ITV's biggest comedy in years returned for a summer special. The Benidorm special tied up all the loose ends of the series two cliffhanger and laid the ground for the upcoming third series.

Benidorm isn't the next big thing in comedy, it won't wow you with its originality, perfectly crafted storylines or even wonderfully observed characters but it is good for a laugh and that's all I really want from something that designed to make me laugh.

The new series will move from a 30 minute slot to an hour and if this special was anything to go by the series will be suit the longer time frame. I was asked to write about Benidorm as no one else at TheCustardTV sees the fun in it and I can see how sometimes it's a bit too cartoonish to enjoy. The humour is often over the top and sometimes silly but I enjoy it when it gets the balance right.

The story surrounding the kidnap was perhaps the silliest plot yet but it delivered some funny moments and maybe it's the continual sunshine and the panoramic views of Spain but there's something about the series that makes you smile regardless. As the series progresses its going to be harder to believe these people would return to the same holiday resort year after year but if its funny enough it won't really matter.

TheCustardTV, 5th June 2009

The Brits are abroad in Benidorm, back for this one-off special, though I'm not sure 'special' is a word that can really be used about this unlovable, ill-conceived, banal and embarrassing sitcom. Ouch, it's bad; it actually makes me quite depressed. A nod to the Javier Bardem character in No Country For Old Men amuses for a short while, but what he should have done is turn his gas-cylinder weapon on everyone involved - actors, writers, producers, conceivers, and the inexplicably large number of people who watch this nonsense, and then himself. The really depressing thing is that it's soon to return for another season. Now I'm depressed again.

Sam Wollaston, The Guardian, 1st June 2009

I've laughed at Benidorm before now, but last night's special was a distinctly laboured affair. "There are no strangers in Benidorm, only friends you haven't met," said the oily Spanish waiter at one point. "What bloody Christmas cracker did you get that out of?" replied another character. The same one where they got the jokes, I take it. There were thudding malapropisms ("The doctor thinks you might have percussion," said to a man who's just had a blow to the head), comic misunderstandings (a man called Wheedon is addressed as Senor Widdle by a doctor) and creaky physical comedy (man rushes to open door to stairs only to find that it's a broom cupboard). Let's go somewhere else next year.

Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent, 1st June 2009

I've been to Nice and the isles of Greece but I've never been to Benidorm. And it seems the purpose of this mystifyingly popular sitcom - last night's special was a precursor to a forthcoming third series - is to ensure no one in their right mind heads for the capital of Costa del Blackpool ever again. The Spanish tourist board should sue.

Though there were some cheeky movie buff nods to No Country For Old Men and Die Hard spliced into the action - a crazy kidnap plot, since you ask - Benidorm left me feeling like it always does: grubby and dizzy, like I've spent too much time in the sun swigging budget sangria and my skin is starting to peel. It's trying to be a package-holiday Shameless but the Benidorm bunch are such a relentlessly charm-free bunch of lame-brained stereotypes it's as nightmarish as a no-frills airline going long-haul: it doesn't bear thinking about.

Keith Watson, Metro, 1st June 2009

Very nearly as funny as Eldorado, this bubbly, award-winning sitcom about Brits abroad is back for a one-off special. What's more, a third series - in this fresh, hour-long format - has laid down a Union Jack towel in the Spanish resort ready for it's arrival in September. Tonight, though, we pick up where the second series left off, with Mel unconscious after being drop-kicked by Johnny Vegas, Mick in the hands of the local plod, Madge hysterical and Kate pregnant... Farcical fun in the sun.

What's On TV, 31st May 2009

It's not the most sophisticated of sitcoms, but this character-based ensemble job surprised many by walking off with last year's National TV Award for Best Comedy. Here the regular cast, including Johnny Vegas and Abigail Cruttenden, return for an hour-long one-off, picking up where series two concluded.

The Express, 31st May 2009

In a soul-sapping television tradition of yesteryear, practically every sitcom would do a dire summer special in which the regular characters went to Spain and had unfunny encounters with the locals. Benidorm is like that in every single episode. This mirth-free atrocity about the antics of a gaggle of British oafs staying in the Spanish holiday resort has been running for two series, and returns tonight with an hour-long one-off. Sample japes: Mick (Steve Pemberton) wets himself in a police car, and Madge (Sheila Reid) is kidnapped while hitching a lift to hospital. Strange things, budgets: ITV apparently doesn't have enough money to make more of The South Bank Show, but it does have enough to persist with this twaddle.

Michael Deacon, The Telegraph, 31st May 2009

Benidorm is ITV's biggest sitcom in years. The second series was watched by six million people last year, when the show received a Bafta nomination. Announcing a third, the channel's director of television praised its "fantastic mix of warmth, charm, and fun", which suggests to me he hasn't watched it much. Warm and charming it is not. If he had instead praised its fantastic mix of bile, ugliness and mishap among a gallery of sweaty, hopeless British holidaymakers who engage in screeching poolside rows about thongs, we'd have believed him. The good news is, this special extended one-off pushes the usual boundaries a bit. We pick up where series two ended, with the aftermath of the beach wedding where Madge was to marry her rich fiance Mel, until a paragliding Johnny Vegas dropped from the sky and knocked him flat. From there, a farcical hostage plot evolves with very funny nods to No Country for Old Men and, believe it or not, Die Hard.

David Butcher, The Radio Times, 31st May 2009

Johnny Vegas Interview

The 'boozy comic' has shed six stone as he tries to clean up his act.

Written by Beth Neil. From The Mirror, 30th May 2009

This hour-long special of the colourfully chaotic comedy series picks up the action in the aftermath of the wedding between Madge and Mel on the beach. Mel is taken to hospital after being knocked unconscious by a paragliding Geoff (Johnny Vegas) - "East Lancashire's indoor paragliding champion" - and Madge and Janice, in their desperation to get to the hospital, get into a car with a man who is the spitting image of Javier Bardem's character in No Country for Old Men, right down to the haircut and limp. So begins an inspired homage to the Coen brothers' movie, as the Bardem character turns out to be violent drug smuggler Enrique "The Rat" Lopez, who kidnaps Madge and Janice at gunpoint. (He does have an air canister and hose but not as a weapon - his car has a slow puncture.) The trio then return to the hotel where all the familiar grotesques become embroiled in the action. Roll on series three.

Joe Clay, The Times, 30th May 2009

ITV's comedy big gun, Benidorm, is back for a one off special ahead of the third series. The show is an acquired taste, but thankfully it has more texture and depth than the middle class flummery of Reggie Perrin over on the BBC. The cast play it with gusto, even if some of the material, centring on a bunch of mis-matched holidaymakers, doesn't quite hit the mark. Not dreadful, not great. Perhaps that's a perfect thumbnail of the modern ITV?

Mark Wright, The Stage, 29th May 2009

Benidorm filming disrupted - Vegas gets gout

Comic Johnny Vegas has suffered another bout of gout while filming his hit series Benidorm. Production of the Costa del Sol sitcom was suspended last week after the 37-year-old star was struck down with the condition.

Written by Andy Lea. From The Sunday Star, 29th March 2009

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.

Delia Pemberton, DigiGuide, 16th May 2008

Benidorm has long exercised a sickly fascination, but it has always been a vaguely nasty pleasure - like one of those bright-green cocktails with an umbrella on top that splits open your skull the next morning. But as the series has developed, sympathy for the characters has taken over from cruelty, helping to make it one of the highlights of the week.

David Chater, The Times, 9th May 2008

For some reason, some folks here at thecustard.tv don't enjoy Benidorm so I'm here to come to its defence. When I nine, we lived in Spain and I saw the same kind of characters flock to Benidorm for their summer holidays watching Only Fools and Horses in a Spanish pub called The Red Lion and complaining to the locals you couldn't get a decent bacon butty.

Benidorm relies on one liners and perhaps over-the-top stereotypes but it does paint a rather true picture of the Benidorm I remember. One gripe: Johnny Vegas is underused.

The Custard TV, 2nd April 2008

Benidorm was lame, hackneyed and cliched first time round, and it doesn't seem to have gone anywhere new. It says something about the quality of the writing when the funniest thing about a show is Johnny Vegas failing to dive into the pool, again and again. I think he's trying to tell you something about the show: it's a big, wet belly flop.

Sam Wollaston, The Guardian, 29th March 2008

A sitcom that harks back to early-1990s BBC drama Eldorado (basically EastEnderson-Sea). Take a cast of crazy characters and put them in a Spanish resort. In the case of Benidorm, add some intentional jokes. And stand well back.

The idea had promise, but no amount of real Spanish sunshine is going to disguise a certain lack of conviction from its makers.

The trouble is, it's hard to know whether we're supposed to be laughing at or with these people. Are we with the posh lot stuck in package holiday hell? Or do we love an allinclusive deal and wonder why so many of the jokes are on us?

That said, Benidorm does have its genuine sunny spells. There are some great exchanges between members of Steve Pemberton's chaotic extended family. And Johnny Vegas's stunt diving is a thing of awe.

Baywatch it ain't. But despite the unfit body count, it's still able to raise a smile or two.

The Mirror, 28th March 2008

When this broad sitcom was launched last year it definitely seemed to have something. Painting a tacky picture of life at a Spanish resort hotel, it created a memorable allery of grotesques.

OK, it was a vision of holiday hell, but performances from the likes of Kenny Ireland (as a predatory swinger) and Steve Pemberton (as the father of a chaotic family) gave it comic bite. It was never quite going to be Royston-Vasey-by-the-sea, but there was a hint of that.

Sadly, the opportunity to take that to the next level for series two seems to have been fumbled. The vivid characters are all back (including a strangely under-used Johnny Vegas), but the "sit" part of ther com never quite sparks into life.

David Butcher, The Radio Times, 28th March 2008

Return of the sometimes tasteless and occasionally funny comedy set in a Benidorm holiday resort, featuring eccentric working-class characters playing out their darkly peculiar lives. Like Five's Suburban Shootout, the comedy is hit and miss, but the performances are universally good, and so Benidorm deserves points for trying.

Abi Grant, The Telegraph, 28th March 2008

Back to Benidorm article

The Manchester Evening News previews the second series, with quotes from some of the main cast.

From The Manchester Evening News, 25th March 2008

Series One Preview

In this article from 2007, The Independent goes behind-the-scenes on the production of the first series to find out more about the show.

Written by James Rampton. From The Independent, 31st January 2007