Beyond Paradise season 2 episode 3 spoilers follow.
Martha (Sally Bretton) and Humphrey (Kris Marshall) stepped into season one of Beyond Paradise engaged and ready to build their lives together.
Their happiness, however, was quickly blighted by their tragic miscarriage, subsequent fertility struggles and one very tenacious ex-fiancé in a leather jacket – the suave anti-Humphrey if you will – hoping to exploit their rough patch for his gain.
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Somehow they managed to muscle through things, making huge strides in their relationship in the Christmas special. Now, Beyond Paradise season two sees things come to fruition for the pair, with their decision to foster over the holidays shaping up into a reality.
Martha and Humphrey have already started making the necessary preparations for their new arrival, but that's not the only big decision that's finally beginning to take shape in this episode.
The latest episode of Beyond Paradise begins with the faked death of Margo's (Felicity Montagu) ex-sister-in-law Maisie, at sea. Away from the intricacies of the Shipton Abbot police's latest case, Martha and Humphrey have their own conundrum – how to convince their foster caseworker Hannah that their houseboat is in tip-top shape to welcome a child.
When Hannah arrives, questions begin to fly about the facilities on the boat (toilet, heating etc). The pair are terribly nervous, letting slip about Selwyn the duck, but there is one question that seems to catch them by complete surprise.
"Can I just confirm that you're not married but in a long-term relationship?" Hannah asks, and Martha's clear of the throat denotes her rising anxiousness.
She answers truthfully, before following up by asking if that matters.
Martha and Humphrey find temporary comfort in the fact that it doesn't and that Hannah just wants to ensure any child who's placed with them is going to a stable loving environment.
Either way, there's not much time to dwell on the matter as things move swiftly on to their living situation. It turns out that their lack of a house may limit the age of the child they are allowed to foster for safety reasons – "toddlers, for example" – and the absence of a garden doesn't allow for safe play in open spaces.
It isn't long before Humphrey blurts out "we've got the house," referring to Martha's mother, Anne's (Barbara Flynn) house, landing them head first into their next sticky situation.
Having told Hannah that they share Anne's house, alternating between the boat and her home, they now have the job of convincing Anne to give up that home, "with all its walls and proper toilets and a garden that children can play in." In exchange, she gets to take up life on sea any time they have a child to foster.
"It could just be days or weeks," she tells Martha's mother in a bid to appeal to her compassionate nature and agree to the on-again-off-again home switch. The thought of having to start the whole application process again, this time to include Anne, was seemingly too unbearable to consider.
Naturally, Anne doesn't take the news well and curtly walks off, leaving her non-committal, grudging, almost-yes hanging in the air.
Having broached the situation with her mother, Martha's thoughts return to "the marriage thing".
"Why bring it up if it isn't a thing?" she later says to Humphrey, who does his best to reassure her though it does little to ease her anxiety.
"I'm just worrying about everything, we're so close," she tells him.
Despite his assurances, it's clearly something he ruminates on for the remainder of the episode.
With the case of the week now behind him and the knowledge that Maisie had merely faked her death because she was terminally ill and had hoped to reconnect with her long-lost daughter, Humphrey's mind is clear to focus solely on him and Martha.
The episode closes with the two sitting on their boat, their friends and family all gathered in support of Margo to pay their respects to Maisie, who had passed that day.
Humphrey is encouraging Martha to make peace with Anne who feels let down by Martha's unsupportive attitude towards her dating.
"You'd better make up soon, we are going to need her," he tells Martha.
The house-boat swap is "of course" one way in which Anne's support and cooperation is invaluable – but so too is her role in giving Martha away, Humphrey subtly explains to Martha.
He expands on his romantic hint, saying: "What Hannah said about us not being married got me thinking, why aren't we? We both want to, don't we? We talk about it often enough. So what's stopping us?"
He then proceeds to tell Martha that he's booked their wedding.
"If that's okay of course, I mean if you still want to," he endearingly asks Martha once more, to which she naturally says: "Of course I want to marry you, but when?"
In a few weeks, it appears – plenty of time by Humphrey's estimation but clearly not Martha's, who's stunned but gloriously beaming.
They embrace in celebration and announce the news to everyone in attendance, who are no doubt thinking the same as us fans who have watched their rollercoaster romance: it's about damned time.
Beyond Paradise airs on Fridays at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
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TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
