Beyond Paradise stars Zahra Ahmadi and Felicity Montagu have revealed that the season two premiere is "an ode" to a crew member who passed away last year.
Whilst chatting with HELLO!, the actresses spoke about the opening episode, which sees Zahra's character DS Esther Williams and DI Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall) investigate a murder that takes place onboard a steam train in Shipton Abbott.
Opening up about the episode, Zahra said it's "a special one" as their late colleague was "very present" during filming.
"Just on a really personal level, we lost a crew member unfortunately in really sad circumstances last year and he was very present in that steam train episode," she said. "He was working with us a lot, so it's a really special one that stays with us.
"I can still picture him now on the train working and it was a tricky situation to work in with all their crew and cast on it," she continued. "That's a really special one because I think that's the last complete episode he did with us and he was on the whole of the first series, as well."
Felicity added: "You're right Zahra, the episode is an ode to him."
In episode one, we see Humphrey and Esther join the Shipton Abbott Players for a murder mystery rehearsal aboard a steam train. While Humphrey is only playing a detective in the production, the situation suddenly becomes very real when the actor playing the victim is found dead with a knife in his back.
The synopsis continues: "Life begins to imitate art as the pretend suspects become all too real, and the steam train is scoured for genuine clues. With the victim barely known to his fellow performers, and the whole group under suspicion, the team sets out to unravel a dark past that reveals hidden connections between the actors."
Chatting about filming the episode, Zahra praised the guest cast, which includes Paul Bradley and Abi Clarke. "I really enjoyed it. We've just been so lucky with our guest cast the whole way through season one, season two, and that episode was no exception," she said. "The guys that we have involved in that were really up for it and gave us so much to work with.
"It was lovely for me to work with Felicity outside of the office," continued the actress. "To see that side of Margot, her performance side, that was really fun."
Beyond Paradise season two begins on BBC One and iPlayer on Friday 22nd March 2024.