Danny and Dani Dyer take over Isle of Sheppey holiday caravan park for new Sky TV show
- 4 days ago
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Sheppey is about to get the spotlight shone at it as part of a new six-part Sky TV series.
All last summer a film crew took over Priory Hill and Nutts Farm holiday parks at Leysdown to follow EastEnders star Danny Dyer and his daughter Dani.
Dad Danny, 48, who played Mick Carter in the BBC soap, had decided to do his bit to revive the great British seaside caravan holiday and roped in his 29-year-old daughter to help.
The pair set up base in a mobile home as staff from the family-owned business tried to show them the ropes.
Danny, who also stars in the new series of the bawdy romp Rivals, admitted it had been a “baptism of fire.”
He explained: “This is all I ever knew as a child; that was our holiday every year.
“It’s a very working-class holiday. I would hang out with my nan, grandad, my aunts and uncles and cousins, it’s such a beautiful thing for me.
“They were very simple days that I really do miss. So, I thought, with the might of Sky behind me, let’s see if we can make caravans interesting again to some people, with my firstborn child, of course.”
Daughter Dani said: “We have worked together quite a few times. We’ve travelled around Italy - that was one of the first main things we did together. We’ve also done Gogglebox, too.
“We get on so well. The filming days were really long sometimes but we just make each other laugh and we get each other through it. I think we both bring something different to the show.
“He’s very cheeky but the residents love him.
“I think it was lovely for them to be around him, and us, and bring something different to the caravan park. It’s just easy. It doesn’t feel like work when we’re together.”
Dad Danny added: “We were just two Danny Dyers trying to make the whole thing work. I needed her to calm me down a little bit because I struggle to run a business, trying to juggle a lot of jobs at once.”
But he admitted: “It was a baptism of fire because we didn’t have a clue what we were doing – and I think that comes across. But I think we got a few things right as well. It’s a comforting show to watch.”
He went on: “If you want to get involved, get involved. I’m very frivolous. That’s why I needed Dani by my side to rein me in slightly.
“I didn’t know how much these things cost but we do talk about it in the show, how expensive everything is now. Look at how much butter is… Lurpak is seven quid!
“I don’t think enough working-class voices are on television.
“This is a very, very British show. People are also struggling with what being British is at the moment. But these are real characters and without them, this show doesn’t work. So, you’ve got Dani and me trying to do the right thing.”
He added: “The caravan owners take their caravans very, very seriously, as they should. They spend a lot of money on them.
“It’s £4,500 a year for ground rent. But they want one of the best holidays they possibly can. So, they got over having two famous people minting about pretty quickly.”
Dani admitted she had gone on caravan holidays as a girl, too.
She said: “Yeah, I went with my friends. That was my first teenage holiday and my first bit of freedom being able to just go up to the clubhouse and be with my best friend. I felt like an adult at 12.”
Club manager Darren Lawrence, who is expected to become an unlikely star of the show, has been asked to comment.
All staff were originally made to sign non-disclosure agreements by the TV production company Expectation – the same one behind Clarkson’s Farm – at the start of shooting this time last year.
The only time the public caught an official glimpse of the Dyers was during the town’s summer carnival in July when they climbed aboard a Priory Hill trailer dressed as a cruise ship captain and a mermaid - and ended up with first prize!
Another highlight of the series is expected to be an impromptu game of football when soccer royalty Harry Redknapp, the former manager of West Ham, Spurs, Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Southampton, returned to the pitch.
At the age of 78, he was hauled out of retirement to coach a rag-tag team representing Priory Hill.
To be fair, visiting Leysdown was nothing new for the veteran footballer.
He was a regular at the resort as a lad because his mum and dad had a holiday caravan on the neighbouring Nutts Farm site overlooking the sea.
A source at the park revealed: “Whenever Harry was down, he’d soon be in a makeshift team playing on the field using jumpers for goalposts. Sometimes Harry's son Jamie would be in the team, too. It was a great family affair.”
This time, Redknapp had been summoned by actor-turned-holiday park boss Danny. Television cameras were there to cover Redknapp’s return to the pitch as he stepped out in shorts.
But instead of having to use jumpers as makeshift goalposts, the holiday park team had marked out a proper pitch.
Its players turned up in a smart blue kit with the former EastEnders actor drafted in to make up numbers.
What happened on the pitch and in the changing room afterwards is remaining under wraps until transmission.
But we can also reveal that a different kind of sport also sparked the imagination of Dyer and his daughter. They were spotted watching one of the weekly wrestling matches in the clubhouse run by Steve Manelli. At the last minute, club manager Darren Lawrence was roped in to act as referee.
Will it be only a matter of time before “Dangerous” Danny Dyer gets the call to join the tag team?
One of the other tasks Dyer Senior had to get to grips with was the tricky art of mowing the grass.
But it wasn’t all work.
During the series Danny managed to celebrate his birthday in the clubhouse with his mates including fellow EastEnders actor-turned-karaoke star and Sheppey resident Shaun Williamson, Island comic Miki Travis and former Spandau Ballet singer Martin Kemp.
In the meantime, Danny’s daughter Dani was also busy behind the scenes preparing to compete in Strictly Come Dancing and filming the series SAS Celebrity Who Dares Wins.
Just before the start of filming at the 75-year-old holiday park in Wing Road she had also married West Ham football club captain Jarrod Bowen
In his first public appearance at the gates of Priory Hill to launch an open day, Danny told the waiting crowd: “I am proud to be part of this gaff, as is my little Dani, who has just got back from her honeymoon.
“I’m very jealous. I wanted to go on that honeymoon,” the West Ham fan added.
Danny, who also stars in the Nick Love film Marching Powder, went on: “If you want a cuddle or a photo or whatever, I am here for you. Enjoy your day out.”
Sky’s executive director Phil Edgar-Jones said: “The Great British Holiday is about to get a turbo-charged makeover like never before as the Dyers’ Caravan Park prepares to open its gates.
“If anyone can make caravanning cool again, it’s Danny and Dani, and we cannot wait to see them bring the fun.”
The Dyers’ Caravan Park begins on Sky One and NOW on Tuesday, February 24.
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