Benidorm comes to Milton Keynes!

This week, MK Theatre welcomes Benidorm, bringing the Spanish Costa Blanca sunshine and the colourful characters that come with a bit of sun, sea, sand and sangrias. With many of your favourite original cast members including resident lothario come barman Mateo played by Jake Canuso, Janine Duvitski as Jacqueline, Sherrie Hewson as the Solana’s Manageress Joyce Temple-Savage and Shelley Longworth as Sam. Not forgetting Tony Maudsley as Kenneth and Adam Gillen as Liam who between them run the useless, hardly-ever-open hair salon Blow & Go.

What can I say? Benidorm is like Marmite, you either love it or hate it and, like marmite, I love it! I hadn’t actually ever seen a single episode of the ITV series (started 10 years ago!) until earlier this year, when I happened to binge watch all 10 series on catch up. There was just something about the weird, rude, slimy, chavvy, snobby, funny and nasty characters that warmed me to the show – either to laugh at or relate to!

Essentially, the show is about a run-down, badly managed “Four” Star hotel in Benidorm. The hotel’s posh manageress is up against a team of lazy, immature, party-loving staff and guests that are even worse. Desperate to keep the hotel above ground, and keep that fourth star hanging on, Joyce Temple-Savage has her daily battles with everyone. Mateo is more often found flirting with the guests than actually working the pool bar, Kenneth spends his nights partying and days hungover rather than running the salon whilst Liam frantically picks up the pieces and Jacqueline…is, well…Jacqueline and although she misses her late husband Donald dearly, she has many fond tales to tell of the Middlesborough Swingers Association. Sam seems to go out of her way to annoy Joyce and the rest of the staff either don’t speak English (much to the British clientele’s dismay) or are as much use as a chocolate teapot.

The stage was fab. It brought the set to life including the Solana’s reception, Blow & Go salon, pool side and Neptune’s perfectly! I loved the quirky little songs and dance routines in between the scenes which included a tongue-in-cheek dance about sleazy Spanish waiters for Mateo’s entrance and the brilliant love ballad by Gay Derek (Damian Williams). The only thing missing was Les (or Leslie), Liam’s Dad and Mateo’s best friend. A loveable Geordie transvestite who usually has his head together, unlike the rest of them, but he’s currently serving time for tax evasion (which those of you that watch the show will already know).

The whole cast clearly had fun on the stage and we had a great evening as flies-on-the-wall at Benidorm’s naffest hotel.

For tickets, head to www.atgtickets.com

1 month 'till the Pancake Race!

The countdown is on to one of the biggest and best events of the Olney calendar; the Olney pancake race. Each year it attracts hundreds of spectators, as well as participants, and this year, with pancake day falling in half term, the number of spectators is sure to be bigger than ever.

Each year on Shrove Tuesday, the ladies of Olney pick up their frying pans and aprons and race down the High Street, tossing a pancake as they go. Tradition states that the first race was run back in 1445, and then revived again in 1948. The story that a flustered housewife heard the church bells and realised she was late for the service, so ran from her house with her frying pan and pancake still in her hand, is supposedly how the race began, and so today the ladies race on the chime of the Shriving bell from the church at exactly 11.55am.

It's always great fun for all, with the children's races starting off the event with a number of pancake races, from the little ones up to secondary school aged children, set off by the special guests of the event. TV chef Lesley Waters will be on hand in the Market Place doing some cooking demonstrations and being on hand to mingle with the crowds and answer any food or cooking questions you might have.

Last year the race was live on itv's daybreak, but if you've somehow missed the pancake race up until now, why not make this the year you experience it for the first time. It's even an international event, which links with the pancake race in Liberal, USA, the winner with the best time between the two will be crowned the International Pancake Race winner of 2015.

The pancake race is a great event for the town, which really brings people together and gives a chance to celebrate a day which often just gets passed by.

I'm a Celebrity... Get me out of here! Starts tomorrow night!

It's that time of the year again, where we get to watch celebrities make a fool of themselves and get scared to death out in the Australian jungle. This is the fourteenth year of the show, we're wondering what twists and surprises there will be this year in order to keep it interesting.

The 'celebrities' involved each year get less and less famous, and are generally people who are wanting to make a bit of a comeback in one way or another. This years contestants have been revealed as:

• Newsman Michael Buerk
• Presenter Melaine Sykes
• Footballer Jimmy Bullard
• Model and singer Nadia Forde
• Actor and DJ Craig Charles
• Rapper Tinchy Stryder
• Superbike champ Carl Fogarty
• 'Allo 'Allo actress Vicki Michelle
• TOWIE star Gemma Collins and
• Reality star and model Kendra Wilkinson

The closest link to us here in the Milton Keynes area is footballer Jimmy Bullard. Now retired, Jimmy played for a number of teams including Fulham, Hull City and Ipswich Town, before a short-term contract with MK Dons. He then retired from football just 2 months after signing for the team, having had his football career brought to a close by a series of injuries. Bullard has been rumoured to have lost a large sum of money recently, perhaps explaining his accepting the invite to the jungle. Known for being quite the prankster, it looks like he may create some entertainment, which is good news as it could get boring watching them sit around chatting all day... 

One twist to the show this year is that viewers get to vote before the series has even started on who gets to go to the 'celebrity slammer'. An interesting spin, seeing as the viewers won't yet have 'viewed' anything, and may not even know who the celebrities are, probably a scheme to get more money through the phone calls. Either way, it's something of a tradition for many to watch I'm a Celeb, and it highlights the real start of winter, signalling the end of the series for Downton Abbey and the start of the buck tucker trials, enjoy!

Downton Abbey is back again!

Downton Abbey is loved by many, but has possibly fallen somewhat in the opinions of some since it began following a rather dismal and depressing last couple of series. Following the sudden death of Matthew Crawley at the end of the Christmas episode in 2013 there was affair bit of negativity towards the show for killing off one of the 'favourites', and I'm not sure anyone completely recovered from the dramatic turn of events. Series four then picked up six months after Matthew's death, and had a somewhat slow and unhappy start. Let's see if they can turn it around a bit after the last series seemed to go down well, but didn't have such raving reviews as it maybe used to.

It does look like better things are in store for us with the upcoming season 5, which starts this time next week, Sunday 21st September at 9pm. There are a number of new characters to be seen and, of course, numerous jaw-dropping dramas. Watch the trailer below if you're after a taste of the action before Sunday night, and you'll see a few snapshot of the events coming our way this series! 

The #bingate dramas of the Great British Bake Off

Following the big Olney Bake off at the Big Olney Food Festival, we're wondering how many of you are enjoying watching the ever-popular TV series, the Great British Bake Off? If so, you'll have noticed that this series appears to have that little bit more drama than usual...

The first shocker came last month when one contestant, Iain Watters, was sent packing after throwing his baked Alaska in the bin. Not only that, but accusations then flew around of sabotage, when it turned out that another contestant, Diana Beard, had taken his ice cream out of the freezer, causing the tissue with the Alaska!

Viewers jumped on this drama, and thanks to social media the controversy escalated quickly. '#bingate' became the hashtag for the event, trending worldwide, and people began getting a little too over the top with their outrageous tweets aimed at Diana. A few brands also jumped on the bandwagon and used the opportunity to create a quick bit of advertising, with Innocent drinks and Tetley tea joining in with the drama.

The episode caused uproar all round, with viewers calling for Iain to be reinstated and Diana to be dropped, clearly forgetting in the excitement of it all that the series had actually been filmed months before. Not only that, but Iain then appeared on Newsnight the following evening... and this is where I think we need to stop and remember that this is all about a cookery show! Wow!

Following this drama, viewers were left reeling again last week as there was another surprise, and first ever for the GBBO, with no-one being sent home and the bottom two given another shot! Following Diana's exit due to illness, the question was raised as to whether the contestants were kept in order to keep numbers up, but judges Paul and Mary claimed this had nothing to do with it. Maybe the show is trying to inject a little more drama to the cake baking, but to me it sounds rather too similar to the stunts pulled by shows such as X-Factor and Big Brother, with dramatic twists and turns to keep viewers on their toes and make it more dramatic and less and less predictable.

Whatever the reasons for the comings and not-goings of the contestants, Diana Beard is attempting to set the record straight with her side of the story of the ice cream dramas on 'an extra slice' this week, again reminiscent of the Big Brother and I'm a Celebrity coming out shows.

How do you feel about the whole debacle? We hope your home baking doesn't erupt into quite so much drama! We're about halfway through the series now... so who knows what other dramas may be in store, you may be watching tomorrow's episode on the edge of your seat, and if you've missed out so far, it looks like it might be worth tuning in!