Beyond Paradise star Zahra Ahmadi has landed a new role away from the BBC series - and she looks worlds away from her character Esther Williams.

The actress plays Mehreen Askari-Evans, an intelligence operative alongside Endeavour star Shaun Evans and Romola Garai. The four-part series is set against the backdrop of MI5 and explores the fragile, tangled web of human relationships, where loyalty and deception collide.

Zahra looks completely different from her character in Beyond Paradise, as seen in the first-look pictures, where the actress dons blonde highlights in her hair and dark eye makeup.

In the Death in Paradise spin-off, where she stars alongside lead detective Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall), her character, Esther, adopts a more simplistic and natural look.

The synopsis for the new ITV series teases, "At the heart of the story is John Hughes (Shaun Evans), a mid-career MI5 officer navigating a rapidly evolving intelligence landscape while struggling to keep his personal life intact.

"Acting on a hunch, John meets a British-Iranian man with links to the Stockport gangland who claims to have intelligence about an imminent plot on UK soil.

"When the encounter takes an unexpected turn, John finds himself under internal investigation, facing scrutiny from his superiors, including Simone Grant (Nikki Amuka-Bird), while his partner Claire (Romola Garai) grapples with the secrecy that defines his world."

It continues, "John's efforts to save his marriage are complicated by his inability to let the case go. And when he meets Mehreen Askari-Evans (Zahra Ahmadi), an intelligence operative who is tasked with taking over John's duties, he finds an unlikely ally.

"As John becomes increasingly convinced of the involvement of a hardline faction of the Iranian regime, he also starts to worry that there are enemies closer to home. But can he identify the target and avert the attack before it's too late?"

The ITV series is set to air in 2026, with a specific date yet to be confirmed.

Zahra's new series follows the announcement that Beyond Paradise will return later this month with a Christmas special.

Esther and Humphrey will be back to solve another mysterious crime in Shipton Abbott.

They will be joined by series regulars Sally Bretton, who plays Martha Lloyd, and Barbara Flynn, who plays her mother, Anne Lloyd.