Shane Richie has a hoot in Benidorm
The last time Sammy Valentino (played by Shane Richie) was hired by the Solana to put on an evening of entertainment it was an utter disaster and he ended up getting rightly thumped by Rob Dawson.
But now, two series later, the naff entertainer gets another chance, thanks to Monty, who is now the hotel’s entertainment manager.
"I loved this job," former EastEnders star Shane told the Express.co.uk. "I kind of finished filming Redwater and went straight out to do this. I was in Benidorm for six weeks and was just laughing constantly."
Monty runs into Sammy in the grotty bar where he now works and is somehow persuaded by Sammy that he’s a top celebrity - so Monty books Sammy to make a big splash at Neptunes. Hotel rep Sam (Shelley Longworth) knows what a terrible man Sammy is from the last time, but she eggs on Monty none-the-less as she wants him to fail in his new job. Sammy doesn’t let her down…
John Challis, who plays Monty, loved starring opposite Shane in quite a few scenes and was very impressed.
“Hats off to Shane Richie who really does makes Sammy as awful as his character is supposed to be,” John told us. “I mean he really is quite mad. The trouble is Monty is a wheeler-dealer but also a sucker and that means he’s going to come unstuck where Sammy is concerned.”
Benidorm continues tonight on ITV at 9pm.
