Derren Litten

Video: Cilla Black in 'Benidorm'

Cilla Black returns to ITV1 primetime tomorrow night. No, it's not a re-run of Blind Date or a revived Surprise, Suprise - the Scouse singer and TV presenter is actually turning up in Derren Litten's hit comedy series Benidorm.

Real tears for Beindorm's Mel

The stars of Benidorm have told how the tears they shed for Mel Garvey in last night's Christmas special were real. Actor Geoffrey Hutchings, who played Mel, died of an infection in July and Derren Litten, who writes the ITV1 show, penned a touching ending as a tribute.

Derren Litten's Costa comedy is, as you'd hope, growing old gracelessly. At its heart is still the crabby marriage of Mick (Steve Pemberton) and Janice (Siobhan Finneran) as they take their umpteenth break in the Spanish sun, although these days Janice's mean-spirited mum is married to local mobility-scooter king, Mel, and hanging out at his lavish villa in a Jacuzzi. Mel was played by Geoffrey Hutchings, who died earlier this year, but this one-off finds a touching way to deal with his passing. As farcical storylines collide, a sad tale bubbles away off-screen.

Does it annoy you that Benidorm gets bad reviews?

Writer Derren Litten answers the question: "Does it annoy you that Benidorm mostly gets bad reviews from critics?"

Writers Blog: One Man Went To Blog

So, the weeks roll on and more and more hilarious and brilliant guest stars come to this crazy town to visit us and appear in the show...

It Was The Best of Times, It Was The Worst of Times...

So we've been filming now for about four weeks. We shot the Christmas Special in the first two weeks and now we are kind of doing one episode per fortnight.

Derren Litten: All's Well That Starts Well

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 Spence and Tim Healy cavorting around the pool.

Derren Litten: Here We Go Again

So today was the cast read through for series 4 of Benidorm and as you can see from the murky iPhone pic I took just before everyone got there I think the next comedy show I write I should have a few less characters!

Derren Litten: Viva Espana

I banned a good friend of mine who is a member of the Benidorm cast from reminding me how many weeks there was to go before we all head off to Sunny Spain. It's not that I wasn't looking forward to going as much as he was it's just that it terrified me to think there was so little time remaining for me to finish the scripts.