Steve Pemberton

Steve Pemberton (the show's Mick Garvey) takes over writing duties for this week's hilarious dose of sun, sand and smut.

As it's the first episode not written by creator Derren Litten, I'd like to thank Steve, on behalf of all women, for making Mateo pool lifeguard and putting him in red Speedos and baby oil.

Meanwhile, Mick's not at all happy when his father and layabout brother (ably played by David Bradley and Shaun Dooley) arrive for a raucous stag do.

And no, it's not just because it's going to be in fancy dress.

Fans should note this is the first episode in five series not written by show creator Derren Litten. It's by Steve Pemberton, and Benidorm scholars - should such a body exist - will be scanning for any discernible difference. If anything, there's an upsurge in vulgarity and word play, including a hitherto unimagined double entendre for Botticelli.

Pemberton, who's slimmed down since last year, is on good form as northern everyman Mick Garvey. Tonight, Mick's dad and brother turn up, an unsavoury duo played by David Bradley and Shaun Dooley. A stag-do bar crawl ensues with the Garveys, plus Kenneth, Donald and Liam in some outrageous outfits.

Steve Pemberton: We celebrate Benidorm

We caught up with Benidorm's Steve Pemberton on set, where the star revealed the stag-do mayhem in store for Mick when his brother and dad hit the resort...

Cross-dresser Les (Tim Healy) offers guests who have lost their luggage "full access to my wardrobe of bikinis and summer dresses"... Saucy swinger Jacqueline has been smuggling contraband secreted, eye-wateringly, about her person... Dotty pensioner Noreen offers the gay hairdressers a threesome (it's not what they imagine)... and newcomer Trudy butts heads and breaks wind with abandon at the poolside... Yes, Derren Litten's shameless, sun-baked smutcom doesn't get any classier - and that's just the way I and around seven million other devotees love it.

Snooty new manager Joyce Temple Savage (Loose Women's Sherrie Hewson) is, however, determined to raise the tone. Experienced in the travel business ("I spent three years under "Richard Branson]"), she's tasked with upgrading the Solana into a four-star resort. Classical music drifting over the sun-loungers? That won't wash with this gobby lot.

No Steve Pemberton tonight, although he's back as Mick next week and will share writing duties on episodes later in the run. Buenas noches!

Steve Pemberton on true crime sightseeing

The League of Gentlemen's Steve Pemberton currently starring in the crime series Whitechapel talks about visiting famous crime scenes.

The League Of Gentlemen: Where are the cast & crew now?

What the cast and crew of The League Of Gentlemen are up to now including Steve Pemberton and Steve Bendelack.

Radio Times review

The 37th best TV show of 2011 according to the Radio Times.

Manna for lovers of the macabre - a shudder one minute, a cackle the next. Series two had no qualms about meting out grisly ends to its lead personae, at a rate of roughly one bloodbath per episode. At least psycho-mum Maureen got to appal us all with her terrifying Tina Turner karaoke before carking it. Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton invested even their vilest creations with flashes of pathos; new to this run were extreme fag hag Hattie, shackling a gay Iranian man in her boudoir, and beyond-anal librarian Jeremy Goode, haunted by the Silent Singer. Add to the brew a glam Imelda Staunton, Eileen Atkins at her most severe and a cameo from cult horror director John Landis, and this show left you scared and scarred.

Psychoville Halloween special - one and done :(

Two bits of greatness that you could always count on to grace the small screen during Halloween have been The Simpsons Halloween Special and, last year's classic newcomer, the brilliance of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton's Psychoville Halloween Special. While The Simpsons has remained a staple of Halloween viewing for the past 20+ years, there is no joy in Psychoville any longer as after only two short seasons, the series was cut down in its prime by the BBC and there will be no Halloween special this year.

Psychoville wasn't in a League of its own Read more: h

The second series of Psychoville has just finished its run on BBC Two. It was deftly written, wonderfully performed and elegantly made. It was funny, it was engrossing, it was all-round impressive. And so its makers, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, are probably a bit hacked off that viewing figures fell away so sharply as the series went on.