I also want to mention that I’m amazed (and overjoyed) at the reaction to series 3. Even people I know who have been slightly non committal about the the series in the past (something I had always interpreted a a dislike for the series) have raved about this ‘season’ (as the Americans would say). Even when the compliments are hilariously veiled (“well done, you’ve finally got it right”) it still makes me happy that my late friend and producer Geoffrey Perkins made the right decision about the new, longer format of the show. Even though Geoffrey never got to see an ‘hour’ long episode of the show it was him that convinced me it would work. And, like most times, (sometimes annoyingly) he was absolutely right. Some people argued that the first series had no “heart” and viewers didn’t really get to know the characters. I would disagree with this. I admit having 15 main characters in a show which lasted 22min 40secs was a little ambitious but I wanted to give the impression of people all of us meet on holiday. Do we really get to know those characters in 7 days or even two weeks? I think we got other things wrong in the first series, i wasn’t really happy with the overall ‘look’ of the show, it seemed a bit dark and grimy to me (something I have never suggested Benidorm is and the complete opposite of what I wanted); this was mainly down to the direction but we fixed that problem by series 2. Also being made associate producer of the show from series 2 onward gives me a much bigger say in the other decisions regarding the show, not just the script.
How on earth did I get onto this?? Anyway, I just wanted to say how overjoyed I am at the reaction to this third series of Benidorm. I love getting your feedback so don’t forget you can always leave your comments on this blog or contact me via Twitter or email. I don’t take this life I have for granted, it all kind of happened by mistake, I never imagined I would have a career as a writer (or tried to pursue one); a friend from drama school asked me to write for her Edinburgh Festival show, that was a success and led to a television show. After that somebody else asked me to write for their tv show (John Sullivan) and then more people asked after that. I hope people keep asking me to write tv shows and that includes Benidorm 4 and beyond. If they stop asking me then I’ll go back to acting because as as writer I’m a bloody good actor and as an actor I’m a bloody good magician!
