Beyond Paradise spoilers follow.
Tonight's (April 19) episode of Beyond Paradise saw DS Esther Williams reveal a heartbreaking lie about daughter Zoe's relationship with her father.
As Humphrey and the gang set out to investigate the case of a woman who'd been shot in the back with a bow and arrow, Esther was left with a gut-wrenching dilemma after discovering her teenage daughter had gotten a tattoo in memory of her dad.
"Three little birds, the song dad sang to me when I was born," Zoe explained after revealing the design.
However, Esther was horrified by her daughter's new ink, with her reaction driving a wedge between the pair.
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However, later on in the episode, Esther revealed to Martha that she wasn't upset about the tattoo but the meaning – with the detective then revealing the devastating truth about the story she'd told her daughter.
"The truth is that it's not even about the tattoo," she began. "It's more than that."
Esther then explained that she made up the story about Zoe's father singing 'Three Little Birds' to her up as he'd actually died in a car accident on the way to the hospital and had never met his daughter.
"Zoe was really struggling with not having a dad, not having any memories of him... It's stupid spur of the moment I know that," Esther said of the lie. "But my daughter was hurting. She was looking for something, anything, to make him real. So I lied to her."
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Thankfully, Esther was ultimately able to come around to the idea of a tattoo, revealing to her daughter that she'd got a matching design so they could honour her father together.
"Three little birds. You, me and dad," Zoe told her.
Elsewhere in the episode, Martha and Humphrey were treated to an impromptu hen/stag party by their friends ahead of the wedding, with the couple seeming stronger than ever. But will they make it down the aisle?
Beyond Paradise airs on Fridays at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
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Brenna Cooper is a freelance journalist, who currently specialises in entertainment reporting. She joined Digital Spy in 2022, writing TV and movies stories for the site. After graduating with an NCTJ accredited Journalism Masters from the University of Sheffield in 2020 she has since embarked on a freelance career.
Brenna previously produced lifestyle content for Checklists.co.uk and has a specific interest in music, reviewing live acts and interviewing bands such as Confidence Man and Amyl and the Sniffers.
