Episode 3 Is On It’s Way!
The National television Awards 2016
Doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun?! OK, perhaps January isn’t the most fun time of the year and certainly as I look at the latest email from my accountant telling me how much money I have to pay the tax man at the end of this month the emotion that first springs to mind is certainly not ‘fun’. But hey ho, it’s only money, if I were to keep all that money I’d only spend it and where’s the fun in that?! But listen to me drivel on about finances when what I should be talking about is Episode 3 of Benidorm! I had such fun writing this coming Monday’s episode and there’s a few old faces to welcome back as well as all the lovely new characters I’ve been getting my teeth into. As I’m sure you’ve heard me say before, Pauline is one of my all time favourite characters and to see her on the edge of madness yet again fills me with pride and joy. I remember when we first introduced Pauline as a character there was some resistance and fans made sure their voices heard about how annoyed they were about how dull and boring that character was. A couple of years later and one of the scenes I get most messages/people talking about is the bingo where Pauline wins a laptop (or is it a lap dog?!); some new characters take a little while to bed-in during a long running show; it’s worth remembering that!…
So in other news I moved house recently and with that has come a mass clear out and I took a load of clothes to the local charity shop, this is how the trip went…
I stepped into the charity shop with about 10 suits folded neatly in big market bag. I asked if I could leave a donation and I was told to wait. After waiting for a minute or two (I admit, patience is not one of my strong points) I ventured to the rear of the shop where there was a an open door and a woman sorting out clothes in a back room.
Hello, can I leave some clothes with you, they’re-
“ARE THEY ALL DRY CLEANED?”
Yes, they are all dry cleaned, you don’t have to shout, I’m standing in front of you.
“ALL OF THEM?”
I’m sorry?
“ARE ALL OF THEM DRY CLEANED?”
(I realised at this point to her mind she wasn’t shouting, it was just the way she spoke)
Yes, they are all dry cleaned.
“WHERE ARE THEY FROM?”
Where are the from???
“YEAH, WHERE ARE THEY FROM?”
Well this Austin Reed I wore to the BAFTAs, this Ted Baker pinstripe I wore to The British Comedy Awards, this Jaeger tuxedo I wore to The National Television Awards. As you can see, this Katharine Hamnett suit hasn’t been worn as it still has the labels on it.
“WHAT???”
Oh fuck off… I didn’t say that, I just thought it as I went to the next charity shop (British Heart Foundation) where they were thrilled. When I got back to my car I’d got a parking ticket. Lovely!
But I digress… it’s been a great week (apart from my attempt to bring joy into my and other people’s heart by donating about £2,000 worth of clothes to charity) with exciting projects for ITV and the BBC and Benidorm nominated for The National Television Awards (look closely at the pic above, that’s not Dermot O’Leary looking into a mirror, one of those people is actually me! Yes, that’s right, I’m the boz-eyed, fat tongued idiot on the left). Sadly we didn’t win but to be nominated for (I think) the fifth time is incredible! Oh, just one more bit of housekeeping before I leave you all; unfortunately the time has come around again for me to take a bit of a Twitter holiday. I have so much work to concentrate on and although Twitter can be a fun place to escape to for a few minutes (or a long lunch hour) it’s really important for me to be surrounded with positive energy while I work (oh dear now I sound like an old hippy, I don’t have enough hair to be a hippy!) and lately Twitter has got quite negative lately and on occasion a bit aggressive. I have no idea why comedy can provoke such angry reactions in people, certainly if I don’t enjoy a tv show someone is producing or music an artist is making or novels an author is writing I don’t laboriously seek that person out and hurl abuse at them, I tend to change the channel, turn off the radio or stop buying their books; but that’s just me. If faceless idiots stood in the street shouting at my house “your tv show is shit” (apart form having them shot by my armed guards, of course) I would more than likely close the window. This is just me closing the Twitter window. Of course I’ll be back, when the air outside is slightly less polluted, but not for a little while. In saying that, all is not lost on the social media front, Jo, my fantastic P.A. will keep @BenidormTVshow updated with Benidorm news, gossip and updates on all things Benidorm (and the odd competition!). And of course you can still get an occasional fix of my pithy badinage by staying subscribed to this newsletter; tell your friends! As we say in Spain, hasta pronto amigo! DL x