As this episode of Beyond Paradise begins, Stella Ellis (Amy Morgan) and George Ellis (Kevin McNally) hang up corn dolls to protect their farm. When one of the dolls falls, bad things begin happening. Stella and George see a frightening figure following a spill. Rosie (Bella Rei Blue Stevenson) tries to convince Martha (Sally Bretton) to let her have chocolate in her lunch since Humphrey said it would be okay. When they’re alone, Anne (Barbara Flynn) tells Martha to decide what to do about the chocolate. She heads to her art class. Humphrey (Kris Marshall) heads to the Ellis farm where he finds a sign protesting the wind farm. PC Kelby Hartford (Dylan Llewellyn) tells him they can’t get a SOCO team in there until tomorrow morning. Humphrey looks around inside and notices that one of the corn dolls has fallen. Esther Williams (Zahra Ahmadi) tells him Stella has been checked and it’s nothing major. Stella remembered being pushed from behind and she banged her head on the way down.
Esther explains the corn dolls are made from the last harvest and hung to bring luck until the next one. George says they’ve been hanging them for 40 years and haven’t lost one yet. The legend says the Cornman will come if the doll falls. Stella tells them about hearing a noise and going to see what happened. Milk was just pouring out of the tank. Stella was about to turn the valve off when she was shoved from behind. George came in and they saw the Cornman. Humphrey burns himself on the stove. George insists there was no reason for the doll to fall. He’s convinced Michaela Robson (Rebecca Lee) was involved. Stella admits losing that milk will cut their income in half. Outside, Esther tells Humphrey she went to school with Michaela and they went to Young Farmers together. There’s a conflict between the two families, but Esther doesn’t think it’s about the wind turbines.
Stella and Michaela were previously in a relationship until George found out. He made Stella’s life miserable and threatened to disown her until she ended the relationship. Michaela’s mom, Lotty, is just as stubborn as George. Esther and Humphrey visit Michaela. They tell her about the incident at Ellis farm. Humphrey breaks a cat figurine while waiting for Michaela and Lotty Robson (Caroline Quentin) to join them. He also gets his hand burned again. Michaela tells Esther about her birthday party before Lotty joins them. When she’s asked about the wind turbines, Lotty says George has his head stuck in the past. She claims George doesn’t like solar panels because they’re new and different. Michaela says they were at Kitty Jay’s. They had dinner there and Lotty picked her up from surfing. Michaela rushes outside to tell Humphrey and Esther there’s a fire at the Ellis farm. Everyone rushes over and finds a fire in their hayfield. They see what appears to be the Cornman walking away from the fire.
Esther rushes after the figure and Kelby helps. The Cornman gets away. George comes out and blames Lotty who denies doing anything. Esther finds a jerry can that the culprit must’ve dropped. Kelby confesses he let them go because of the cows. Esther points out that Michaela and Lotty were with them when the fire was started. In the morning, Martha and Humphrey take Rosie to school for her first day. Rosie is nervous so they have to give her encouragement. She eventually goes into the Shipton Abbott Primary School. Archie Hughes (Jamie Bamber) sends a flirty text to Esther. Michaela sees her and believes she’s smitten. Esther denies seeing someone at the moment. She says there’s no news on the fire. Michaela never thought she’d feel sorry for George. Kelby uses a map to try to find out where the culprit was running to last night. He shows Humphrey a picture of the Cornman. Kelby tells Humphrey about the myth regarding the Cornman.
Margo Martins (Felicity Montagu) reveals they used to use the Cornman to scare each other as kids. Nothing has come back from the lab just yet. Margo hints at Esther’s relationship with Archie. Humphrey goes through the events of the night. He wants to check out Michaela and Lotty’s alibis. Humphrey tells them about the corn doll. He questions who has a grudge or a score to settle with the Ellis couple. Margo says she heard George fired his farmhand, Rhys Tomlinson, a while back. Kelby is asked to speak to Rhys. There’s a community meeting about the turbines later. Rhys Tomlinson (Oliver Hembrough) tells Kelby about George threatening to disown Stella because of her relationship with Michaela. Rhys says he tried to help George modernize, but he wouldn’t listen to anything he said. Kelby notices a jerry can in the back of his truck. Rhys mentions that the Ellis couple tried to sell not too long ago. Martha tells Zoe (Melina Sinadinou) and Anne that the corporate catering job came through.
Anne has added skydiving to her bucket list and she’s already got 11 sponsors. Zoe agrees to help with the catering job and sort out college. Humphrey and Esther run into Archie who says he’s delivering wine. Inside, George tries to get people whipped up against the wind turbines. Stella gets into an argument and shoves Michaela. Lotty claims George is making this personal. She believes this is about his grudge against her family and has nothing to do with the wind turbines. Kelby and Margo work on finding out more about the Cornman. Esther takes a call from Archie and apologizes for earlier. Archie suggests they could tell people and make life easier. Esther tries to get the call as quickly as possible. Kelby tells Humphrey that Kitty Jay’s confirmed Lotty and Michaela were there. They left sometime after 6:30. Margo says they didn’t find any prints on the milk tank or the jerry can. George and Stella’s prints were on both. They both used the milk tank and the jerry can was taken from their farm.
Kelby says Rhys likes Stella and hates George. He has a cast-iron alibi for last night. He was working at the Crooked Billet in Polmarron. Kelby tells them what Rhys said about someone wanting to buy the Ellis farm. The buyer pulled out when George insulted him. Humphrey is convinced the culprit is someone close to the Ellis family. He rushes out to be with Martha to pick up Rosie. They learn that Rosie has made friends with Libby. They all go for ice cream and talk about Rosie’s first day. She has a lesson and she’s going to write about Humphrey, Martha, and Anne. They offer to do a party for Rosie’s upcoming birthday. Esther gets a message from Archie asking to talk. She tells Zoe it was work. Zoe reveals she’s left college. She’s learning more at the Ten Mile Kitchen than she was at college. Zoe quickly tries to explain herself. Esther relents and lets her go what she wants. She doesn’t say anything about Archie. Anne tells Martha she’s reached her fundraising target for the skydive.
Humphrey speaks to Martha who is busy planning the party. They talk about possibly hiring an entertainer. Martha worries about presents and other things. Humphrey insists she’s overthinking it. He says they can only do what they think is right while Rosie is with them. Later, Rosie shows Anne the card she made for her. Anne admits she’s having last-minute jitters. Rosie suggests Humphrey can do it with her if she’s scared since she can’t. Kelby uses the map to try to figure out where the culprit went after setting the fire. Margo gets a call from the Ellis farm. She tells Humphrey and Esther that someone has left all of the cattle out onto the A386. At the farm, Stella shows them the farm she found and complains about having to pay for vet bills. George thinks he should just quit. He tells Stella she’s right and they should’ve sold. Humphrey asks Stella about the offer on the farm. Stella says she doesn’t think her dad was serious about selling the farm.
She’d have to carry her dad out in a box. Kelby braves his way through the cows. Then, he takes Humphrey and Esther to show them the old gamekeeper’s cottage on the boundary of the Ellis and Robson farms. It’s supposed to be empty, but it looks like someone has been there recently. There’s a picture of Michaela and Stella inside. Kelby shows them the other room where the Cornman costume is hanging. At the station, Margo says the only fingerprints in the cottage belonged to Michaela, Stella, and Kelby. Humphrey asks about Rhys. Kelby says the manager of the Crooked Billet confirmed Rhys worked a 6 to 11 that night. Esther worries that leaves them nowhere to go. Humphrey seems to realize something. He remembers Michaela mentioning a birthday party last month on the 18th. She showed Esther a birthday gift from her mom. Humphrey points out she’s wearing the bracelet in a photo with Stella from a year ago.
He says the photo was taken more recently. Humphrey points out that Stella Ellis had the opportunity. He believes the photo proves that Stella and Michaela are still together. Humphrey says they manufactured their breakup to appease George. In reality, they never stopped seeing each other. Humphrey says Stella was trapped when George stopped the sale. Therefore, Stella and Michaela decided to force him to sell it. Humphrey explains how Stella and Michaela pulled everything off together. By using the Cornman, they convinced George he would have a long year of bad luck. Stella eventually let the cows out. Humphrey reminds Esther that love is a very powerful thing. Stella is taken away in a police car while George watches. Michaela tells Esther they’re friends, but George didn’t give them any other choice. Esther doesn’t believe this. Michaela says it was this or Stella staying with George and putting up with his venom. Back at the station, Esther tells Humphrey that you’ve always got a choice.
She joins Archie later. Esther tells him that she doesn’t want to do this anymore. Humphrey and Anne get ready to go skydiving. Humphrey tells Martha that nothing can go wrong since Anne will give him the look if he does something incorrectly. The instructor learns that Anne broke her legs 40 years ago. As a result, she’s not allowed to do the jump and doesn’t qualify for the insurance. Humphrey has to do it alone. Eventually, he calls Martha to say there’s been an issue. He head-butted his instructor, but he needs Martha to come and get him. Humphrey and the instructor are stuck on the bridge.
Beyond Paradise Review
This episode of Beyond Paradise was fairly enjoyable even if it wasn’t perfect. It seems like every season has an investigation with some type of horror element to it. There was one with a witch and another with possible UFOs. In this one, we got the Cornman.
The investigation itself was fairly interesting with Kelby proving to be useful once again. It’s just unfortunate that the conclusion of the investigation was really bland, predictable, and even unoriginal. Still, there’s something oddly enjoyable about Beyond Paradise.
Most of that has to do with Humphrey and Kelby. Both keep the series interesting and uplifting. It’s also good that they’re not dealing with so many murders like every other detective series.
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. Join the discussion at the forum.