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| "I Don't Fancy Yours Much..." |
So as we near the end of the Benidorm Christmas Special I am absolutely overjoyed. I’ve never enjoyed filming as much as this before, everything feels right, all of the actors and crew seem happy and even though we’ve been working in unbelievable heat (while pretending it’s Christmas!) nobody has complained.
Talking of the heat, I’ve been to many hot places over the years but nothing has ever compared to last week. I’ve had sunstroke in Costa Rica and battered by the sun in Egypt but I think even it only reached 40 degrees. Someone said last week, in the Altea Hills, it reached 47 degrees. Now I don’t know if that’s true but it can’t have been far off. Of course many of us would think of the actors, having to perform on cue, remember lines and act cool (in more than one way!) but to see the crew humping equipment (ooof!), setting up lighting and generally running around non stop, well, I almost felt the urge to leave my air conditioned office and get someone to shake them by the hand on my behalf. Of course that was a joke… I’d never touch crew. Yes, that was another joke; I spend most of the time under a blanket watching the monitor wearing headphones as I watch and listen to what we are shooting with Ben our producer. Anyway, the good news about all this is I must have lost at least a couple of pounds last week in sweat alone.
So after our first week of slog I decided to hold a little BBQ at my rented villa, it was an Xmas Special party as some of the main cast aren’t in the Special so they haven’t arrived in Spain yet. We had the likes of Brian Murphy, Louie and Spence, Tim Healy (see pic above!) cavorting around the pool along with original cast members Siobhan Finneran, Crissy Rock, Sheila Reid, Oliver Stokes, Janine Dutvitski, Jake Canuso and a few others.
There’s so much more I want to tell you but I really think it would spoil the surprise. This week we have a 70′s rock god and a 60′s legend filming with us. We’ve already had Su Pollard (if you’ll pardon the expression), somehow John Henderson (our Xmas Special guest director) managed (with the hep of Sandy Johnson, regular director, with a 2nd unit) to shoot all of her scenes in one day (well, practically, she managed to squeeze in one more scene at 8am before she got on her flight to London at 11am), which was one of the things we were worried about. Oh, we’ve also got a legendary 80′s band filming with us in a few weeks, they will be appearing at ‘Neptunes’ in episode 4.. or is it 5? Oh it’s so confusing… a few parts have not been cast yet so we’re hoping to still have a few aces up our sleeve. Obviously a lot of these guest stars will probably be revealed in the tabloids but I really hope they do us a favour and keep one or two of the big names a secret. I know it’s probably wishful thinking but I love the idea of people watching the show, getting to a scene and saying “Oh my God! Look who it is!”.
Also, some rather disappointing news for me; I was due to play a (semi) regular part in this series, three episodes in all, a character I wrote for myself but unfortunately I just have too much work to do. I’m writing a new series (not Benidorm) and for that to be finished by the end of the year along with my role of associate producer, I just don’t have time to appear in the show. Sorry to any fans (???!) of my acting work, rest assured I’ll pop up somewhere on the telly again at some point.
OK, better go now, we are filming with the brilliant Shaun Foster Conley today, so all you SFC fans are in for another treat in the Xmas Special (plus he also makes an appearance in series 4). Oh, and we also have brilliant Benidorm act Asa Elliott making a cameo appearance in the Special too, do any of you remember him in Stars In Your Eyes a few years ago? Here he is in action!
Promise I won’t stay leave it as long until next blog. Have a great week and stay COOL! (Although if you are in the UK I hear you haven’t really had a choice!)
