'IT'S A VERY CHRISTMASSY STORY'

Mystery snowmen, romantic surprises and moving revelations are on the agenda in Beyond Paradise's festive edition

- WORDS: JO BERRY

Filming the Beyond Paradise Christmas Special brought back memories of their own favourite Christmases for stars Kris Marshall and Sally Bretton.

“Christmas at my grandparents in Nottinghamshire was always fun,” says Kris, 52. “I would sleep in the loft when I stayed there, which had a big metal ladder you’d have to pull down – so when my granddad tried to hang up our stockings at midnight, he’d wake us up accidentally because the ladder was quite loud. My granddad trying and failing miserably to quietly hang up our stockings is always a nice memory. We also used to get like six feet of snow, so as a three or four-year-old, this snow was the height of skyscrapers to me.”

For Sally, her favourite festive memory involved a family reunion.

“My favourite Christmas memory is probably when my brother was away in Australia and returned home,” says Sally, 45. “When he came back, he surprised my grandparents by hiding in a bush in the garden. My mum set off lots of fireworks, and he appeared through the mist. It was magical.”

Kris and Sally are back as engaged couple Humphrey and Martha for Beyond Paradise’s third festive special, which will be followed by a fourth series of the show in the new year. In the seasonal episode, Martha is working on a very special surprise for Humphrey, but while the Detective Inspector is great at solving mysteries in the town of Shipton Abbott, he has no clue what she is up to.