It’s a sunny November day and a queue of mobility scooters are parked up outside the Melia Hotel in Benidorm, Spain.
People gather by the pool, wearing bright yellow T-shirts emblazoned with the Solana holiday resort logo.
They’ve come from far and wide - well, mainly from England - to step inside their favourite TV show at the first-ever BeniCon.
The three-day fan convention for the much-loved TV series Benidorm - which ran from 2007 to 2018 - gives its superfans a peek behind the curtain of the comedy.
The stars are here too, including Sheila Reid (Madge), Jake Canuso (Matteo), Siobhan Finneran (Janice Garvey), Steve Pemberton (Mick Garvey), Crissy Rock (Janey York), Olivier Stokes (Michael Garvey) and singer Asa Elliot.
Jake, 52, who played the show’s womanising bartender, is overwhelmed with the comedy’s staying power. “I didn’t really realise until the last two years, how much of an impact this show has had,” he says. “When you meet someone, and I take a photo with a man aged 70. I hold him, and he’s chatting to me and all that. And then I come down and his wife’s crying. And I say, ‘Why are you crying?’ And she says, ‘He’s got Alzheimer’s. It’s the first time in years he’s been back’.
“The fans say thank you to me, but really I have to thank them.”
Sheila, agrees, saying it’s thrilling and wonderful to be back. The 84-year-old Scottish actress sits in the driving seat of her iconic mobility scooter, whizzing around to the delight of the crowd.
Kit O’Sullivan has travelled from County Kildare, Ireland, to meet her favourite character. The 83-year-old also rides a mobility scooter at home which her family affectionately calls her Madge Mobile.
“It still makes me laugh after all the years because I watched it when it first came out, and I’m still watching it now,” she says. “It was so wonderful to meet Madge. I said, ‘I’m the Irish Madge.’ She said, ‘Now, I’m the Scottish Madge’.
“My daughter booked the whole thing for me. I was in hospital until last weekend, and she told me I wasn’t to dare pass away or she was going to prop my eyes open with cocktail sticks and take me to Benidorm. Whether I was dead or alive she was taking me here!”
However, don’t go thinking the convention is just for people of a certain age who watched the show from the start. In fact, since Benidorm was put on Netflix in 2018 it has attracted a whole legion of younger fans.
“There’s a whole new audience with Netflix,” explains singer Asa, 40, who is now working on cruise ships. “We met kids as young as six years old and they’ve watched it, and others have said their parents have introduced them to the show. So for another generation, it’s the newest thing to them.”
And there is something for fans of all ages at Benicon, from the tongue-in-cheek Middlesbrough Swingers Association Speed Dating event for the adults to karaoke at the iconic Neptunes Bar and a quiz run by Crissy Rock, to fancy dress contests.
The winner of one was Phoebe Edwards, an eight-year-old from Hull. Her mother Genn, 41, is a make-up artist and dressed Phoebe up in orange make-up and a wig to look like sun-worshipper Madge.
“Phoebe’s been watching Benidorm since she was five years old,” explains Genn. “So it was a surprise birthday party. She’s always said she’d rather meet Matteo than Mickey Mouse. And she’d rather come to Benidorm than Disneyland. So it was the best birthday present we could give her.”
The eight-year-old found the show on Netflix one day, and actually introduced her parents to it. Phoebe explains she dressed as Madge because “she’s very funny and she reminds me of my grandma.” Her mum adds, “She said last night she feels like the whole experience is a dream and she’s gonna wake up and I feel a bit like that.”
Crissy, who played Solana’s manageress Janey on the show, explains, “Benidorm is so popular because everybody saw someone they knew in the show. You’d be watching it and thinking, ‘That’s Billy from down the road!’ Everyone can relate.”
Surprisingly, it is also relatable for SuLee Hughes, 46, who has travelled all the way from Cleveland, Ohio, to come to Benicon. The barmaid is thrilled to be with like-minded fans and says: “It’s been so wonderful to be around other people because, in the States, I have no friends that know what it is, or even where Benidorm is, or anything about the programme so I was all alone in the endzone.
“None of my friends had any interest at all, which is kind of a bummer because to me, it’s tremendous. The humour is just cracking. It’s so inappropriate, and I love it.”
Chris and Louise Martin from Colchester are also huge fans of the show, and they say it really helped them cope with the coronavirus pandemic. Chris, 40, who works in local government, explains: “It was almost the exact opposite of lockdown. The people in the sun enjoying themselves socialising and getting together whilst we were at home stuck within four walls. It was absolute escapism.”
The whole weekend comes to a crescendo with the Gala Finale Show at Benidorm Palace on Sunday night, which includes new material and surprise cameos, as well as dancing from Jake and singing from Asa. As far as reunions go, this one was about as fun and eventful as a holiday at the Solana!
