Patiently waiting this morning

Well they turned up in their hundreds this morning - although the official start time was 10am, by 9am the queue had already started forming... "Benidorm Fever" has hit town! These were predominantly dedicated fans, eager and hoping to appear in the ITV hit comedy series which begins filming on Monday 25th March. I bet that Derren had no idea of the virtual hysteria he would create when the first series was aired way back in the Spring of 2007!

The castings were once again held at the Melia Hotel - but this year downstairs in the basement. I think that they learnt from the mistakes of a previous year, when the queue blocked the main entrance and caused mayhem for residents trying to get in and out of the place. Even the Spanish press came to see what was going on - a Diario Informacion reporter came with a cameraman to put it on record!

Some of the children that attended with parents

Each prospective candidate had to fill out an application form before going through to a room to be photographed. I was surprised to see quite a lot of children attending - and spoke to some of them. The Barnes family had come all the way over from Javea - five of them had already appeared in a previous series and are hoping to get chosen again for this forthcoming one.

They were called through in groups of 5 - that poor photographer was certainly in for a busy day! He took 3 pictures of each applicant - 1 close up and 2 full length ones. Everyone was also asked if they had any tattoos to have them photographed - assuming that they were in an appropriate place of course! I did see a few mens tops coming off - well this was no place for quiet shy wallflowers! Many of these would soon be asked to strip off to their swimwear and dive into the Sol Pelicanos pool. If they thought that they would be lounging about on sun beds all day then they are in for a shock - the icy cold water will soon see to that!

Gill, pictured closest to me with her Rumba ladies

Gill and her Rumba girls arrived at 9.30am - all of them are "Benidorm virgins" and thought it would be a great experience, being avid fans. They looked great, all co-ordinated in pink... perhaps she could do a Rumba workout around the poolside of the Solana with the Garveys and Kenneth in his tight hot-pants !

Tracey posing for photographer Benjamin

One vivacious and bubbly lady I spoke at length with was Tracey Reid, who was accompanying her 2 children, daughter Imani aged 9 and son Emile aged 16. She is a professional Jazz singer, performing across the whole of Spain at numerous festivals and concerts with her 7 piece band "Sweet Rhythm Kings"and had me in stitches when she said its time they follow in the likes of Eastenders et al and to cast a "token black family"!

Filling out their forms as they wait

The queue certainly didn´t seem to be getting any shorter as the morning wore on - as one group left another appeared, which is great news. There was a varied age range which is just what they are looking for - who knows, maybe some of those featured in these pictures will soon be gracing the poolside bar of the Solana or passing through the hotel reception! Roll on the 25th for first day of filming....