrives for the bags. Humphrey leaves Martha and follows Ben. Hugo tells Ben they brought their own this time. He seems tired. Polly says they won’t let them beat them. Nate arrives and explains he managed to convince the committee not to disqualify his daughter. They argue until Francine yells at them. She says she’s not doing this anymore. Francine admits she hates sailing. She tells Nate to race if he wants to win so badly. Polly rushes after her. Francine apologizes for sending the letter. She says she started sailing to make her dad proud but he never is. Francine wants to be who she wants to be and not who her dad wants her to be. They agree to go for a drink sometime. Nate goes after his daughter. Polly races. Kelby drops off drinks to Humphrey and Esther. When Esther and Kelby switch drinks, Humphrey thinks about something. He suggests the smoothie wasn’t meant for Polly.
Ben could’ve been distracted by his crush and got the bags mixed up. The video footage proves it. Humphrey thinks Hugo was responsible. He swapped the breakfast bags when Martha opened the fridge door. Humphrey thinks Hugo was on the brink of confessing until something stopped him. Nate interrupted to ask for a rematch. Humphrey says Hugo didn’t know about the letter. Hugo wanted his daughter to have what he felt she deserved. Polly gets her moment when she wins the race. Esther and Humphrey approach Hugo after the race. He asks for a moment. Hugo tells Polly he has to tell her something. He’s taken to the station to make a full statement. Esther says they’ll speak to Polly to see what she wants to do next. Before the formal interview, Esther wants to ask him something. Martha and the others celebrate a successful regatta. Esther begins telling them about the gossip about the original dad’s race.
She says he wasn’t nobbled at all. Hugo didn’t check his boat properly the night before. Anne receives a call and steps away with Martha who gives her encouragement. After the call, Anne says it’s benign and totally harmless. Everyone discusses getting takeaway and share drinks.
Beyond Paradise Review
This episode of Beyond Paradise put Martha under the spotlight since she was integral to the investigation. Some aspects of the episode worked better than others. The whole temporary adoption thing is a bit weird considering Humphrey and Martha just don’t have enough time for it. The accident was also silly.
The investigation was at least interesting and the regatta added a bit of excitement to the episode. The conclusion wasn’t particularly surprising, but the way it worked out was clever enough. The episode did a pretty good job of making it easy to see the characters’ motives.
Kelby seems to be getting more competent as the series progresses. The relationship with Esther and Jamie is a little odd although it may develop into something better in future episodes. The episode was enjoyable for the most part even though it lagged a bit in the middle.
This episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Beyond Paradise can be found here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising with us here. Discuss this show and others at the Reel Mockery Forum.