It’s about time Beyond Paradise solved this burning mystery around its key character

Beyond Paradise‘s resident troublemaker Archie (Jamie Bamber) has been back for just two episodes, and already he’s raising the anxiety levels of one of Shipton Abbott’s finest.

This time we’re not talking about Martha (Sally Bretton) or Humphrey (Kris Marshall), but Humphrey’s partner in crime-solving DS Esther Williams (Zahra Ahmadi).

It seems their cheeky little flirtation at the end of season three’s debut episode progressed into something much more sultry. Moments into the second episode of the latest series, Esther could be seen turning over in Archie’s bed with the suave bachelor handing her a coffee.

Over breakfast (his not hers, as she firmly declined his offer to stay) she makes clear that their liaison was a one-time thing.

“Best not to, that’s what I’ve always found,” she said, despite being initially flustered. However the persistent Archie later succeeded in wooing her, and they went for drinks.

Their ‘not a date’ was the perfect opportunity for Beyond Paradise to finally reveal where Esther’s guarded, and generally prickly nature towards men, comes from. But instead the murder mystery show buried the lead even further, by really outlining her feelings towards them when the topic of dating and past relationships came up.

During that intimate chat, Archie turned her questions about why he is single back onto her.

“I think basically I just don’t like men,” she told him. However he – like us – could sense this wasn’t quite the full picture, despite her reasoning of finding them “obvious” and “dull” before clarifying that she isn’t “anti men” but they just “have their place.”

Related: Beyond Paradise’s underwhelming season 3 debut is no reason to give up on the show

This isn’t the first time Beyond Paradise has probed into Esther’s romantic past; a conversation with Martha in season two shed some light on her history with her daughter Zoe’s (Melina Sinadinou) father.

Over drinks, Esther shared how their fling had turned into something more after they’d discovered she was pregnant. The two fell for each other in the months leading up to Zoe’s birth, which coincided with his tragic death in a motorcycle accident.

Archie attempted to ask about Esther’s ex, but she wasn’t ready to open up to him about something so deeply personal.

What Beyond Paradise has shared of Esther’s past does go some way to explaining her hesitancy towards becoming involved with someone. She fell pregnant with Zoe at 17, which means this traumatic experience happened around the age of 18.

Since then, her main priority has been Zoe – she even mentioned to Martha that her love life was “nonexistent.” However it doesn’t explain why she is so untrusting towards men.

By her own admission Zoe’s father was “lovely” and did the right and responsible thing of stepping up to his commitments as a father even before Zoe’s birth, supporting Esther through her pregnancy during a time when she was vulnerable.

He was taken from them before they were able to see how that life together would have panned out, which is devastating and traumatic, but doesn’t explain her distrust and dislike. At least in the romantic sense, as she is dearly fond of her colleagues Humphrey and Kelby (Dylan Llewellyn).

It’s possible that these feelings existed long before she became pregnant, but so far Beyond Paradise has only hinted at her past, instead of sharing the full picture, and after two full seasons of teasing it’s time we found out why Esther is so guarded.

Perhaps this is the season for it. Not only is it the first time she’s dated since Beyond Paradise‘s run, it’s also the first time she’s shown interest in someone romantically. Smooth talker Archie may just be the one to get her to drop her defences.

Failing that, it may be time to put Humphrey on the case. If he can solve this week’s mystery working barely half a day, we’re certain he’d be able to crack this Esther case in no time.

Beyond Paradise and Death in Paradise both air on BBC One and stream on BBC iPlayer.