Is Benidorm really cancelled? "The honest truth is I don't know" says creator
Creator Derren Litten opens up about his cryptic tweet saying this was the "last episode" of the ITV comedy – and there may still be life in the series yet
Have we seen the last ever episode of Benidorm? You'd be forgiven for assuming the series was coming to an end after a tweet sent by its creator, Derren Litten, on 29th April...
Fans reacted to the news in their masses, mourning the loss of their favourite TV series with more than 1,000 tweeters commenting on the 'cancellation'.
The language in Litten's message was cryptic – he never stated that it was the final ever episode – but his decision not to correct fans who jumped to that conclusion all but confirmed it, especially when he sent more tweets stoking his suggestion that ITV would air no more episodes.
Meanwhile, Benidorm fans were left confused on the day of the series finale (Wednesday 2nd May) when star Jake Canuso sent a message of his own, suggesting the series may not be ending after all...
Ten hours later, he bewildered viewers further by tweeting "see you next series":
Litten had refused all media requests in the build-up to the series finale, but granted an interview to West Midlands radio host Alex Lester the morning after.
When questioned about his original post, Litten explained it was "the kind of tweet I've done every year" to mark the series finale. "And then somebody said the last episode ever and I didn't put that".
He added: "Obviously it's not a case of mistaken identity but when people said, 'This is the last episode ever', I've got to admit I didn't correct them."
So, will it return? "The honest truth is I don't know," said Litten. "Every year ITV tells us if they want another series. We're doing a live stage tour and this has been booked in for well over six months so ITV knew they didn't have to make a decision quickly. They knew we can't film as we usually would in March of this year because I've got them on the road."
The stage tour is due to take place from September 2018 until April 2019, so it remains to be seen if Benidorm will return to screens. An ITV statement says "no decision has been made about a further series", and thanks to the live production, there is no need for them to make a call for the foreseeable future.
"The live show is taking up a lot of my time and I'm really enjoying that," said Litten. "We're just had auditions."
He added that he's also doing a pilot for the BBC: "I'm doing one of those for a show I can't talk about a lot because we film it at the end of this month."
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