Last night (Wednesday) I accompanied the crew around the heart of Benidorm's nightlife as they started some pre-recorded filming ready for next weeks live broadcast. Our group of seven was quite easy to spot - Cameraman and Sound Technician; Chantal Robehmed - Producer for Daybreak; Sam Pickering - Make up artist and also DJ on Hotmale radio 99.5fm between 5 -7pm; Steve Hargrave - ITV Daybreak Entertainment Correspondent and Philip aka "The Duchess" from Don Juan situated in the Old Town on Calle Sante Fe - certainly an unmissable sight!
The evening started at Cafe Benidorm .... the sequence was actually filmed in reverse of how it will be broadcast. Crowds soon gathered once the cameraman was spotted and they were constantly coming up to me and asking what was happening. Some bar scenes were shot inside then we walked down to The Red Lion - attracting a steady audience of groupies. The highlight of everyones evening surely had to be the sight of Steve, noted Entertainment Correspondent, who before joining the Daybreak team worked for Sky News and a recognisable fixture on the red carpets reporting on The Oscars and The Cannes Film Festival amongst many riding a
mechanical bucking bronco cow with a drag queen between his legs! The crowds cheered them on throughout and camera's were flashing at an incredible rate ... Im sure many of those pictures have by now been loaded onto Facebook pages! The pair then went inside where they sang a great karaoke rendition of "I had the time of my Life" from Dirty dancing and the crowds once again joined in with the chorus and cheered them on.
I must say that Steve was the perfect gentleman - he was constantly being asked to pose for photos with people and never once refused, engaging in conversation with everyone and thanking them for taking part - however the consequence of this was
that we were late for the next stop at Morgan's Tavern where he was due to take part in the "Shoewaddy" tribute act. They had just finished their act when we arrived and the next act, Timeless was waiting in the wings due on at midnight. However, Jose - manager at Morgan's was great and said that they could go back on so that Steve could do his song with the group. So Chunky and the gang stepped back on stage where they presented Steve with his very own red teddy boy jacket to become the fifth member of the group and they performed "Hey Rock n Roll" - Steve even managed some steps to the song. Once again the audience were great and clapped and cheered on cue. They then had to rush back to the Don Juan to shoot the final sequence for the night before the 2am drinks license expired! What a busy night .......
The recording will be broadcast on Tuesday's show at 7.40am British time so if you want to see how it turned out tune in... for those of you that were there, you may even catch sight of yourself in the audience. The first live broadcast will be transmitted from the Levante Beach from 7am onwards so if you'd like to take part you need to get there for 6.30am - meet in front of the Beach Terrace cafe bar at the cable ski end of Levante - 500 metres from McDonalds. You will also get the opportunity to see and meet the days special guest ... Crissy Rock !!!! Crissy was a legend on the Benidorm circuit where she used to perform a stand-up comedy show before being propelled back into acting with her staring role as "Janey" in the ITV hit comedy series "Benidorm".... she was in all 4 series.
Pic courtesy of Tiger Aspects |
She has now moved back to the UK but is making a special trip back to her beloved Benidorm which was her home for many years and holds a special place for her - so don't miss her ... 7am Monday morning at Levante. More pictures and updates from other locations as the filming progresses.So if you see the crew you know what they are recording now!