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00:00We've been coming to Benidorm for almost a decade.
00:04I absolutely love it here.
00:06If you can't have a good time in Benidorm, you can't have a good time anywhere.
00:09All life is here.
00:10Yeah.
00:11There's something about the mix of sunshine, sea breezes and all-inclusive buffet that keeps bringing us back.
00:17You don't need money. This holiday's inconclusive.
00:22They come to get drunk, eat too much and burn their biggest skin in the Spanish sun.
00:26With the 10th anniversary approaching, we're on location as the 10th series is filmed.
00:33It's also a chance to take a mobility scooter down memory lane for a celebration of the show we know and love.
00:41And to get the inside story from cast members past and present.
00:44Tell me the truth.
00:45This step is so ridiculous.
00:47Perhaps learn the odd trade secret.
00:49I was putting the ice inside me bra, trying to cool down and I got frostbite on the nibbles.
00:56And see some of their work from behind the scenes.
01:00It's been a decade that's brought a beach bag full of bizarre sights.
01:04Some of which will never leave us, no matter how hard we try.
01:09So pack your bags, we're going on holiday.
01:12A short hop from Alicante Airport sits Benidorm.
01:22It used to be a quiet little fishing village.
01:25And whilst they might still catch fish here, quiet, little or a village it is not.
01:29The fictional version started with one man, seen here nipping through town in Benidorm's vehicle of choice.
01:41You may have glimpsed some of his cameo performances over the years.
01:44Park up, Elvis.
01:46This could take some time.
01:48Uh-huh.
01:48There was Elvis the driver.
01:51Obra-friendly tourist at airport.
01:53Excuse me, you don't want to share a cabin to Benidorm, do you?
01:56Benidorm.
01:58Benidorm.
01:59In fact, here he is again, this time in the title sequence.
02:03His real name is Darren Lytton, and he's the show's creator and writer.
02:08Ten years on, he's going to give us a little tour of Benidorm and show us some of the locations they use for the show.
02:15And where else could any day in Benidorm start but by the pool?
02:18And Sol Pelicanos Hotel has a pool that you might just recognise.
02:29So this bit is private, you can't come this way.
02:32Oh, go on, go on then.
02:33Just you.
02:36So here we have the famous Solana pool bar.
02:41When we first came here to try and find where we were going to film the series before we even started shooting,
02:47we walked round this corner and I just went, that's it, that's exactly it.
02:53Even the sort of, you know, the coconut matting sort of roof of the bar and the swim up part here,
03:00where we've had lots and lots of scenes.
03:03Hola.
03:05Just all of it, it was already in my mind's eye.
03:08And I just imagined who was here.
03:10And they're still here, ten years on.
03:15In 2007, series one of Benidorm began.
03:19Six 30-minute episodes that saw the very first holidaymakers arrive at the Solana resort,
03:25ready to make new friends.
03:26Oh, my God, just look at the people.
03:29It's boiling.
03:30Lovely, that bit of sun.
03:32Mum, I'm hungry.
03:33I'm going to get something to eat now.
03:35And soon we came to know them all well.
03:44Characters like middle-aged swingers Donald and Jacqueline.
03:48My character is Jacqueline.
03:52What's her surname?
03:54Stuart! Stuart! Jacqueline Stuart.
03:56How long have you been playing this part?
03:57Ten years.
03:58Ten years.
03:59Jacqueline was happily married to Donald and they were very open-minded.
04:06They liked swinging.
04:08Here we are.
04:10Alan Titmatch.
04:11Oh, he's lovely, isn't he?
04:13I'd let him dig my garden any day.
04:17Ice cream tastes so much nicer when the sun's shining, doesn't it?
04:22Yeah, definitely.
04:23There was Geoff, the pub quiz champion, with his happily bemused mother, Noreen.
04:28I wonder how they do that.
04:32Well, I think she's permanently bewildered by most things, isn't she?
04:41And the Garbys.
04:43Mick and Janice, their children Michael and Tell,
04:45and Janice's mother, queen of honest feedback, Madge.
04:49Say that, Coulthard.
04:51Nobody here cares how far, yeah?
04:53Mother-in-law from hell.
04:55Yeah.
04:55The mother-in-law who knows what's right for her daughter.
04:58We were a typical family, weren't we?
05:02Stereotypical family, but a bit different.
05:05He just wants to go on holiday and have a simple, nice time
05:09with his bum on a towel, a beer in his hand,
05:12and Janice in the other hand.
05:14And he wants to have a really fun holiday,
05:16and it never seemed to work out that way.
05:19What have I said now?
05:20What have you said?
05:22You're nothing but an animal.
05:24Why, I ever let an insensitive pig like you marry my daughter, I'll never know.
05:28I actually auditioned to play the part of Mick Garvey, did you know that?
05:32No.
05:32No, I auditioned to play Mick Garvey, which I didn't get.
05:35Obviously, rightly went to Steve Pemberton.
05:37He needed the work.
05:38He does.
05:39He always does.
05:40We hadn't actually met each other as a family until we went to Benidorm,
05:44met Sheila, met Ollie and Hannah,
05:47and the five of us, within about an hour, we were crying with laughter.
05:50Yeah, yeah, yeah.
05:51And we just knew we had a really good sort of family bond.
05:55And from that point, it was the most joyous job.
05:58At only seven years old, the youngest member of the cast was Ollie Stokes,
06:02who played Michael Garvey.
06:04My grandparents, my mum used to come out there with me,
06:07and then I had to have a tutor, obviously, to do all my schoolwork and stuff.
06:11But it was good. It was good.
06:12The Garvey's quickly got down to doing what they did best,
06:15sunbathing and arguing.
06:17The constant embarrassment of a bony, venom-spitting carcass
06:21who has no consideration for anyone but herself.
06:23Who are you talking about?
06:25You! I'm talking about you! Who did you see?
06:27Well, I knew it wasn't her, Janice.
06:29She's never been what you could call bony.
06:31Look, there you go again.
06:32All right, that's enough.
06:33Honest to God, you're like kids.
06:35Is there any chance at all we could just sit here
06:37and have one peaceful morning?
06:39The Garvey's go from first to fifth gear like that.
06:42There's no moving through the gears.
06:44They just go...
06:45And chief firestarter was Madge.
06:48Oh, and it always boils down to what you want to do, doesn't it?
06:51She's so critical of everything,
06:53and she can just cause an argument in a telephone box, so...
06:56Whoa!
06:57Yeah, come on.
06:58He doesn't make her feel welcome.
07:01Hey, I've already lost the first two days of me, Elodie,
07:03because of you. Just watch it.
07:04What's the difference? You never ever have a people need you anyway.
07:07Tell her, tell her, Janice, because I am going to lose it big time.
07:10Shut up! They're paired up you!
07:11But as long as the sun was out and her lighter was working,
07:15Madge was happy.
07:16To sit in the sun is glorious and it's wonderful,
07:20and drinks are free and that's wonderful,
07:23and I can smoke as much as I like.
07:26But what about the character, Sheila?
07:27What about Madge?
07:32All from the comfort of her Benidorm chariot.
07:35I couldn't drive the thing straight,
07:37and I was bashing into doors, bashing into furniture,
07:40breaking everything apart, and so I had to have lessons.
07:44I won't be spending it in an empty Spanish bar on me own,
07:47crying into my gin and tonic, like you.
07:50One of the crew said to me,
08:00Sheila, do you drive a car?
08:03I said, of course I do.
08:05He said, oh, God.
08:10The Solana resort might not have been to everyone's taste.
08:13The rum is disgusting.
08:15The food is atrocious.
08:17The people are revolting.
08:18I don't know how many stars on TripAdvisor it would get.
08:22Our manageress, Janie, often struggled to manage.
08:25Why is this bar not open?
08:26Because the usual soddy wakes here hasn't turned up,
08:28and if you see the dirty, greasy head get out on the town,
08:31you can tell him he's sacked.
08:33I think she says she can't get the staff,
08:35but I think she's got, like, a little soft spot for Mateo.
08:40But Mateo's soft spot was usually reserved for the holidaymakers.
08:44I'm going to miss you so much, Mateo.
08:46Hey, come on.
08:47Oh, no, dear.
08:49They're here one week.
08:50You give them everything they want for a week.
08:51You probably sleep with them on the last night,
08:53and then you squeeze a few tears out.
08:56And as they walk away, you go, next.
09:00Hola.
09:03Benidorm was beamed into our nation's living rooms.
09:06For those who'd been there, it was like welcoming an old friend.
09:09And for those who hadn't, it was a window on a whole new holiday experience.
09:14Once you've been there a couple of days, you don't do the double take anymore.
09:18You go, nope, there are three wonder women walking past me, and that's...
09:24And they're all men.
09:25And they're all...
09:25We've seen the hotel, where they film the pool scenes.
09:30It's time to hit the beach, where, in a curious twist of fate, they shoot the beach scenes.
09:35And here we are at the beach.
09:40And here we have the cable ski.
09:42We did have Janine being unceremoniously pulled off, if I can use that expression, by a speedboat.
09:49And it looked very, very dangerous.
09:51Of course, it wasn't.
09:52But it is one of those moments where I write a scene, and I say, oh, that'll be hilarious.
09:58And then think, how's that going to actually work?
10:02OK.
10:04Go!
10:07Oh, my God!
10:08Oh, my God!
10:08Oh, my God!
10:16The beach has been the location for some iconic moments over the years.
10:24Never more so than the finale to Series 2,
10:26where Madge was on the verge of saying, I do, to Mel,
10:30a successful businessman who'd melted her stony heart.
10:36Mel and Madge got married here on the beach.
10:40I remember being on one of the bars, and I was sitting, writing the last episode.
10:48We'd got here, we'd started filming, but I hadn't finished the last episode.
10:51That's happened quite a few times over the years.
10:53And there was a paraglider, and it just went along as I was sort of envisaging the scene.
11:01So I just wrote it in.
11:02We are at the point of actually making the vows.
11:09To love and to cherish, till death do you part.
11:14Suddenly, from the sky, appears, as if by magic, Johnny Vegas.
11:20And he lands on top of my husband, and knocks him out.
11:36Who are you?
11:37That's the vicar, Mel.
11:38You've had a bump on the head.
11:39Who are you?
11:41Mel, Mel, don't panic.
11:43It'll all come back to you.
11:44You remember Madge, don't you?
11:45We realise he's lost his memory.
11:49Mick thinks if he's had one bang and they had to lose his memory, then another bang might
11:52help him get his memory back.
11:53It's perfect logic.
11:54Perfectly logical.
11:56Come and sit down for a minute.
11:57What do you think you're playing at?
12:04Who's trying to get his memory back?
12:05The sort of dust thing my son-in-law would do, of course.
12:08Lock him up and throw away the bloody key.
12:15What are you doing?
12:16I was trying to help him.
12:18We're the only family he's got.
12:21I'm being taken away in handcuffs, and then it ends with this brilliant shot of Madge running
12:26after the ambulance in the wedding press.
12:32Oh, I do love a good wedding.
12:34Welcome back to Sonny Benidorm, where our leisurely journey by mobility scooter through
12:49ten years of the show has reached series three.
12:53By this point, the episodes had expanded to become 60 minutes long, and amongst returning
12:58cast members, there were two notable new ones.
13:02There was Brandy, played by Sheridan Smith.
13:04I've got a lot of family.
13:05You've been to Benidorm.
13:07I've heard some of the people can be as rough as a dog's arse.
13:11You don't say.
13:13But series three also brought a potential love interest for the eternally single Jeff Maltby,
13:18who came upon a chat room one day and began to correspond with the seemingly female and seemingly
13:24lovely Leslie.
13:25Well, I met Darren and said, oh, I love the show.
13:34I said, it's great, you know, and he said, well, would you like to do one?
13:38Well, by this time, I had a few beers.
13:41And I said, I'd love to.
13:42And he said, well, what would you like to play?
13:43And I said, well, you know, something people would never expect.
13:47It was my first scene, so nobody knew who this character was going to be.
13:54And Johnny actually said that he didn't want to see me in the gear.
14:00Because he'd been warned.
14:02He didn't want to see me until we actually turned over.
14:05Come on, Jeff.
14:09Don't mess this one up.
14:11You never know she could be the one.
14:19Hello.
14:20You must be Jeff.
14:22Return only, look at me when.
14:27I'm Leslie.
14:31Sorry, it's the first time I've seen him in the wig.
14:33I'm sorry.
14:35It's just collapsed.
14:37It's just absolutely.
14:39No, I heard it.
14:40Collapsed, and then we had to do it again.
14:42Hello.
14:43You must be Jeff.
14:51I'm Leslie.
14:58The way he played it, though, I mean, he's terrifying.
15:02Absolutely terrifying.
15:04Now then, before we go any further, there's something I want to tell you, Jeff.
15:09Okay.
15:10We chatted online a lot yesterday, and well, there was one thing I wasn't completely truthful about.
15:16Really?
15:17Yeah.
15:18I want to get it out of the way now.
15:19I mean, we don't want an elephant in the room, so to speak.
15:22No.
15:23We don't want that.
15:24No.
15:25But I've got a sneaking suspicion you know what I'm going to say.
15:28Might have crossed my mind.
15:30Jeff?
15:34I'm not 35.
15:36Healer?
15:37No.
15:38I wasn't 100% honest with you on that score.
15:40Just to the north of the beach, and the Solana Resort Pool location, sits the building where
15:47they film the reception scenes, a rather unlovely lump of a thing known affectionately to all
15:53as the Pink House.
15:54We use this as our production office.
15:57The front, but as you go in, the sort of reception area is enormous.
16:01And then somebody had the bright idea, why don't we build the set of the reception inside
16:06the Solana here?
16:08Here's where the tragic happens.
16:16No, here's where the magic happens.
16:18A camera.
16:19Stop me if I get too technical.
16:21A big balloon thing with light in it.
16:24We could take the lift, of course, but we wouldn't actually go anywhere, because they're
16:27just boxes.
16:31Oh, where have you come from?
16:34Magic cupboard.
16:34But there's nothing in there.
16:36What were you doing?
16:37Who else is in there?
16:39Don't lock me in here.
16:41Oh, God.
16:44Oh, my God.
16:46Oh, my God.
16:47I never knew that.
16:49You can't see in here.
16:50This goes through to the edit.
16:52This is like Willy Wonka's whatever.
16:54Look.
16:56How often do they let you out?
16:58Never.
16:59Never.
16:59Never.
17:00Good.
17:00Um, action.
17:02Today's scene, available to view in the forthcoming series 10 of Benidorm, is where two mysterious
17:08guests arrive.
17:10Two guests who look a lot like Halen Pace.
17:12Why do you see me just in disguise?
17:16We've got through there is Joyce Temple Savage's office.
17:19And my goodness, as we look in, there is Joyce Temple Savage.
17:23Hello.
17:23Hello.
17:23I'm just having a little coffee before I go back to work.
17:27Sorry to interrupt you again.
17:29Joyce Temple Savage who?
17:30Your Solana manageress?
17:31The formidable Joyce Temple Savage became the Solana's manageress in series five.
17:37You!
17:38Get in this line!
17:39She actually thinks she's rather wonderful.
17:42When she first got here, nobody knew who she was.
17:44And she got here and surprised them all.
17:46You, my friend, are standing on very thin ice.
17:52She immediately is attracted to Mateo, of course, because she's...
17:55She's so got the hots for you.
17:56Oh, she has.
17:57She has.
17:58In furs, her...
17:58Was it you or was it the character that had the hots for me?
18:01Oh, don't be so ridiculous.
18:03Don't touch what you can't afford, love.
18:04A transvestite waiter, a moronic caretaker, and a hotel worker in Benidorm who doesn't
18:14speak a word of English.
18:15Well, I've heard the lot now.
18:16Aye, well, I suppose it's a bit like being the manageress of a holiday resort in Spain
18:20who doesn't speak Spanish.
18:23Watch at you.
18:24I'm in charge.
18:25She's a bit Basil Fawlty, I think.
18:26She is a bit too.
18:28It's Mrs Temple Savage to her face, but when she's not there, it's Temple Savage, you
18:32know.
18:33Yeah.
18:33By this time, Les, aka Leslie, was working at the Solana with his son, Liam.
18:39He's a sweet, somewhat stupid sort of a chap.
18:51Well, he's got a heart of gold.
18:53And Leslie was cutting quite a dash around the resort with rollerblades and a new cocktail
18:59menu.
18:59One large honky-tonk and one regular, which is good.
19:03Lovely.
19:04Thank you, Leslie.
19:05How are the new cocktails going down?
19:07Oh, choppy mine.
19:08It's a man, really, in the wrong clothes, I suppose.
19:12Well, he doesn't see it as that.
19:13Is he gay?
19:15Is he not gay?
19:16Well, I'm not sure.
19:17I think he'll probably help some out when they're busy.
19:20I've nicked it.
19:23Like, you do.
19:23You nick everything, don't you?
19:24Yeah.
19:25So I've nicked the laugh from Tommy Cooker.
19:28Dick Henry, you know, he couldn't walk in these, so I've got the walk from him.
19:34There's a lot of Les Dawson in him.
19:37I mean, I used to struggle with my weight.
19:38Used to.
19:39But for some reason, when I hit 40 last year, the weight just fell off.
19:44And ever since then, I've been lucky enough to maintain my schoolgirl figure.
19:47So I've just nicked them all, hopefully.
19:50Mm, definitely.
19:51And had a bit of fun with it.
19:55The Solana has always been an all-inclusive resort.
19:59It's an opportunity grasped with both hands by many guests.
20:02All-inclusive!
20:05But a regular character by this stage was Noreen's daughter Pauline,
20:09a lady who liked to drink or two, or 12.
20:14It's like, how many episodes in has she gone?
20:15Oh, there she goes, off the wagon.
20:17And that falls with a great bump.
20:21I can't read that.
20:24Played by Selina Griffiths, Pauline's on-screen inebriation
20:28is made all the more impressive by Selina's little secret.
20:32I'm completely teetotal and always have been.
20:35You just observe, and I've had a lifetime of having people get absolutely bladded.
20:39By this point, the Solana had its very own hairdressing salon called Blow & Go,
20:45run by the larger-than-life Kenneth Dubeck,
20:48a man careful never to let work get in the way of a good time.
20:52When is your next appointment?
20:54Oh, you go away!
20:56Believe me, love, with split-ins like that,
20:58it's not an hairdresser you need, it's a crash helmet.
20:59What makes Kenneth tick?
21:03Food, mainly kebabs, good nights out, late nights, one-night stands, waking up in skips.
21:15He's got great stamina, yeah.
21:16I mean, I think partly it's because the alcohol never leaves his system fully.
21:21I mean, it's just constantly flowing around.
21:23Before long, tension began to grow between the ambitious Joyce Temple Savage
21:27and the maverick that was Kenneth Dubeck.
21:30We've had the most fabulous bit of news.
21:33You're being transferred to Faleraki.
21:35By the end of Series 5, the situation escalated dramatically.
21:41It was one of the best scenes ever to film.
21:43I mean, it's reminiscent of Alexis and Crystal having a scrap in the pond in Dynasty.
21:48They don't like each other, and they're really up for a fight any given moment.
21:54This time, I just wasn't having it, so I confronted it.
21:57I mean, it started off with a little tete-a-tete,
22:00which kind of grew into a pillow fight,
22:01which kind of grew into me pouring sangria overhead.
22:04I do not wish to have a full-on cat fight in the middle of reception.
22:10Don't you?
22:11Well, I bloody well do.
22:14Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
22:16Ah! Ah!
22:16Ah!
22:18Ah! Ah! Ah!
22:20I remember Tony Kemp saying,
22:22well, you're actually doing it for real, Sherry.
22:24You're actually thumping me in the face,
22:26and I went, really sorry, but I don't know how to pull it.
22:29So the stunt coordinator there said,
22:32right, come on, I'll show you how to pull it.
22:33It's like that, you know, and you don't touch something,
22:36and he kept going, no, you're actually hitting him now.
22:38You're actually thumping him now.
22:40So aggressive.
22:40I know, and I couldn't help it.
22:41So much anger.
22:42I really wanted to smack him, you know,
22:44It would look so much better if I smacked it.
22:56As the fight moved to the pool, there was a brief attempt to drown each other.
23:00Oh, Kenneth, he has, how do you say, lost his plot.
23:05He's lost his bloody man.
23:07He's definitely lost his job.
23:09Before Joyce set about Kenneth like a crazy lady.
23:14Oh, my God.
23:16My teeth, you've broken my whole teeth.
23:19Right there is where she punched me in the face and knocked my teeth out.
23:24And people always say to me, how did they do that?
23:26How did they knock your teeth out?
23:28Little secret, just before we filmed that scene,
23:31I'd had a fight with a patio door at my mum's house.
23:34I ran straight into it, smashed my tooth.
23:38So, by the time I came out to film that,
23:39I was halfway through having implant surgery to have these two teeth replaced.
23:43So, Deren phoned me, we said,
23:45Can we use that? Would you mind if I wrote it into the show?
23:47And I said, well, we'll never be able to do it again.
23:50Once the implants are in, they're in.
23:51I said, absolutely, let's do it.
23:53What you see is me spitting out of my mouth is half of chewing gum.
23:58It's a little piece of white mint chewing gum that, I mean, very cleverly edited.
24:02I mean, it's brilliant.
24:03But it's vicious.
24:04I mean, she gives me such a smack in the mouth.
24:06If you want to rematch, just whistle.
24:09If you can.
24:12I'm just looking at me.
24:14Where are they?
24:16In Series 6, the transfer coach dropped off some more new characters.
24:21There were the Dykes, Clive and Tonya,
24:23and their children, Bianca and Tiger,
24:25whose best friend was Joey,
24:27a young man with the distinctly flimsy grasp of what was going on.
24:31This is the best holiday abroad I've ever had.
24:35When did you last go abroad?
24:36I've never been abroad.
24:37Joey is super zen.
24:40Like, he means well,
24:41but he was dropped on his head as a child,
24:44do you know what I mean?
24:45So, he's a bit damaged.
24:47Somebody told me that even though it's all-inclusive here,
24:50you are allowed to leave.
24:52Really?
24:53Oh, well, they kept that one quiet.
24:55I know.
24:56They should have a sign.
24:59In Series 8, the Dawsons arrived,
25:02and the volume around the pool went up by a couple of notches.
25:06We can't spend the rest of our holiday ignoring the own father.
25:08He may as well not have come.
25:10Well, at last we agree on something.
25:11Oh, give up!
25:13Where are you going?
25:14What have I done?
25:15There's a lot of tension when they're on holiday.
25:17It's a little bit like Christmas, isn't it?
25:19Yeah.
25:19It's like you're all relatives are thrown together.
25:22I'm a very, very placid person because I get all my rage out.
25:26Yeah.
25:26She can do that thing with a knife when you go between your fingers.
25:30One, two, three, two, one.
25:32Shit!
25:33Yes!
25:34And stoking the fires of discord for Billy and Sharon Dawson
25:38was almost always Billy's dad, Eddie.
25:41Don't be sick!
25:42If you say sick one more time...
25:44Oh, forget it!
25:46I don't do it on purpose.
25:48It just happens.
25:49It seems that whatever I do, Sharon disagrees with it.
25:53She thinks I'm an horrible old sod.
25:55And the family was complete when Sharon's mum Loretta arrived,
25:59a grandma from hell,
26:01stretching the definition of the word cougar to the max.
26:04She's a woman who enjoys herself,
26:06and she enjoyed herself that night, as I remember.
26:10It was maybe a little bit unfortunate
26:15that it turned out to be with one of her grandson's best friends
26:19and that she did come across her grandson along the way.
26:22She's my grandmother!
26:25No!
26:26The simmering tension between Sharon and her father-in-law
26:30could explode at any time.
26:32For example, over the day when he took on the role
26:34of his granddaughter Jodie's swimming coach.
26:37Can you swim?
26:39No, not really.
26:41Well, there's only one way to learn.
26:47Yeah, the partial drowning.
26:49The attempted murder.
26:51He was just trying to teach her how to swim.
26:53Well, he said, I might have just nudged her.
26:55Oh, my God!
27:00Jodie!
27:02What the hell!
27:08I'm here, darling!
27:09Don't worry, I'm here!
27:10Oh, sweetheart!
27:13He kicked at me.
27:14Who kicked you?
27:14Are you all right, darling?
27:15Of course she's not all right.
27:16She's nearly drowned.
27:18Granddad.
27:18Granddad kicked me into the pool.
27:20What?
27:21Don't be ridiculous.
27:23You didn't kick her in, did you, Dad?
27:25Oh, my God.
27:32Well, I might have just nudged her.
27:34What?
27:36Come here!
27:36No, no, no, no.
27:37Come here!
27:38No.
27:38Let me at him!
27:39No, get off me!
27:41I'll kill him!
27:41I'll kill him!
27:54Action!
27:55Oh, where is he going?
27:58It's another day of filming for series 10 of the show Benidorm.
28:02Another day by the sole Polycanus hotel pool that doubles up as the Solanas.
28:06It's early in the morning, and since Darren is a writer, he's obviously still asleep.
28:13This to the right here is the production area.
28:15So Steve Edge, who plays Billy Dawson in the show, gives us a tour behind the scenes, up on the first floor of the hotel.
28:23This is the breakfast, so there was boiled eggs in there, they've all gone there, there's the cheese, there's sometimes a plate with a wedge of lemon on, it's a suggestion that there was smoked salmon at one point, but I've never seen it, and I get here at seven o'clock in the morning.
28:37And here we have an apple, and here we have what it says on the door, make-up.
28:43And always keep her up like a clone, at least we do that with what I mean.
28:48Do you need yet much make-up yourself?
28:53Yeah, yes.
28:54I'm actually a 14-year-old black child, so I need a lot of make-up to look like a 44-year-old white man from the West Midlands.
29:01This is the production office, the AD's production office, with all the assistant directors, which are basically sort of malingerers.
29:08There's Phil there, he wears his hair in a top bun.
29:13This is where a lot of schedules were on the wall there, all carefully highlighted.
29:16He doesn't understand it, he just collars them in like a child.
29:20This is all the principal costume rails, so we've got all your favourite characters, Mateo, Leslie, Kenneth.
29:28Oh, of course, Billy.
29:31So we've got Kenneth's hot pants, quite an array.
29:36And then all his T-shirts, T-shirts from bygone days.
29:41Six-pack coming.
29:42Up Yours or Mine, I remember, was the very first one.
29:47I mean, there's quite a few that have been taken to the lawyers.
29:51They have to be passed by lawyers, and some of them haven't made it through to the screen.
29:55Shall I tell you one of the ones that didn't make it through to the lawyers?
30:00Don't whisper and listen.
30:02If you think my attitude stinks, you should smell me f***ing.
30:09Actors always tell you that even though their job looks rather easy, they're actually working really, really hard.
30:16It's not something you hear too often on Benidorm.
30:18They're forever spraying suntan cream on you, but I've been here two months, I'm as brown as a coward's trousers.
30:27Our favourite days were if we had no dialogue.
30:30I shouldn't say that really, should I have it.
30:32And we could just lie on the sunbeds in the back of shot.
30:35Steve would try and read a book.
30:36Danny's always had in her handbag a rude Mills and Boone.
30:40After Hours, they were called.
30:42After Hours, yeah.
30:42And they are quite racy.
30:44They constantly have our nose to the grind, so people think we have fun, but we never do karaoke, we never get drunk, we never go to the beach.
30:50It's a nightmare.
30:51I'll be back in five minutes.
30:55Wherever filming takes place for Benidorm, there will always be fans, and the pool is the best place to get some snaps and hopefully meet some of the stars.
31:04You don't go to Paris without seeing the eye of the towel.
31:06You don't come to Benidorm without seeing Sherry Hewson.
31:09They're your bread and butter, really.
31:11If they weren't there, we wouldn't have a show, would we?
31:14I think you've got to sort of give them a lot of respect, and the other thing you've got to remember is that they're on holiday.
31:20Look who I met.
31:21So they want a photograph, you know.
31:24So we always give them time for that, you know.
31:29They do call you by your character names, and obviously a lot of them say Billy, but a lot of them just say Dad.
31:34And when there's a kid swimming in the pool going, Dad, you go, I've never been here before, that you are not my son.
31:42I get all the groping.
31:44I get hands down my back, down the front, down the side.
31:47I get licked, kissed on a daily basis.
31:51If I'm sitting there, my mother is visiting, and this stranger just comes up and goes...
31:55That should be me, though.
31:58We'd all just arrived to start filming series nine, and we all went for a drink up in the old town.
32:04And there was probably ten of the cast there, out with the crew, and then all of a sudden, around the corner came ten versions of us.
32:15It was a stag and hen party, all dressed as us.
32:18So we had this brilliant photograph taken of us next to ourselves, if you like.
32:23It was really, really funny.
32:25We see a lot of that.
32:25We see a lot of people dressed as us.
32:27Just a few hundred yards away is the location where they film all the scenes for Neptune's bar.
32:48In reality, it's called the Morgan Tavern, and it's another famous stop on the Benidorm Fan Tour.
32:56Ooh!
32:57Hello!
33:01How are you doing? You all right?
33:03Yeah, I'm good.
33:04Yeah, very good.
33:05Good.
33:05We followed you all over to the NT years and all over, don't we?
33:08Did you?
33:09Yeah.
33:09Oh, thank you.
33:10That's so kind of you.
33:11Oh, thank you very much.
33:12Yeah, we're always praising our faces.
33:14And how often do you come to Benidorm on holiday?
33:16Three times a year, it is.
33:17Really?
33:18Yeah.
33:18My grandson, Amir, four-year-old, he's told all his teachers...
33:22Told him what?
33:23About Benidorm, about Gay Kent and everything.
33:26About Gay Kent?
33:27Yeah, he's told the whole lot.
33:30I've got all the tapes.
33:31You've got all the tapes?
33:32Oh, thank you.
33:35Keep on doing it.
33:36We'll try.
33:38Very nice to meet you.
33:39Very nice to meet you.
33:39Keep watching the show, won't you?
33:40Well, that was my agent and his mother.
33:46Since it's open as the Morgan Tavern in the evening, all the filming as the Solana's Neptune's
33:51bar has to happen during the day.
33:53And over the years, it's witnessed some memorable entertainment, much of it produced by the guests
33:58themselves.
34:00Candlelight and soul forever, dream of you and me together.
34:06It was my greatest fear when I landed on my first day and they were like, we're going to
34:09do karaoke.
34:09I was like, no, I ain't.
34:11I am not doing karaoke.
34:12I don't think so.
34:14I'm nervous as hell.
34:17I was the most nerve-wracking day of my entire life.
34:19I've got this mankini.
34:21My mum saw that.
34:22Often, there was no way of knowing what sort of singing voice to expect.
34:27Hey there, lonely girl, lonely girl, let me make your broken heart like noob.
34:43And there have been some famous guest acts, too.
34:46Banalarama went down well on 80s tribute night with the help of Jacqueline.
34:53And Madness rocked Neptune's on the Series 9 finale.
34:57But perhaps the most memorable performance came from Noreen.
35:11Ladies and gentlemen, there have been many times in my life when I've been proud of my
35:18only son.
35:20Mistakenly, under the impression that her son Jeff was not only secretly gay, but was
35:24planning to come out that very evening.
35:27Are you ready to come out, son?
35:32I say, son, are you ready to come out?
35:36Yes, I'm ready!
35:37I can't say, woman.
35:41She accepted that that's, if that's what he was, and Mateo said he was, and he said he's
35:48coming out tonight, it was all a terrible mistake.
35:53He is a wonderful, happy, proud, gay man.
36:00And to honour her son, she dedicated her song to him.
36:06Young man, there's a place you can go.
36:11I say, young man, when you're short on your door, you can stay there.
36:16And I'm sure you will find many ways to have a good time.
36:25It's fun to stay at the YMCA.
36:29It's fun to stay at the YMCA.
36:33In ten years of Benidorm, many locations have been used in one way or another.
36:40The Benidorm Palace has featured several times.
36:47Benidorm Circus, too.
36:56And there's been many a visit to Benidorm Old Town.
36:59Who can forget Mateo in drag being arrested for solicitation?
37:04Mateo!
37:06Natalie, this is not how he looks.
37:08The Garvey's taking on a religious possession head-on.
37:13And in another episode, taking on some Roman soldiers.
37:17Oh, I can't kill him, Mum. He's gorgeous.
37:21And even further out of town, the guests were brought to witness an authentic Spanish bullfight.
37:28I'm not watching.
37:30I know exactly how he feels.
37:32This is absolutely disgusting. I won't be watching when the bull comes out.
37:35Basically, it's Mateo's friend who's a bullfighter.
37:39When he walks into the room, the guy's out cold.
37:42They're expecting a show.
37:44They're all looking away because it's, you know, it's a thing.
37:46You know, we don't want to see blood.
37:48They shouldn't be doing this.
37:51And out comes...
37:52Oh, you've got to be jerky.
37:59Oh!
38:00Um, it's okay.
38:08You can look.
38:11I'm not a dog trainer.
38:13The dog clearly, although they said it was a trained dog, clearly it wasn't trained.
38:17And we were sort of improvised to see the dog sort of, you know, I fell over.
38:22They kept it all in.
38:25And the dog sort of running away with my shoe.
38:27I had hands stuffed in all my sleeves, down the front of my trousers, the back of my trousers,
38:37in my shoes.
38:38Basically, what they're trying to do is I get the dog to basically bite at me.
38:41Eat you.
38:42Yeah.
38:42Yeah.
38:42Eat me, you know, for comedy sake.
38:46Not quite the bloodbath we were anticipating.
38:49During ten years and 64 episodes of Benidorm, many famous faces have popped up for the odd
39:04cameo.
39:06From the Crankies to Nigel Havers, many have been happy to sacrifice a little dignity for
39:11the chance to be in the show.
39:12Even this guy appeared on the side of a mountain in one episode.
39:21And Cilla Black enjoyed the company of swingers Donald and Jacqueline.
39:25You both seem very broad-minded.
39:29But trumping all is returning character Crystal Hennessy-Vass, Joyce's boss, played with great
39:35no-nonsense gusto by Joan Collins.
39:38We are budget and we're proud.
39:40And the last thing that we need is some toffee-nosed social climber trying to drag us into the 21st
39:46century.
39:47Toffee-nosed social climber?
39:49I'm talking about you, Savage.
39:51Oh.
39:52New characters have continued to arrive on Benidorm.
39:56People like Chinese businessman Mr. Wu.
39:59Kenneth!
40:01Oh, sorry.
40:02Didn't hear you.
40:03That's okay.
40:04You were in what we call BSA.
40:07Buffet Suspended Animation.
40:09Mr. Wu's accent is, it's half of my mum's accent and it's, there's a bit of Jackie
40:15chan in there.
40:16Nobody tells a joke like Mr. Wu.
40:19You better wipe from around your mouth or you look like Buffet the Vampire.
40:24You get it?
40:24Not Buffet the Vampire.
40:26Chinese Buffet the Vampire.
40:28And Joyce has been pursued by another more recent addition, dodgy businessman Monty.
40:37Every time we're about to meet, signs are all there.
40:40The best tie comes out of the drawer.
40:43The careful trimming of the moustache in the mirror.
40:46An extra squirt of high karate.
40:48An extra squirt of what?
40:50It's an aftershave.
40:52Oh.
40:53I've never played a part that's a puppy before, you know, that's a waggy tail and floppy ears
40:57going, chips and rice tonight, Joyce.
41:01Chips and rice.
41:03Ah!
41:03Over the last ten years, there have been births, marriages, but sadly, some deaths too.
41:12Leading lights who helped to make the show the success that it's been.
41:19Slowly but surely, that's my motto.
41:22I didn't set up five sunbed shops in the greater Manchester area overnight.
41:28Took me nearly six months.
41:30Fair play, it hurts the first time you do it, but after that, the body adapts, doesn't
41:36it, Jacqueline?
41:37Oh, yes.
41:39When Kenny Ireland, who played Donald, one half of the swinging couple, passed away,
41:44his character was given a fitting send-off.
41:50Jacqueline had taken Donald's ashes up to the cross that stands high above Benidorm,
41:55with Kenneth, Troy and a leaf blower.
41:57I mean, you did that scene so beautifully, I mean, she sort of drew us all in with that
42:02beautiful speech, which was just about her and Donald.
42:04In all the years we had together, you've shown, like, a lot to smile about.
42:12And then, who would have dreamed that the next thing to happen was her getting blown off
42:17a cliff by a leaf blower?
42:17I love that.
42:18Are you ready?
42:19Oh, my God!
42:25Jacqueline!
42:26Oh, my God!
42:27Jacqueline!
42:28I want to Jacqueline, you're okay!
42:31Yeah!
42:32Yeah, I'm okay!
42:34And do you know who would have approved of that more than anybody?
42:36Kenny Ireland.
42:37He would have loved his send-off.
42:40He'd have loved it.
42:40Yeah, the fact that you then get sent off.
42:42I get sent off.
42:42Even his end had that homage to Scotland, innit?
42:45Yes.
42:46Did he get off all right?
42:53Oh, yeah, there he is.
43:02Our journey has come full circle.
43:05Ten years on from Deron's very first visit, we're back at the pool.
43:09And that's a wrap.
43:09And as filming comes to an end for another day, Deron Lytton seizes the moment to say a few words.
43:22Obviously, we're here to celebrate ten amazing years of Benidorm.
43:28We'd like to thank our amazing cast, also our amazing production team, and our incredible crew,
43:35and, of course, the viewers.
43:36When I first came here, and the show was commissioned, I thought, one, I'd get a free holiday in Spain,
43:43and, two, I might meet some new friends.
43:48Well, Spain is now my home, and I've found a family.
43:54And thank you for being that family.
43:56Spanish, I'm doing a lot.
44:04Here we go.
44:04On his slides.
44:06And one last one.
44:07Cheers.
44:07Cheers!
44:08Cheers!
44:08Cheers!
44:13Come here, but you'll see it, definitely.
44:14You'll see it.
44:15And it's live.
44:17Good morning.
44:17Good morning.
44:19Good morning.
44:20I'll return.
44:51You and your Spanish eyes will wait for me.
45:01Mother, what are you doing?
45:02Yeah.
45:03That's my impression of you.
45:05I was going to say...
45:06It's a little Johnny Vengas.
45:15You see?
45:16Don't touch me.
45:17I think.
45:21Don't touch me.