What do you think of Benidorm?
Friday, April 5, 2013 @ 11:53 AM
Not the place itself - the television sitcom of the same name. I have to say I love it. It's so true to life, because like all good sitcoms, it takes a germ of truth and stretches it to make it funny. For example, there's Madge on her mobility scooter. While the streets of Benidorm aren't exactly running with the things, you certainly see more of them than in any other resort on the Costa Blanca. Going around the market, it seems as if every other person is on a 'Madgemobile.'
Every hotel seems to have at least one waiter like Mateo - out to score with as many English roses as he can. Mind you, having seen pictures of him on the beach in the local press, I think he could make this old lady very happy indeed. I'd certainly be up for some Spanish tuition - and I'm not talking about the language!
There are also a lot of tourists who are just there for the sun and the booze. They sit around the pool all day, then go for karaoke fuelled with industrial quantities of alcohol every night. They want everything with chips, and think Spanish food is 'foreign muck.' This is one area of the show which doesn't need to exaggerate too much.
Then the show takes the mickey out of the free coach tours - spending several hours in a demonstration for something overpriced that nobody wants, before getting a short time in the destination of choice, or sitting through a mediocre show. Fortunately, the free coach tour operators have improved the service since that hilarious episode was shown back in Series 1.
People in Benidorm are seeing the stars of the show around the resort - filming for Series 6 is now taking place until the middle of July - and there's a feeling that maybe the producers should be showing more of the 'real' Benidorm. I'd have to agree with that - there's much more to Benidorm than sun, sea sangria and Madgemobiles.
