Opening with farce, stuffed with innuendo, singing, dancing and concluding with standing ovation - if you enjoyed Benidorm on the TV then you are going to love Benidorm Live on stage.

Several of the main characters appear: Joyce Temple-Savage (played by Sherrie Hewson, Mateo (played by Jake Canuso), Jacqueline (Janine Duviski), Kenneth (Tony Maudsley), Liam (Adam Gillen) and Sam (Shelley Longworth) - their larger than life characterisation works really well on stage. There are belly laughs aplenty with not too subtle innuendo that they can’t get away with on TV.

The supporting cast are also excellent with Asa Elliot (the singer from Neptune’s Bar) appearing as himself and new characters being introduced. Although the main characters of the show are the ones who attract most of the audience, the part of the cast who aren’t on the TV show actually perform to the same high calibre as the well known and loved characters. Damian Williams, who plays ‘Gay Derek’, especially stood out as it felt as though he had been a character on the show for years.

Although you don’t have to be an avid fan of the TV show I do think it helps massively as the plot, as it picks up directly where the TV series left off. I say plot, there’s nothing much new here, though you wouldn’t want there to be – a couple have been booked into the Solana instead of the 4* hotel they booked; the Solana group is being taken over so the staff fear losing their jobs and a hotel inspector is expected – plenty of scope for mistaken identity and confusion – so ends the first act. The only obvious solution is to put on a great cabaret show in Neptune’s Bar, which is the basis of the second act.

The scenery and scene changes are very clever, in the first half the scenes change frequently between the Solana reception, Blow & Go, pool side, pool bar and Temple-Savage’s office this is managed almost seamlessly via a moving stage, supporting cast and freezing/spotlighting areas of the stage. This allows the action to maintain a swift pace.

In addition to the gags and slapstick there are loads of musical numbers throughout and we see several of the established cast singing. The whole show ends with an uproarious version of the whole cast, and much of the audience, singing the 1974 hit “Viva Esapana”.

So, if you’re looking for the perfect antidote to a damp February evening in Dartford, I can not recommend Benidorm Live highly enough. Therefore, I would award Benidorm Live just how the Solana Hotel is rated, 4/5 stars.

For full disclosure – I did receive free tickets via This Is London Young Reporter in order to review this show however this has not influenced my review in any way.

Benidorm Live is until Saturday 16th February 2019 at the Orchard Theatre, Dartford.