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'Benidorm' creator slammed ITV bosses after winning Best Comedy at TV Choice Awards

Benidorm (Credit: ITV)
Benidorm (Credit: ITV)

Derren Litten, the creator of ITV comedy series Benidorm, took a strip off channel bosses after the show won Best Comedy at the TV Choice Awards, it has emerged.

The show, which followed the lives of those living in and visiting the popular Spanish resort, was axed in July, after 10 series.

But Litten seemed to warn of a possible outburst ahead of the awards ceremony. He tweeted: “Hola from the tv Choice awards. P***** already. Hope we don’t win because I don’t know my own name right now.”

And indeed, once he took to the stage to pick up the Best Comedy gong, he let rip, saying: “This is a bit awkward – the show’s just been cancelled.

“I have huge respect for ITV – a show that’s getting 5.5million and still picking up awards, but they’ve cancelled it. That takes balls.”

He went on to say that picking up the award was ‘a bit like being sacked from your job and then being nominated for employee of the month’.

The show, which first aired in 2007, featured a host of famous stars, including Steve Pemberton, Johnny Vegas, Margi Clarke, Sheridan Smith, Tim Healy, Cilla Black, Denise Welch and Joan Collins.

A touring stage show of the series, Benidorm Live, began earlier this month.

Meanwhile, it was announced in 2016 that Fox in the US was adapting its own version of the show, called The Big Package and to be set in Mexico, though it is yet to materialise.

Litten is currently working on a new series called Scarborough for the BBC, set in a karaoke bar in the seaside town.

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