Currently starring in 5’s Benidorm Is Murder, actor John Hannah has opened up on why he never stays on TV dramas for more than two seasons.
Chatting to The Times, Hannah was forthright about his desire to not linger in roles that may become “samey”.
He said: “I’ve never done more than two seasons of anything. And partly that’s because once you realise what the formula is, it just becomes kind of dull. Even the Rebus books… which I loved, I love the books, I still do, but once you’re reducing the whole novel down to a two-hour, three-hour television thing, there are the salient points that you have to put in.
“And then once you’ve done that two or three times… it’s kind of the same story. As with any thriller, once you have that kind of charismatic problem-solver, and you’ve got something that works, by the very nature of it, it tends to become samey.”
But does that mean that Hannah may bow out of Benidorm Is Murder after just two seasons?
Well, the star did previously say in an interview with Radio Times magazine that he would “happily do this forever” when asked if Benidorm Is Murder could go on and “become its own Beniverse”.
So, that’s all the assurance we need that the future looks very bright for the drama.
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Set on the Costa Blanca, the six-part series sees Hannah’s Dennis, a burnt out ex-cop who is running a bar in the resort city, suddenly embroiled in criminal cases as a string of tourists start winding up dead.
Each episode so far has dealt with a different case, with fans already liking the format of the series.
Hannah is joined by Ariadna Cabrol as experienced DS Maria Hernandez and Damian Schedler Cruz as her newly qualified colleague PC Jesús Ballesteros, while Brian Bovell stars as Archie, described as a “Benidorm enigma”.
There will also be guest appearances from the likes of Loose Women star Denise Welch, EastEnders’ Tamzin Outhwaite and impressionist Alistair McGowan.
Benidorm Is Murder is airing weekly every Thursday on 5.
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