John Hannah and Carolina Bécquer to lead Channel 5 crime drama Benidorm Is Murder
John Hannah and Carolina Bécquer will star as Dennis and Rosa in Benidorm Is Murder, a Channel 5 detective drama set in the Spanish seaside resort.
The casting was reported by Variety on 9 October 2026. The series is produced by Blackbox Multimedia and Clapperboard Studios. ZDF Studios is handling international distribution, meaning it sells the show to broadcasters and streamers outside the United Kingdom.
Dennis is an ex-cop who practically lives in a Scottish pub. Rosa is a wannabe actress. Together they form an unlikely crime-fighting duo who take over investigations around Benidorm and annoy the local police.
The project started life under another name. Channel 5 first announced Hannah as the lead of Death in Benidorm, described at the time as a working title, about a former detective trying to escape his past, according to ZDF Studios. Later listings identify the Channel 5 series as Benidorm Is Murder.
The setting is Benidorm, the high-rise holiday town on Spain's Costa Blanca long popular with British tourists. Cases stay close to that world. Programme listings describe episode two pulling Dennis and Rosa back into Benidorm's chaotic crime world, and episode three centring on a hen weekend where a woman named Megan is found dead in a villa.
The series carries a year of production of 2026. It was also lined up for a premiere outing at the Italian Global Series Festival, according to a June report from Variety.
For viewers, this means sun, expats and murder cases. A burned-out ex-cop and an aspiring actor make for an odd team. The local police are not pleased to see them.
