Benidorm (2007)

Watchseries; If you had told me that this would be a show I'd become a big fan of after I first saw a clip I'd think you were crazy. Seeing a huge man intimidate a child from a swimming pool with a remote control boat that runs amok before getting chastized by an adult wasn't my usual idea of comedy gold.

Some people use the term "disposable entertainment" negatively. But there was something reliable about an episode of Benidorm. You could watch it in the hotel room, casually in the middle of the week or as part of your weekend viewing.

Set in the Mediterranean sun, it was ingeniously simply to just make a show where characters were just always on holiday but yet still find problems.

Filled to overflow with rich vibrant comedic characters that came and went and then came back again when needed. Sometimes appearing for a short time before then making a bigger splash. This kept the show fresh and to some extent wasn't really one show but at least two shows on a sort of spectrum that turned from one to another. Hardly any episode can be considered truly bad to my mind because every episode always had a mix of things going on until the final season but i'll get to that...

I imagine the show divided into three basic eras. The first three seasons are the vintage period. The show began basically as a satire (is that the right word?) about the British abroad. A rich cultural cross section including the nuclear Garvey family (as stable as a nuclear plant too), the gentrified gay coupe (ah...the 2000s...) , the intellectual man-child with his mother (and this is just the beginning) all experiencing the highs and lows of the budget vacation; those who wish to travel to sunny Spain and remain locked in a British enclave with nay a paella in sight. When a certain character didn't occur in the next season, you never missed them for long since there were so many more to pick up the slack. You kept getting old friends and exciting new faces.

The humor was an intelligent mixture of broad gags and nuanced characterization that always went down smooth (except for when it...didn't, I'll get to that). The plots were engaging and the format of each episode corresponding to the events of a day made the whole thing just feel relaxed no matter what happened.

The next few seasons saw a bit of a reshuffle which made me wonder if the best years were behind us but new characters actually became new old favorites. To think Kenneth and Joyce would rise to become the very face of the show.

The final four years see a big change (I won't spoil it) but by now we've worked into a comfortable format that is less about sending up the British abroad and just utilizing the excellent characters and it became 50% a workplace comedy with the staff fully integrated into the story lines. An additional workplace element was the misadventures of the staff at the Solana's hair salon Blo and Go in which we get four characters, each initially part of their own separate clique but eventually coming together into a well functioning comedy power quartet.

There are so many details regarding the characters and the memorable elements and how they develop over time entertainingly. Wise cracking dad Mick Garvey trying to do right by his family but who keeps messing up, the Elderly Swingers who could fill a risque desk calendar with the thing they say, Mateo, the "greasy barman" who goes from negative cultural stereotype to a cultural stereotype who became a premier chara

If you had told me that this would be a show I'd become a big fan of after I first saw a clip I'd think you were crazy. Seeing a huge man intimidate a child from a swimming pool with a remote control boat that runs amok before getting chastized by an adult wasn't my usual idea of comedy gold.

Some people use the term "disposable entertainment" negatively. But there was something reliable about an episode of Benidorm. You could watch it in the hotel room, casually in the middle of the week or as part of your weekend viewing.

Set in the Mediterranean sun, it was ingeniously simply to just make a show where characters were just always on holiday but yet still find problems.

Filled to overflow with rich vibrant comedic characters that came and went and then came back again when needed. Sometimes appearing for a short time before then making a bigger splash. This kept the show fresh and to some extent wasn't really one show but at least two shows on a sort of spectrum that turned from one to another. Hardly any episode can be considered truly bad to my mind because every episode always had a mix of things going on until the final season but i'll get to that...

I imagine the show divided into three basic eras. The first three seasons are the vintage period. The show began basically as a satire (is that the right word?) about the British abroad. A rich cultural cross section including the nuclear Garvey family (as stable as a nuclear plant too), the gentrified gay coupe (ah...the 2000s...) , the intellectual man-child with his mother (and this is just the beginning) all experiencing the highs and lows of the budget vacation; those who wish to travel to sunny Spain and remain locked in a British enclave with nay a paella in sight. When a certain character didn't occur in the next season, you never missed them for long since there were so many more to pick up the slack. You kept getting old friends and exciting new faces.

The humor was an intelligent mixture of broad gags and nuanced characterization that always went down smooth (except for when it...didn't, I'll get to that). The plots were engaging and the format of each episode corresponding to the events of a day made the whole thing just feel relaxed no matter what happened.

The next few seasons saw a bit of a reshuffle which made me wonder if the best years were behind us but new characters actually became new old favorites. To think Kenneth and Joyce would rise to become the very face of the show.

The final four years see a big change (I won't spoil it) but by now we've worked into a comfortable format that is less about sending up the British abroad and just utilizing the excellent characters and it became 50% a workplace comedy with the staff fully integrated into the story lines. An additional workplace element was the misadventures of the staff at the Solana's hair salon Blo and Go in which we get four characters, each initially part of their own separate clique but eventually coming together into a well functioning comedy power quartet.

There are so many details regarding the characters and the memorable elements and how they develop over time entertainingly. Wise cracking dad Mick Garvey trying to do right by his family but who keeps messing up, the Elderly Swingers who could fill a risque desk calendar with the thing they say, Mateo, the "greasy barman" who goes from negative cultural stereotype to a cultural stereotype who became a premier chara

Benidorm watchseries. I used to love Benidorm, I have been a viewer of it ever since it first started with the very first series back in 2007. The first 5 series have been really good and funny with proper entertainment. However ever since series 6 up until the very latest series 8, I feel that the show is going to pot. For starters, the Garveys are no longer in it and the jokes from the other characters are about as stale and dry as the sand that surrounds the pyramids of Egypt. The show just feels dated these days and I seem to keep seeing the same old faces around the swimming pool and Neptunes. By "faces" I mean the extras in the background; series 6, 7 and 8 all appear to use the exact same people in the exact same locations! Someone needs to sack the guy who's in charge of the extras and bring some fresh faces into those scenes. In particular there is a middle aged couple always used for the pool scenes and also an older gentleman with a silly towel around his neck. These people must actually live by that pool in real life! I know I am not the only one who has spotted this over the past few years, people just don't seem to be making much effort with the production anymore. Also the SAME Solana establishing shots are being used year in year out too that are nothing more than recycled clips taken from the older series (some appear to be from before series 5!) they obviously cannot be bothered to shoot new establishing shots of the Solana and its just plain laziness. I know its a comedy but you still have to do everything properly and be professional in this day and age. IF there is indeed a series 9 or even series 10 in the pipeline then I really do hope these problems are fixed and sorted otherwise I can see itv giving up on this show and it will end up being on Netflix or YouTube as an "exclusive" or even worst just a direct-to-DVD like you get with many of the low budget films these days.

I am really pleased that this programme has been created. The comedy is based on a bunch of holiday makers in the same hotel in Benidorm, the show follows them with their goings on during their holiday, which in some cases leads to trouble. What I like about the show is that it is not completely based on a few main characters, there are quite a few characters that star in the show, and I really like the casting of Jonny Vegas 'the oracle' who provides much laughter along with the other characters. This is a comedy which in my opinion suit those audiences who enjoy seeing characters making fools of themselves as you might find on a real holiday. I however think that the show could be improved in the fact that it spreads only as far as the hotel area for the entire show. I would like to see the characters wonder into the town and get into trouble as well as the hotel. However I would definitely recommend this programme as it is a real good laugh.

I remember going to Spain with my family and living Benidorm, don't get me wrong this is not for everybody, but there are many people out there who can totally relate to this. And I don't believe things have changed that much, I think the values nailed in this series are relational to today's audience. Well represented and every stereo type covered and then some. Highly recommended to all who lived the Costa dell sol life or anybody who wants the real fly on the wall experience of Brits in Spain. This isn't about factual events; this is entertainment, with so many people with so many issues on so many things. I don't think there has been anything quite like Benidorm before and I don't know why? So if you're looking for some mindless entertainment that steps back in time to when Spain was Spain, then look no further.

Yes, it tailed off in the later series, but my was it funny for most of its run. Been rewatching the first series, and it is excellent, superb actually. I'd be surprised if they'd be able to make it today, and we're only talking about a programme 12 years old, and I find that sad. Have we really lost the ability /freedom to laugh at ourselves in such a short period of time? For a sitcom, the acting is nothing short of brilliant, you believe in these characters and their situations. Looking forward to rewatching the rest.

Great programme , sorely missed , just enjoy it for what it is , funny comedy the likes of which we rarely see amd need more of , come on my litten crack on with some more series amd the movie , do we want them .......ooooh yes !!!!!