“You wouldn’t see Olivia Colman doing this bollocks would you?” jokes Danny Dyer as he clears up a dustbin at Priory Hill & Nutts Farm Holiday Park in Kent.
But over the past year – around filming the return of the hit Disney+ series Rivals – the actor, and his daughter Dani, have been spending weekends on the Isle of Sheppey, filming The Dyers’ Caravan Park (Sky One) in an attempt to boost the fortunes of Priory Hill and make caravanning cool.
As Danny puts it: “[Jeremy] Clarkson’s got a farm, Richard Hammond’s got a workshop … if Jamie Oliver can save school dinners, then why can’t we save the great British holiday?”
The pair have got properly involved – from cleaning the caravans to donning a bear costume to entertain children, to sorting out the issue of poos in the park’s indoor swimming pool.
Danny says he wanted to make the show as he adored his childhood holidays with his extended family in a caravan park in Canvey Island. “There was a real sense of community,” he says, “which I think in today’s world is severely lacking. It was the best time of my life, running about getting a bit of sea air in my lungs. These places are dying out.”
Dyer does not own Priory Hill (it has been in the Butcher family since 1951) but he has invested in it; staking not just his money but his reputation. Sitting in Priory Hill’s clubhouse with Dani, he says: “We’re living in a very divisive time, it’s very difficult, and … no one’s really interacting with each other any more [due to] social media.
“I do think, on a caravan site, the kids [are] just playing, laughing on bikes … fresh air in their fucking lungs. [It’s] such a beautiful thing to watch … can we bring that back? Can we get kids out all day, getting naturally tired instead of having their brain just zapped all day? Can we make that an exciting thing again?”
Sporting the moustache he has grown for Rivals’ Freddie Jones, Danny says older generations love caravanning but, “it’s about trying to get the next generation involved … It’s so accessible to go abroad, and probably cheaper.”
He acknowledges that there is a fair degree of snobbery to overcome: some people he has spoken to, “just don’t understand [the appeal]; they turn their nose up at it slightly. I think the elitism comes from, it’s a very working-class holiday … So if you’ve got a few quid, then you probably wouldn’t buy a caravan.”
Yet, Dani explains, new luxury ones have all mod cons and are “so cosy” but expensive. One on the seafront cost more than £50,000 (with a boutique hotel-style interior) but the Dyers sold it by making an amusing social media video.
Expectation’s creative director, entertainment Ben Wicks said the pair want to ensure, “everyone is having the time of their life when they’re on the park” and Danny has, “got a real social conscience. He worries about things that not everyone worries about.”
The pair are happy to send themselves up and acknowledge mistakes: one marketing initiative, involving a giant billboard by the Sheppey Bridge, backfired and was targeted with graffiti.
Danny was keen to get Dani onboard the series because she had more youthful ideas (she has successfully introduced glamping to the site) and was able to rein in his more extravagant plans.
Attending a residents’ meeting to discuss improvements led to the pair holding a sports day, complete with a mobility scooter – a “granny prix”. It was a hit, but cost about £10,000.
The show is made by Expectation TV, the company responsible for Clarkson’s Farm, and there are similarities – particularly the idea of its fish-out-of-water celebrity stars being guided by knowledgable local workers and characterful residents.
But Leysdown-on-Sea is less affluent than the Cotswolds, and more open to the TV tourism the Sky show could bring. As Priory Hill’s co-owner Jimi Butcher explains: “Already the hype in Leysdown is incredible.”
When I visited the island, the locals were friendly but there was evidence that some are struggling. One business had a sign saying: “Closed for now due to problems.” But the town and Priory Hill & Nutts Farm have stunning views across the bay to Whitstable – that beacon of how a once run-down town can be rejuvenated by tourism.
The pair hope the show will help reinvigorate a “very deprived” area that has “a real charm”. Although, says Dani, their other aim is to not “tread on” the owners’ toes, but to “put a lot of smiles on people’s faces” – from viewers to Priory Hill’s residents and managers.
However, Priory Hill was badly affected by Covid and the cost of living; when the Dyers got involved the business had 38 empty pitches, causing a loss of £150,000 in potential revenue per annum.
The co-owners, Alex and Jimi, lost their father, Michael, (who previously ran the park) seven years ago and say “it’s not been the same” since, but the Dyers have “brought some energy back”.
This has included star appearances from EastEnders actor Shaun Williamson and Harry Redknapp, who helped with a football tournament the Dyers organised to bring the site’s residents together.
With his lauded appearance on ITV’s The Assembly and Rivals, Danny’s career is experiencing a renaissance. “We don’t know how [the show] is going to be received,” he says, but he and his daughter feel a responsibility towards the residents and to try to use their fame wisely – even if his public persona doesn’t always open doors for him.
“I am from a working-class background. People might have had a perception of me and [Dani], and then if they don’t really like you it’s about trying to win them over.”
He says he is “getting better” at dealing with fame and remembering to be “true to yourself”, not “losing [who] the fuck you are. Being famous … it’s very toxic. I do love being in these sort of surroundings, I really do, around other peasants like me!” he jokes.
But not everything he is working on is down to earth. He’s been writing a play about his friendship with his late mentor Harold Pinter, called When Harry Met Danny. “And,” he says, “I would love to play Harold.”
The Dyers’ Caravan Park launches 24 Feb on Sky and Now
