VIDEO: Benidorm star Janine Duvitski delighted to be bringing sitcom to Milton Keynes

She is speaking to us as the ITV sitcom transfers from the screen to the stage and visits Milton Keynes Theatre from Monday to Saturday October 15 to 20. “I suppose that she is a swinger is probably the most well known thing about the character in the show,” said Janine. “If I am being honest, it is probably my least favourite part of the character.” “I do get people asking me to tone it down, and it’s not me, it’s the writer of the show. “What I try and do is play the part with a lot of innocence so that she isn’t aware too much of what she is saying.” But these minor niggles aside, she is enjoying a lot about taking the show on to the stage. “One of the nicest things is that we have an audience for the show, so we get the immediate reaction to the joke which is lovely to hear. “When we are doing the television show we didn’t have the audience so it was only much later that we got to find people liked it. “Although there have been moments when we have been waiting to deliver lines after a big joke and the audience is laughing for a long time. Then you wait and then a second wave of laughter comes as people have been laughing. “It is better to have that than the alternative.” Janine is joined by a number of other regulars for the tour of Benidorm who appeared in the sitcom including Jake Canuso, Tony Maudsley and Sherrie Hewson. She said: “The tour is a long one and I did wonder if I had the stamina to do it but we all know each other so well and get on that we are constantly in touch. We always try and find somewhere to go, be it a castle or a nice restaurant in all the different places we see. “It feels like we are on a massive holiday which is appropriate for Benidorm.” One of Janine’s first big roles was in Abigail’s Party which was later filmed for television. She said: “I saw a poster for it the other day because I’ve seen that is revived, so there is always little reminders. I am really pleased with how that went as we did a lot of improvising on the show and feel quite proud at having written some of that show. It’s lovely that it still has an impact even 40 years later.” And prior to Benidorm, she was famous for another popular sitcom, playing the next door neighbour Pippa Trench in One Foot in the Grave. “It was lovely to do that job,” said Janine. “Because we had the audience there as we were filming it. We knew it worked straight away. The writing on that show was superb. “Even now if I see it, there are little moments that I know are coming up that I wait to see because they were just so wonderful.” Tickets for Benidorm can be booked by calling the box office on 0844 871 7652 or visit www.atgtickets.co.uk/miltonkeynes.