It seems the bigwigs at the BBC have clocked that the secret to keeping a long-running telly drama alive—or salvaging a critically battered one—is a decent change of scenery. Whether it’s swapping a sun-drenched beach for a slightly different sun-drenched beach, or trading a hijacked train for the bleak expanse of the Irish Sea, moving the furniture around is clearly the broadcaster’s new favourite play.
Take Death in Paradise, for instance. The Caribbean crime procedural has been an absolute staple since it first aired back in 2011, but the current 15th series, which landed on our screens last month with Don Gilet stepping into the shoes of DI Mervin Wilson, is pulling a few fresh tricks out of the bag. Shantol Jackson, who plays DS Naomi Thomas, recently spilled the beans on what punters can expect. Apparently, the crew aren’t just sticking to the usual sandy backdrops of the fictitious Saint Marie (filmed, as always, out in Guadeloupe). Episode six is the one to watch, she reckons, partly because the action shifts to a completely new location and throws Naomi into an unexpected partnership.
It sounds like a proper laugh behind the scenes, too. Jackson mentioned teaming up with a chaotic bunch of actors putting on a production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, complete with a massive shipwreck set built right onto the beach. But the detail that really stands out is Naomi finally heading out into the field with Commissioner Selwyn, played by the brilliant Don Warrington. Seeing Selwyn actually getting his hands dirty away from the precinct desk is a rare treat and, by Jackson’s account, it was a massive highlight of the shoot. It just goes to show that even after a decade and a half of mysterious island murders, the producers know when to shuffle the deck.
Speaking of shuffling the deck—and swapping tropical warmth for something significantly grimmer—the BBC has finally broken a near two-year silence on Nightsleeper. You probably remember that one. The critics absolutely savaged it. The Guardian famously branded the six-part thriller “fantastically bad”, which usually sounds the death knell for a new commission. The viewers, however, had entirely different ideas. The first episode pulled in a massive 8.5 million of them, making it the BBC’s most successful new drama launch of 2024. It turns out that blockbuster viewing figures and massive global syndication carry a lot more weight than a few snooty write-ups. The show was flogged to a staggering 176 countries, which is practically unheard of for a domestic British production. So, naturally, a second series is officially on the cards.
This time around, writer Nick Leather and Element Pictures are ditching the railway entirely. The new run swaps the night train for a passenger ferry traversing the overnight route from Belfast to Liverpool. They’re keeping the real-time gimmick, mind you. The whole ordeal is set to unfold over six gruelling hours, with the BBC teasing that every single cabin door hides its own subplot, promising a tangled web of maritime tension and overlapping storylines.
Filming is slated to kick off in Belfast later this year, though it’s still up in the air whether original leads Joe Cole and Alexandra Roach will be back on board. Executive producer Kate Harwood is keeping her cards close to her chest for now, promising a narrative packed with new faces, serious emotional peaks, and a fair few twists.
We’re probably looking at a 2027 broadcast on BBC One and iPlayer for the ferry nightmare. Oddly enough, Nightsleeper has already built up quite the continental fanbase; the real-time thriller made its German premiere on Das Erste back in mid-April. And with fresh batches of these revamped series already slated to hit German screens as early as June 2026, it’s blindingly obvious that the international market is lapping it up. Good news for the accountants, anyway, even if the TV snobs are still rolling their eyes.
