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'Benidorm' In The Press...Recent stories from our news team:
Last week's outsider from the world of the un-north was Robin Askwith as a cockney conman. This week it's Una Stubbs, who comes from the world of Posh. She plays the snooty but enigmatic Diana, who makes a flying trip to bail out her son, hapless con victim Martin. Meanwhile, The Oracle's whoppers about fighting off criminals come back to bite him on the backside, Madge gets a Bo Derek-style makeover and Gavin suspects that Troy is cheating on him. This is just one aspect of the show that makes it a bit more than Coronation Street by the pool-side. Popular though it may be, Benidorm, the sitcom starring Sheila Reid, can be distasteful. In tonight's penultimate episode of the third series, dishonesty pervades the Spanish seaside resort: Gavin (Hugh Sachs) learns that Troy (Paul Bazely) is apparently cheating on him, while the elaborate stories of the Oracle (Johnny Vegas) land him in a spot of bother with the local police. Elsewhere, Diana (Una Stubbs) arrives to help her recently conned son Martin (Nicholas Burns) get back on his feet. Hugh Sachs explains 'Benidorm' success Benidorm star Hugh Sachs has said that the comedy series is successful because viewers recognise themselves in the characters. Written by Dan French. Digital Spy, 29th October 2009 Madge, who contributes a memorable karaoke spot to tonight's episode, must be one of the most hateful characters ever to appear in a comedy. It's more of the same ribaldry as the third series of the comedy about the Spanish resort continues. Madge (Shelia Reid) is uneasy when her estranged daughter Valda (Lorraine Bruce) turns up in the sunny resort and is convinced that she is there only for Mel's (Geoffrey Hutchings) money. Though that should be the least of her worries as a professional con man (Robin Askwith) arrives. Derren Litten's comedy showcases a certain kind of lobster-coloured all-Englishness that can only be found abroad nowadays. It's broad rather than acute, and occasionally hidebound (an Indian trainee doctor from Varanesi who speaks no English? No way), but a familiar cast, including Johnny Vegas and Steve Pemberton, help make for viewing as comfy as a carton of chips. This week, Madge runs into her marginally less horrible, estranged daughter Valda, while Robin Askwith, he of the Confessions of . . . series, crops up as a typically conniving cockney chancer. This series should be sponsored by Visit Britain, because it's doing a brilliant job of persuading viewers they'd be better off holidaying at home. Sheridan Smith stars in the hit ITV comedy based in a holiday resort. What's On TV, 9th October 2009 It's brash, bold and, despite its poor innuendos and obvious crudeness, at times quite brilliant in its sending-up of the working-class stereotype of the popular Spanish tourist destination. In tonight's second episode of the third series, Mick (Steve Pemberton) and Janice (Siobhan Finneran) are having relationship troubles and Brandy (Sheridan Smith) plays a practical joke on the bumbling Martin (Nicholas Burns). Ever since Johnny Vegas confessed to a lively online role-playing life, in which he entered chatrooms under the pseudonym "Bashful", you get the feeling script-writers have been looking to explore the notion again. Tonight, they finally do, as Geoff goes online dating, while his mother canvasses opinions as to whether or not he might be gay. A strange mixture of home truths and Carry On humour, Benidorm feels high-quality and low-rent, sometimes at the same time. Tim Healy's guest spot is certainly one to remember. Usually, I don't mind things that are a little down-market. You know: chips, tower blocks, Total Wipeout, that kind of stuff. It can be quite amusing. But Benidorm is at least one rung too far down the ladder. Not the place, which I went to once for a holiday (ironic of course) - it was rather charming. But the ITV sitcom, which is back, inexplicably, for a third series. Well, there is an explanation of course: millions of people watch it. The mystery is why they do. Benidorm returns for a third series of broad comedy shenanigans around the pool. It's an acquired taste and lacks anything approaching subtlety, but there is enjoyment to be had here if you look hard enough. tvBite has always found Sheridan Smith much warmer and funnier doing interviews for any of her low-rent shows (Royle Family apart) than she actually is on screen. So it's a mixed blessing to see her parachuted in to the first ep of the third series of ITV's flagship (only) sitcom. She donates a wiggle and a rasping scouse accent to the hour-long special, which adheres to the sitcom formula in its strictest sense. It's very much a series of set pieces linked by location. Some of the set pieces make you want to crush the writers' knuckles with a hammer (an out-of-control toy hovercraft chasing a Spanish waiter); while others are undeniably amusing (Johnny Vegas's character getting irritated by the stupid crossword answers). The good moments (mainly coming from the impressive cast) make you realise that there's something in there that makes it all worthwhile. Not since Gwen Taylor and Keith Barron kept finding themselves in the same hotel as that posh couple in Duty Free have a bunch of chalk-and-cheese holidaymakers been so unfortunate to end up sharing their vacations together so often. Back at the Solana Resort on a freebie (a present for winning Best Comedy at the National TV Awards, perhaps?), the gang will be joined by outlandish guest turns Sheridan Smith, Robin Askwith, Una Stubbs, Tim Healy and Mr Keith Barron himself. What's On TV, 2nd October 2009 Derren Litten's Costa-del-Hell comedy returns for a third series. It's the same gallery of grotesques who gather once again by the pool of the all-inclusive hotel Solana: the fractious Garvey family; corpulent swingers Donald and Jacqueline; and drip Martin, who has mislaid his wife and arrives instead with a brassy blonde called Brandy (guest star Sheridan Smith) in tow. By now we're used to Benidorm's broad comic brush. The characters don't just argue, they hurl curses at each other. If someone has an out-of-date mobile phone, it's not just a few years old but a big 1980s brick. When a character gets comically sunburnt, it's because he was wearing a silver suit and riding a 12ft-high bicycle. Nothing happens by halves. But although the comic timing is laboured, the re-creation of hellishness can be spot on. The scene where The Oracle (Johnny Vegas) is driven mad by his mum's trivia-quiz ignorance is inspired, and Geoffrey Hutchings' scooter mogul Mel is superbly awful. David Butcher, The Radio Times, 2nd October 2009 Forget your sun, sea and sex - it's more like sunburn, swearing and mobility scooters. All the familiar faces are back for a third series at the Solana resort in Benidorm. After the rooftop hijack they've been offered a free vacation as compensation, which explains why they just can't keep away from this all-inclusive holiday hell. This popular, tasteless and occasionally funny drama following British people in a holiday resort returns. Tonight, Mel (Geoffrey Hutchings) enlists the help of Mick (Steve Pemberton) to open his new mobility shop, with disastrous results. Meanwhile Martin (Nicholas Burns) has a new girlfriend, Brandy (Sheridan Smith). The comedy is hit and miss, but the performances are good, and so Benidorm wins points for trying. Nothing disappoints a British holidaymaker quite like a successful trip away; at least that's the comedy premise that's explored in the third season of this comedy. After the chaos surrounding their previous trip, we join our roster of British stereotypes gathering on a non-airconditioned coach in order to enjoy their compensatory free holiday. We then watch as this gift horse is looked in the mouth: it's like The Royle Family, but with sunburn. The amiable Geoff (Johnny Vegas) is an enjoyable feature, the incredibly caustic Madge (Sheila Reid) a riotously unlovable grandma. Interview: Benidorm's creator and writer Derren Litten Award-winning sitcom Benidorm is one of the UK's biggest TV comedy hits in years. As it returns for a third series, Yahoo catches up with the show's writer Derren Litten to find out what lies in store this time around... Yahoo, 1st October 2009 Benidorm tourism chiefs fight back Johnny Vegas and his co-stars from the hit ITV comedy Benidorm have put the resort on the map for all the wrong reasons, showing it to be the home of the package holiday from hell. Written by Graham Keeley. The Times, 20th August 2009 ITV1 comedy Benidorm extended to hour-long shows ITV1 comedy Benidorm will return in a one-hour format as part of the channel's autumn season, which will also include a Robbie Coltrane drama and a documentary series featuring Joanna Lumley. Written by Leigh Holmwood. The Guardian, 24th July 2009 ITV's biggest comedy in years returned for a summer special. The Benidorm special tied up all the loose ends of the series two cliffhanger and laid the ground for the upcoming third series. The Brits are abroad in Benidorm, back for this one-off special, though I'm not sure 'special' is a word that can really be used about this unlovable, ill-conceived, banal and embarrassing sitcom. Ouch, it's bad; it actually makes me quite depressed. A nod to the Javier Bardem character in No Country For Old Men amuses for a short while, but what he should have done is turn his gas-cylinder weapon on everyone involved - actors, writers, producers, conceivers, and the inexplicably large number of people who watch this nonsense, and then himself. The really depressing thing is that it's soon to return for another season. Now I'm depressed again. I've laughed at Benidorm before now, but last night's special was a distinctly laboured affair. "There are no strangers in Benidorm, only friends you haven't met," said the oily Spanish waiter at one point. "What bloody Christmas cracker did you get that out of?" replied another character. The same one where they got the jokes, I take it. There were thudding malapropisms ("The doctor thinks you might have percussion," said to a man who's just had a blow to the head), comic misunderstandings (a man called Wheedon is addressed as Senor Widdle by a doctor) and creaky physical comedy (man rushes to open door to stairs only to find that it's a broom cupboard). Let's go somewhere else next year. I've been to Nice and the isles of Greece but I've never been to Benidorm. And it seems the purpose of this mystifyingly popular sitcom - last night's special was a precursor to a forthcoming third series - is to ensure no one in their right mind heads for the capital of Costa del Blackpool ever again. The Spanish tourist board should sue. Keith Watson, Metro, 1st June 2009 Very nearly as funny as Eldorado, this bubbly, award-winning sitcom about Brits abroad is back for a one-off special. What's more, a third series - in this fresh, hour-long format - has laid down a Union Jack towel in the Spanish resort ready for it's arrival in September. Tonight, though, we pick up where the second series left off, with Mel unconscious after being drop-kicked by Johnny Vegas, Mick in the hands of the local plod, Madge hysterical and Kate pregnant... Farcical fun in the sun. What's On TV, 31st May 2009 It's not the most sophisticated of sitcoms, but this character-based ensemble job surprised many by walking off with last year's National TV Award for Best Comedy. Here the regular cast, including Johnny Vegas and Abigail Cruttenden, return for an hour-long one-off, picking up where series two concluded. The Express, 31st May 2009 In a soul-sapping television tradition of yesteryear, practically every sitcom would do a dire summer special in which the regular characters went to Spain and had unfunny encounters with the locals. Benidorm is like that in every single episode. This mirth-free atrocity about the antics of a gaggle of British oafs staying in the Spanish holiday resort has been running for two series, and returns tonight with an hour-long one-off. Sample japes: Mick (Steve Pemberton) wets himself in a police car, and Madge (Sheila Reid) is kidnapped while hitching a lift to hospital. Strange things, budgets: ITV apparently doesn't have enough money to make more of The South Bank Show, but it does have enough to persist with this twaddle. Benidorm is ITV's biggest sitcom in years. The second series was watched by six million people last year, when the show received a Bafta nomination. Announcing a third, the channel's director of television praised its "fantastic mix of warmth, charm, and fun", which suggests to me he hasn't watched it much. Warm and charming it is not. If he had instead praised its fantastic mix of bile, ugliness and mishap among a gallery of sweaty, hopeless British holidaymakers who engage in screeching poolside rows about thongs, we'd have believed him. The good news is, this special extended one-off pushes the usual boundaries a bit. We pick up where series two ended, with the aftermath of the beach wedding where Madge was to marry her rich fiance Mel, until a paragliding Johnny Vegas dropped from the sky and knocked him flat. From there, a farcical hostage plot evolves with very funny nods to No Country for Old Men and, believe it or not, Die Hard. David Butcher, The Radio Times, 31st May 2009 The 'boozy comic' has shed six stone as he tries to clean up his act. Written by Beth Neil. The Mirror, 30th May 2009 This hour-long special of the colourfully chaotic comedy series picks up the action in the aftermath of the wedding between Madge and Mel on the beach. Mel is taken to hospital after being knocked unconscious by a paragliding Geoff (Johnny Vegas) - "East Lancashire's indoor paragliding champion" - and Madge and Janice, in their desperation to get to the hospital, get into a car with a man who is the spitting image of Javier Bardem's character in No Country for Old Men, right down to the haircut and limp. So begins an inspired homage to the Coen brothers' movie, as the Bardem character turns out to be violent drug smuggler Enrique "The Rat" Lopez, who kidnaps Madge and Janice at gunpoint. (He does have an air canister and hose but not as a weapon - his car has a slow puncture.) The trio then return to the hotel where all the familiar grotesques become embroiled in the action. Roll on series three. ITV's comedy big gun, Benidorm, is back for a one off special ahead of the third series. The show is an acquired taste, but thankfully it has more texture and depth than the middle class flummery of Reggie Perrin over on the BBC. The cast play it with gusto, even if some of the material, centring on a bunch of mis-matched holidaymakers, doesn't quite hit the mark. Not dreadful, not great. Perhaps that's a perfect thumbnail of the modern ITV? Benidorm filming disrupted - Vegas gets gout Comic Johnny Vegas has suffered another bout of gout while filming his hit series Benidorm. Production of the Costa del Sol sitcom was suspended last week after the 37-year-old star was struck down with the condition. Written by Andy Lea. The Sunday Star, 29th March 2009 Sadly the final episode [of series two] is a bit of a let-down, after what has been an exceptionally strong series. Surely the difference between an ongoing soap and a sitcom is that the latter should offer us some resolution (however temporary) at the end of each episode, and especially in the final show of the run? Delia Pemberton, DigiGuide, 16th May 2008 Benidorm has long exercised a sickly fascination, but it has always been a vaguely nasty pleasure - like one of those bright-green cocktails with an umbrella on top that splits open your skull the next morning. But as the series has developed, sympathy for the characters has taken over from cruelty, helping to make it one of the highlights of the week. For some reason, some folks here at thecustard.tv don't enjoy Benidorm so I'm here to come to its defence. When I nine, we lived in Spain and I saw the same kind of characters flock to Benidorm for their summer holidays watching Only Fools and Horses in a Spanish pub called The Red Lion and complaining to the locals you couldn't get a decent bacon butty. Benidorm was lame, hackneyed and cliched first time round, and it doesn't seem to have gone anywhere new. It says something about the quality of the writing when the funniest thing about a show is Johnny Vegas failing to dive into the pool, again and again. I think he's trying to tell you something about the show: it's a big, wet belly flop. A sitcom that harks back to early-1990s BBC drama Eldorado (basically EastEnderson-Sea). Take a cast of crazy characters and put them in a Spanish resort. In the case of Benidorm, add some intentional jokes. And stand well back. When this broad sitcom was launched last year it definitely seemed to have something. Painting a tacky picture of life at a Spanish resort hotel, it created a memorable allery of grotesques. David Butcher, The Radio Times, 28th March 2008 Return of the sometimes tasteless and occasionally funny comedy set in a Benidorm holiday resort, featuring eccentric working-class characters playing out their darkly peculiar lives. Like Five's Suburban Shootout, the comedy is hit and miss, but the performances are universally good, and so Benidorm deserves points for trying. The Manchester Evening News previews the second series, with quotes from some of the main cast. The Manchester Evening News, 25th March 2008 In this article from 2007, The Independent goes behind-the-scenes on the production of the first series to find out more about the show. Written by James Rampton. The Independent, 31st January 2007 |
