Benidorm’s last holiday f ling live
IT was a saucy sitcom that delighted television viewers for more than ten years, following the lives and loves of holidaymakers in the Spanish sunshine. So when Benidorm came to an abrupt end earlier this year, viewers — and indeed the cast — were devastated.
But all was not lost as writer Derren Litten, himself an actor, decided to fulfil a long-held dream of bringing the sitcom to the stage.
And now leading cast members, including Sherrie Hewson, are set to bring sun, sea and a splash of sangria to the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre from Monday.
Sherrie, of course, has had a long-running career on stage and screen from the Carry On films to Coronation Street before ending up as a Loose Woman on the daytime panel show for 15 years.
‘I was there at a very bad time, going through my divorce, losing all my hair and those girls were wonderful to me,’ Sherrie says of her fellow panellists. ‘We were all wonderful to each other, that’s what it was about. I don’t think I could have got through that without them as I didn’t want to burden my daughter with my problems.
‘My husband went off and I felt I was very much on my own. I think I had a breakdown but I wouldn’t have it so all my hair fell out instead and of course for a woman that was terrible. I don’t know what I would have done without the girls. They were there the whole way through.
But it was when Sherrie decided to take a break from Loose Women that Benidorm came about.
‘Derren is one of my best friends and I will always be grateful to him because while I was on Loose Women for 15 years, I didn’t really do any acting in that time as I was doing two or three shows a week’ she explains. ‘Then I thought it was time for me to rest Loose
Women for a bit. But when I left, Derren came to me with this amazing character, Joyce TempleSavage. And I will be grateful to him forever as Joyce is a wonderful character to play.’
For the past ten years the cast of Benidorm have spent a good few
months on the costa where filming has been just as much fun as the show.
‘Benidorm is our home,’ Sherrie says. ‘Our characters live together and we live together out there — we’ve done that for so long. I adore Joyce and I will miss her desperately
but it has had ten years, awards, amazing ratings. It’s at such a high. ‘When you go out and leave people wanting more, isn’t that the best thing to do?’
And as a swansong, now Benidorm Live is hitting stages all over, performing to packed houses
every night. ‘This eight months will be a fantastic goodbye to the show,’ Sherrie says of the live tour.
‘By the time it’s over we will have had the best eight months. We are a bit wild when we are together and Dublin is the best place to be that.
‘It’s very scary and we are all a bit nervous because it’s all singing and all dancing.
‘And when I say dancing I say that lightly because we are not all dancers but we will try. It’s like a two-hour version of an episode of Benidorm and there is something that happens every night which includes the audience.’
Fans are encouraged to come to the live shows dressed up as their favourite characters and Sherrie insists there will be a few surprises in store.
‘But I can’t tell you as it will spoil the surprise,’ she says cryptically. ‘You won’t believe what happens.’
Sherrie stars alongside Jake Canuso (Mateo), Janine Duvitski (Jacqueline), Adam Gillen (Liam), Shelley Longworth (Sam), Tony Maudsley (Kenneth) and singer Asa Elliott who has always appeared as himself in the show.
‘We have amazing fans that will be thrilled to see the real people being silly and dancing,’ Sherrie says. ‘It’s a very funny show, very fast moving with lots of lovely songs.’
Benidorm Live is at the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre from Monday until October 6.