WHEN BEACH HOLIDAYS GO HORRIBLY WRONG

The average British family spends almost £5,000 a year on beach holidays, hoping what they’ll experience is the stuff of dreams. In this show, we hear first-hand accounts of beach holiday nightmares from those whose dream break went horribly wrong. 

While enjoying a trip of a lifetime to Bali, a torrential storm hits leaving a tropical holiday maker shocked to find the beach… in her hotel room! There are red flags at the seaside as a mother’s worst nightmare becomes a reality; she is horrified to see her young children paddling in what she believes to be sewage. And to top it all, after that fateful trip to the beach in Huntingdon on the Lincolnshire coast, her children went on to suffer stomach pains. And the party’s over in Ibiza when a storm strikes, leaving a luxury beach villa in ruins.

We’ve got the people who were there and got burnt including the beautician who should have listened to her own skincare advice but instead ended up exposing herself to too much sun, resulting in what looked like her forehead turning to plastic. A beachgoer finds herself upside down and clinging for dear life when a Parasailing excursion goes Horribly Wrong. Other highlights include a day trip to Brighton when a sunseeker not only got stung for £8 for a portion of chips but ended up with most of them all over the beach after being chased by a hungry flock of seagulls.

Contributors include broadcaster Dermot Murnaghan, travel journalist Simon Calder and DJ Sonny Jay. Jenny Powell voices.

Rating – 442,000 and a 5.4% share beating Channel 4 and BBC2. 50% above slot average during one quarter.