Derren Litten

Series 4: I heard a rumour...

So the speculation of who is to appear in Benidorm series 4 continues. I thought I'd jot down a quick blog to set the record straight...

How I write Benidorm

I've had a few tweets asking how I write my series Benidorm. I mean, how I actually start writing an episode. Sometimes I think I really wish I knew the answer to that question but let's start at the very beginning...

May the 4th (Series) Go With You

So yes, it's true Benidorm has re-commissioned for an unstoppable 4th series.

Derren Litten's comedy showcases a certain kind of lobster-coloured all-Englishness that can only be found abroad nowadays. It's broad rather than acute, and occasionally hidebound (an Indian trainee doctor from Varanesi who speaks no English? No way), but a familiar cast, including Johnny Vegas and Steve Pemberton, help make for viewing as comfy as a carton of chips. This week, Madge runs into her marginally less horrible, estranged daughter Valda, while Robin Askwith, he of the Confessions of . . . series, crops up as a typically conniving cockney chancer.

Derren Litten's Costa-del-Hell comedy returns for a third series. It's the same gallery of grotesques who gather once again by the pool of the all-inclusive hotel Solana: the fractious Garvey family; corpulent swingers Donald and Jacqueline; and drip Martin, who has mislaid his wife and arrives instead with a brassy blonde called Brandy (guest star Sheridan Smith) in tow. By now we're used to Benidorm's broad comic brush. The characters don't just argue, they hurl curses at each other. If someone has an out-of-date mobile phone, it's not just a few years old but a big 1980s brick. When a character gets comically sunburnt, it's because he was wearing a silver suit and riding a 12ft-high bicycle. Nothing happens by halves. But although the comic timing is laboured, the re-creation of hellishness can be spot on. The scene where The Oracle (Johnny Vegas) is driven mad by his mum's trivia-quiz ignorance is inspired, and Geoffrey Hutchings' scooter mogul Mel is superbly awful.

Interview: Benidorm's creator and writer Derren Litten

Award-winning sitcom Benidorm is one of the UK's biggest TV comedy hits in years. As it returns for a third series, Yahoo catches up with the show's writer Derren Litten to find out what lies in store this time around...

Sadly the final episode [of series two] is a bit of a let-down, after what has been an exceptionally strong series. Surely the difference between an ongoing soap and a sitcom is that the latter should offer us some resolution (however temporary) at the end of each episode, and especially in the final show of the run?

With a third series clearly in the offing, the producers have been at pains to keep the storylines open for development, with the result that we're rather left hanging in the air. In fact, some might say the plots have started to flag a bit lately, with the unlikely reappearance of Kelly - who would surely be giving the place a very wide berth after her betrayal at the hands of Mateo last year - and the inexplicable introduction not only of her mum but Gavin's too.

But niggles apart, series two has been a terrific success. With sharp, laugh-out-loud (and/or reach-for-your-hankie) scripts from Derren Litten, superb casting and excellent performances all round, at its best it's been on a par with the work of Mike Leigh, and that takes some doing. It's also been notable for what it hasn't got: no fancy camerawork, no special effects, no unwarranted music, no laughter track.

So hats off to all concerned. My towel's already on the sunbed in anticipation of the next run.