''Benidorm Bastards'' is a Belgian comedy television series.

Format

''Benidorm Bastards'' is a Belgian hidden camera comedy programme on the

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

TV channel 2BE. All characters are amateur actors and

senior citizens Old age refers to ages nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings, and is thus the end of the human biological life cycle, life cycle. Terms and euphemisms for people at this age include old people, the elderly (worldwide usage ...

. The programme has a similar concept to ''

Trigger Happy TV ''Trigger Happy TV'' is a hidden camera/ practical joke comedy television series. The original British edition of the show, produced by Absolutely Productions, starred Dom Joly and ran for three series on the British television channel Channel 4 ...

'', of which a Belgian version was broadcast on the same channel. In October 2010, a second season started on 2BE. In the program old actors try to act as if they were young talking about things no older person would dare to talk about. They also have funny situations like out-of-control electric wheelchairs and other funny happenings which seem strange to young people.

Awards

* In September 2010, the programme won the

Rose d'Or The Rose d'Or ('Golden Rose') is an international awards festival in entertainment broadcasting and programming. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) first acquired the Rose d’Or in 1961, when it was created by Swiss Television in the lakesi ...

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label=Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the Languages of Switzerland, German-speaking po ...

in the category "comedy", and also "best of 2010." * In November 2011 the series won an

International Emmy Award The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and S ...

in the category "comedy."

Criticism

The mayor of the Spanish town of

Benidorm Benidorm is a town and municipality in the province of Alicante, Valencia, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Benidorm has been a tourist destination within Spain since 1925, when its port was extended and the first hotels were built, though ...

does not approve of the programme's title ''Benidorm Bastards''. He demands that "Benidorm" be removed from the title. The name Benidorm is used because many Belgian and Dutch seniors move to Benidorm after retirement.

International broadcasts

Episodes of the original Belgian version of the show, air in the Netherlands (RTL4, December 2013), in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

SBS2 SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS ...

in Dutch with English

subtitles Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

as ''Benidorm Pranksters'' with English dubbing and on

ATV Home ATV Home () was a free-to-air Cantonese television channel in Hong Kong, owned and operated by Asia Television. It was formed in September 1963 as a result of the split of the bilingual Rediffusion Television subscription service (which was pri ...

RTHK Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) is the public broadcasting service in Hong Kong. GOW, the predecessor to RTHK, was established in 1928 as the first broadcasting service in Hong Kong. As a government department under the Commerce and Econom ...

programming block with Cantonese dubbing.

International versions

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

version of the show, announced on 15 April 2010, is broadcast by

RTL 4 RTL 4 (Radio Télévision Luxembourg 4) is a Dutch free-to-air, free-to-cable television channel; it is the most-watched commercial station in the country, popular especially with those aged between 20 and 49. RTL 4 is a general entertainment chan ...

since 21 August 2010, recast with Dutch actors. From 17 March 2018 6 episodes of "Benidorm bastards & de boefjes" have been broadcast. In this series not only seniors, but also children are pranking with adults. The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

network

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

announced it would be creating an American adaptation, ''

Betty White's Off Their Rockers ''Betty White's Off Their Rockers'' is an American comedy television series launched in 2012, that broadcast on NBC for its first two seasons and Lifetime for its third. The series is hosted by Betty White, and is based on the Belgian televisio ...

'', starring

Betty White Betty Marion White (January 17, 1922December 31, 2021) was an American actress and comedian. A pioneer of early television, with a television career spanning almost seven decades, White was noted for her vast work in the entertainment indust ...

. The show debuted on January 16, 2012, one day before White's 90th birthday. The show has adaptions in all

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

n countries as well. The

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

version is ''Rollatorbanden'', the

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

version is ''Bingobanden'' and the

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

version is ''Pensionärsjävlar''. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

announced its own adaptation of the show, following the American adaptation it was also entitled ''Off Their Rockers'' but with different characters. The first episode aired April 7, 2013. The Turkish version ''Baston Takımı'' airs on

Star TV Star TV may refer to: * E! (Canadian TV channel) (formerly Star!), a Canadian entertainment news channel * Las Estrellas (Spanish for The Stars), the Mexican television network * Estrella TV (Spanish for Star TV), the American Spanish-language net ...

. The

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian version ''Os velhinhos se divertem'' airs on

SBT sbt is an open-source build tool for Scala (programming language), Scala and Java (programming language), Java projects, similar to Apache Software Foundation, Apache's Apache Maven, Maven and Gradle. Its main features are: *Native support fo ...

inside the oldest Brazilian show called

Programa Silvio Santos ''Programa Silvio Santos'' is a Brazilian variety program presented and created by Silvio Santos and broadcast by Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão (SBT). Airing since June 2, 1963, it is the second oldest television program in Brazil. It is the m ...

. The

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

version, ''Los mayores gamberros'', premiered on 13 September 2013 on Antena 3. The

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

version, ''Les détestables'', premiered in 2011 on V. The Italian version, ''Vecchi Bastardi'', premiered on April 7, 2014 in the afternoon on Italia 1 and ceased to be aired on 6 June 2014 (44 episodes of Italian made candid cameras mixed with international ones imported from United States, Holland, Australia, United Kingdom, Belgium and Spain). The

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

version of the show, "Eesti Ulakad Vanurid", will start broadcasting on 19 May 2016 on TV3.

References

External links

Benidorm Bastards on 2be.be

Website of RTL.nl
{{InternationalEmmyAward ComedySeries Belgian comedy television shows 2010s Belgian television series Dutch-language television shows 2010 Belgian television series debuts 2011 Belgian television series endings International Emmy Award for best comedy series winners VTM 2 original programming