DI Mackenzie Clarke, played by Anna Samson, lands in Dolphin Cove, New South Wales, after evidence-tampering allegations stall her Scotland Yard career. The coastal town she fled years ago now depends on her to clear a backlog of homicides, all while she sleeps in her dead mother’s house and reports to Senior Sergeant Philomena Strong, Catherine McClements, the woman whose son she left at the altar. The setup is pure Death-in-Paradise DNA—standalone whodunits, sun-bright locations, a faint comic bounce—yet the emotional engine is Mackenzie’s own reckoning with every choice that exiled her here.
Forensic pathologist Glenn Strong, Tai Hara, still wears the emotional bruises she inflicted, and his new partner Daisy Dixon, Andrea Demetriades, works metres from the ex who could upend their lives. Against this tension, each week Mackenzie and over-eager British detective constable Colin Cartwright, Lloyd Griffith, unpick murders among surf clubs, whale-watching tours and art festivals, using the same crisp clue structure that made the parent franchise a global comfort-watch. Ardal O’Hanlon reprises his Death in Paradise DI Jack Mooney in London-set bookends that remind viewers the wider universe is watching.
ABC debuted the six-part first run on 8 September 2024; BBC One followed in November. Within three months the show won the 2025 Silver Logie for Best Drama Program and locked in a second season, shooting through April 2025 for a 15 November 2025 return. A third season is already in development, guaranteeing Mackenzie more time to decide whether Dolphin Cove is punishment, refuge, or home.
Production Details
ABC TV / 2 Seasons / 12 Episodes / 2024 - Present
Created by: Peter Mattessi, Robert Thorogood, James Hall, Fredsters
Showrunner(s): Belinda Campbell, James Hall, Peter Mattessi
Writer(s): Peter Mattessi, Alexandra Collier, Elizabeth Coleman
Producer(s): Diane Haddon
Main Cast
Anna Samson as DI Mackenzie Clarke
Lloyd Griffith as DSC Colin Cartwright
Tai Hara as Glenn Strong
Catherine McClements as Senior Sergeant Philomena Strong
Celia Ireland as Reggie Rocco
Aaron L. McGrath as Constable Felix Wilkinson
Andrea Demetriades as Daisy Dixon
Ardal O'Hanlon as DI Jack Mooney
Ron Smyck as Trevor Bongiovanni
Geneviève Lemon as Madge Woodburne
Vivienne Awosoga as Becky Hayden
Stephen Hunter as Grant Edgar
