Benidorm

Popular though it may be, Benidorm, the sitcom starring Sheila Reid, can be distasteful. In tonight's penultimate episode of the third series, dishonesty pervades the Spanish seaside resort: Gavin (Hugh Sachs) learns that Troy (Paul Bazely) is apparently cheating on him, while the elaborate stories of the Oracle (Johnny Vegas) land him in a spot of bother with the local police. Elsewhere, Diana (Una Stubbs) arrives to help her recently conned son Martin (Nicholas Burns) get back on his feet.

Last week's outsider from the world of the un-north was Robin Askwith as a cockney conman. This week it's Una Stubbs, who comes from the world of Posh. She plays the snooty but enigmatic Diana, who makes a flying trip to bail out her son, hapless con victim Martin. Meanwhile, The Oracle's whoppers about fighting off criminals come back to bite him on the backside, Madge gets a Bo Derek-style makeover and Gavin suspects that Troy is cheating on him. This is just one aspect of the show that makes it a bit more than Coronation Street by the pool-side.

Hugh Sachs explains 'Benidorm' success

Benidorm star Hugh Sachs has said that the comedy series is successful because viewers recognise themselves in the characters.

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.

It's more of the same ribaldry as the third series of the comedy about the Spanish resort continues. Madge (Shelia Reid) is uneasy when her estranged daughter Valda (Lorraine Bruce) turns up in the sunny resort and is convinced that she is there only for Mel's (Geoffrey Hutchings) money. Though that should be the least of her worries as a professional con man (Robin Askwith) arrives.

Madge, who contributes a memorable karaoke spot to tonight's episode, must be one of the most hateful characters ever to appear in a comedy.

Another of her estranged daughters turns up unexpectedly at the hotel tonight, with her new husband in tow - an Indian doctor who speaks no English.

Along with the ongoing storyline that sees Geoff (Johnny Vegas) trying to persuade folk that he's not gay, it's like something out of the 1970s.

And there's another blast from the past as guest star Robin Askwith (from the Confessions Of... films) checks in tonight playing a cockney conman. He's the best thing in the show, with a great character face that doesn't look lived-in so much as completely trashed by squatters. He'll be hoping no one at the Solanas asks, "Can I carry your bags?"

This series should be sponsored by Visit Britain, because it's doing a brilliant job of persuading viewers they'd be better off holidaying at home.

Tonight there's a visit to Peacock Island - the last unspoiled bit of Benidorm - but Mel has big plans to change all that. And look out again for a brilliant guest starring role from Tim Healy, while Geoff The Oracle (Johnny Vegas) discovers the perils of online dating.

Subtle it ain't - the gags are flagged up so clearly you could probably see them from space - but Benidorm definitely has its attractions.

Ever since Johnny Vegas confessed to a lively online role-playing life, in which he entered chatrooms under the pseudonym "Bashful", you get the feeling script-writers have been looking to explore the notion again. Tonight, they finally do, as Geoff goes online dating, while his mother canvasses opinions as to whether or not he might be gay. A strange mixture of home truths and Carry On humour, Benidorm feels high-quality and low-rent, sometimes at the same time. Tim Healy's guest spot is certainly one to remember.

It's brash, bold and, despite its poor innuendos and obvious crudeness, at times quite brilliant in its sending-up of the working-class stereotype of the popular Spanish tourist destination. In tonight's second episode of the third series, Mick (Steve Pemberton) and Janice (Siobhan Finneran) are having relationship troubles and Brandy (Sheridan Smith) plays a practical joke on the bumbling Martin (Nicholas Burns).

Sheridan Smith stars in the hit ITV comedy based in a holiday resort.

You can take the girl out of Two Packets of Lager and a Pint of Crisps, but you can't take the, er, lager and crisps out of the girl... Indeed, in tonight's edition of this sunny sitcom, Sheridan Smith concocts the sort of prank that she'd normally play on Will Mellor or Ralf Little. However, with neither of them around, she stitches up a gullible Martin, who ends up legging it through a tourist attraction in the nip...