John Hannah, who plays ex-detective Dennis Govan in the new Channel 5 comedy Benidorm is Murder, has revealed that filming was plagued by a boozy issue: relentless burping mid-scene. The Scottish star said he drank around 20 beers a day on set, which were supposedly alcohol-free, leading to awkward moments with co-star Carolina Becquer.
Boozy Setbacks
“The problem was actually the burping. I quite often had a beer in my hand. It must have been 20 a day, we tried to make it all about the beer,” Hannah told the Mirror at a special screening. “They told everyone it was alcohol free, but I don't know! You have to keep hydrated in the heat. But I would have to say something to Catalina and I would just burp. I felt like a 12-year-old!”
Hannah also revealed that his character was originally meant to be from Birmingham, and he spent hours perfecting the accent before it was decided Dennis just had to be Scottish.
Potential Second Series
Despite the challenges, the show has already earned encouraging reviews, and conversations about a second series have begun. Greg Barnett, who works across Factual, Factual Entertainment and Drama for C5, said: “We are looking at series two. There has been a lot of support, but yes we can say that we are developing a couple of scripts for what will hopefully be series two. We hope that becomes a reality.”
Writer's Perspective
Benidorm is Murder comes from Death in Paradise writer Ian Jarvis. Speaking about what he learned from working on the BBC hit, Jarvis said: “What I learned is that writing these kinds of shows is harder than it looks. It is sort of like playing a game with the audience. You are setting them a puzzle to solve. You must play fair. You must give them every opportunity to try to solve it. You can’t pull any rabbits out of hats in the final act. But at the same time, if they do solve it then you’ve lost.”
Benidorm is Murder starts on Channel 5 on Thursday, July 30 at 9pm.
