Beyond Paradise viewers floored as Vicar of Dibley star makes twisted cameo – and is worlds away from sitcom character

BEYOND Paradise fans have been left floored as a Vicar of Dibley star made a twisted cameo.

The BBC One drama aired its festive special as Kris Marshall and Zahra Ahmadi reprised their characters.

DI Humphrey Goodman and DS Esther Williams were tasked with solving a number of robberies at Shipton Abbott.

In an unusual twist, however, all break-ins have one thing in common - nothing is taken.

Both coppers only had a pile of ash at each location to go off in order to solve the case.

While investigating, Police HQ were putting pressure on the small team to prove their worth or else they faced having their station closed down.

But fans were left stunned to discover The Vicar of Dibley's was the perpetrator behind the burglaries.

Police had pieced together how all homes had also been broken into at the same, 50 years previous.

It turned out James' character Ernest was righting his wrongs by returning all of the stolen goods.

When visited by Humphrey and Esther, he revealed he was dying of cancer.

Despite under pressure from above to secure as many charges for crimes, Humphrey opted for Ernest to receive a caution.

Reacting to the scenes on social media, one viewer said: "James Fleet just being quietly wonderful there in Beyond Paradise."

A second posted: "Is that Hugo (James Fleet) from The Vicar of Dibley??"

While a third wrote: "OMG, it's James Fleet, who played Hugo Horten in The Vicar of Dibley."

Beyond Paradise is available to stream now on BBC iPlayer.