With the latest series of Beyond Paradise now officially underway, one of the stars of the show Barbara Flynn recently opened up about what lies ahead for her character Anne Lloyd, including teasing a romance with a very famous Doctor Who star. Appearing on Tuesday’s This Morning on 2 April, Barbara spilled the beans on where exactly Anne is at the moment in her life and how she’s finding the dating scene as an older woman.
Speaking to show hosts Dermot O’Leary and Alison Hammond, Barbara said: “She’s coming to a bit, after the death of her husband. She starts this dating and it’s a foreign world, she is completely lost - and if it weren’t for a great deal of help with the pushing and the swiping and the whatever you have to do on dating apps these days, she’d be lost.”
The star then revealed that her character was receiving plenty of advice and support from the people around her, which included plenty of dating tips that may raise an eyebrow or two. During the course of her dating endeavours, Anne matches with two people and later plucks up the courage to go on a date with a man named Richard.
Teasing what lies ahead, Barbara added: “She does actually hook up on the second date with Richard, who is played by Peter Davison. And now, Peter and I go, way, way, back to when I was working on A Very Peculiar Practice. It was a very wonderful anarchic thing about a medical practice - a very poor medical practice - on a university campus. "
She then added: "Anyway, Peter played a very nervous young doctor and I played this very strong, incredibly powerful woman with a very ambidextrous sex life!”
Alison Hammond then gasped at the description, prompting Barbara to continue: “It’s worth watching! Then I met him again later on in something called Pat and Cabbage, where he played the stronger person and I played a detective, a sort of shy person.”
Although Barbara didn’t give away whether or not a lasting romance was on the cards, Dermot was thrilled with the development as he praised the show for tackling a subject not often broached by society - finding love later in life. He said: “It’s a lovely storyline that a lot of people resonate with. That kind of, widow, widower, that third act in life and giving it another go.”
Barbara also agreed as she commented: "That’s the thing about the series, it touches on things that people don’t really talk about but need to. Everyone watches it. Every age.”
Beyond Paradise continues Fridays at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer
