Canceled Sitcom Could Be Returning — But Star’s Divorce Is Complicating Things

A beloved 2010s sitcom is poised to return, but a recent report calls the chances of a revival into question.

The Sun reported back in April that Benidorm, the hotel sitcom that aired on ITV from 2007 to 2018, was possibly coming back. Creator Derren Litten teased as much in a Facebook livestream that the publication transcribed.

“If I say ITV have not commissioned a new Benidorm series, it is because ITV have not commissioned a new Benidorm series, up to today. Does it mean they might commission a new series in the near future? Possibly,” he said. “Have I been talking to ITV in the last few months? Yes I have. Have ITV commissioned a special or a series at the moment? No. Might they in the next few weeks, couple of months? Yeah they might. They might.

“So I hope that gives you some hope, and I hope that gives you some idea of where we are.”

In a June follow-up, The Sun claimed that some personal issues are complicating the revival. The outlet reported that Litten had quietly married Benidorm star Jake Canuso some years ago. However, the two have since divorced, with Litten writing in August 2024, “… for the last 18 months I’ve been going through a pretty miserable divorce. So I’m obviously poor now.”

The News Corp-owned outlet’s source, who is very clearly Canuso-friendly, claimed that the issues between the pair would complicate Canuso’s involvement in reprising his role as Mateo Castellanos, though “conversations have been had.”

The source pushed for ITV to make the actor a “huge offer” and slammed Litten for allegedly “making making negotiations difficult.” (It’s worth noting that Canuso’s official reps denied any sort of Benidorm revival negotiations, at least as of the Sun article’s June 23 publication.)

“Matteo is Benidorm, he’s the character that everyone wants to see,” the unnamed source said, hyping up Canuso’s work. “He’s been part of the Solana since the beginning so for him not to feature in any future reboot, well it just would not be the same without him.  Jake created one of the show’s most loved characters in Matteo but with everything that’s happened between him and Derren, it’s not looking good.”

ITV has not yet ordered an official Benidorm revival as of press time.