Former Coronation Street actress and ex-Loose Women panelist Sherrie Hewson is remaining tight-lipped about the plot of Benidorm Live, the stage version of the hit comedy which hits Dublin in October.
Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment at the launch of the show, which runs at Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy Theatre from October 1 to 6, she said: "What can we give away?"
Watch our interview with Benidorm creator Derren Litten and actress Sherrie Hewson
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Benidorm creator Derren Litten was slightly more forthcoming, "I think if you watch the last series of Benidorm, it ends on a big of a cliff-hanger," he said.
"The hotel is being taken over by a completely different hotel group and it looks like all the staff may lose their jobs so we continue that story so when you come to see the show in Dublin what you need to do before that is watch the whole series, 74 episodes.
"But if you don't have time to do that, just watch the last episode of the last series and you'll get to the point where you say `oh! What happens next.'"
The high camp and hi-jinx TV show ran for ten years on ITV and followed the exploits of British holiday makers on the Costa Del Sol.
Speaking about her Benidorm character, straight-talking hotel manageress Joyce Temple-Savage, Hewson said: "I've always imagined Joyce worked for TWA as a posh air stewardess and then maybe later on she was an entertainments manager on the QE2 and then she was under Richard Branson for several years."
"I think she got as far as she could in her career and instead of taking very, very early retirement, she thought she would go and have some fun in the sun," says Litten, who also worked on The Catherine Tate Show and the 2016 one-off reboot of Are you Being Served?
"And I think she thought it was going to be a bit of an easy ride but she went to the most chaotic hotel on the Costa Blanca."
"We've had Nigel Havers and Joan Collins on Benidorm - practical royalty." - Derren Litten
During its decade-long run, Benidorm was never shy of playing up on the knotted hankies on heads, Union Jack shorts and full English breakfast cliches.
"People say that Benidorm has this reputation for Brits abroad but for me as long as they're not upsetting people, it's people having fun," says Litten.
"And you might think they're not posh people but we've had Nigel Havers, Joan Collins - practical royalty. I suppose we're bringing the bad bit of Benidorm to theatres because it's the fun bit. If we want to wear Union jack shorts and have a hankie on our heads, well, that's out business."
Alan Corr @corralan
