Benidorm’s Tony Maudsley: ‘I could never be a hairdresser for real!’

The Solana’s Blow & Go beauty salon has seen some outrageous scenes during this series of Benidorm and at the centre of them all, of course, has been flamboyantly camp hairdresser Kenneth and his assistant Liam (Adam Gillen).

Despite all the antics in Blow & Go, including a ridiculous séance and Joyce's dodgy botox sessions, Tony Maudsley - who’s played Kenneth since 2011 - admits he could never be a hairdresser for real because it's too much like hard work.

“I did it one time when my mum had a stroke and she really struggled to do her hair as she could only lift one arm up. So I had to do her hair... I did a lovely blow wave! It was really hard work, though. My arms were aching.

“Whenever I’m in my own hairdressers they laugh at me and tell me all the mistakes I’m making on screen. But it is a comedy! I'm doing it Kenneth's way for laughs!”

If there’s one thing viewers love Kenneth for it's his tight-fitting T-shirts, which sport a different crude message every episode.

“Fashion-wise, if you can believe it, they’ve toned Kenneth down this series," laughs Tony. "I was skipping around in a leather kilt at one point. Viewers seem to love those saucy crude slogans on Kenneth’s T-shirts. It’s become a bit of a cult thing, watching out for his slogans! After filming I like to keep them. There’s a pile of them somewhere and some go to charity, after I sign them.

“I can’t wear the same T-shirt on screen once the episode is over. People would get disappointed if I did. It’s getting harder – as I generally think up all the slogans. They have to go through the lawyers to get approval. I had a really good one that I loved, but they wouldn’t let me use it. It said: ‘If you think my attitude stinks, you should smell my finger!’ I thought it was brilliant.”

Benidorm continues on ITV, Fridays, 9pm

Nicholas Cannon
TV Content Director on TV Times, What's On TV and TV & Satellite Week

I'm a huge fan of television so I really have found the perfect job, as I've been writing about TV shows, films and interviewing major television, film and sports stars for over 25 years. I'm currently TV Content Director on What's On TV, TV Times, TV and Satellite Week magazines plus Whattowatch.com. I previously worked on Woman and Woman's Own in the 1990s. Outside of work I swim every morning, support Charlton Athletic football club and get nostalgic about TV shows Cagney & Lacey, I Claudius, Dallas and Tenko. I'm totally on top of everything good coming up too.