Benidorm star totally unrecognisable 17 years since ITV debut and enjoying co-star romance
Fans of Benidorm will remember loveable maintenance worker Liam Conroy from the show that started back in 2007, but some can't get over how different he looks now.
Actor Adam Gillen, 38, who played Liam in the light-hearted ITV sitcom looks like a changed man since his days on the Spanish shores.
The hilarious show, which was axed in 2018, watched British holidaymakers enjoying themselves in the Spanish sun at the fictional Solana resort.
Fans will remember character Liam changed careers in series five, leaving the holiday destination to work at the Blow 'n' Go salon with Kenneth Du Beke, but although he was no longer a regular member of the hotel staff he continued on the show until the end of series 10.
Adam has moved on quite a bit from the his fresh-face and ginger hair appearance from 11 years ago and looks unrecognisable with grey hair and a grey beard.
It seems that Adam has held onto something from the show though, in the form of a girlfriend. Actress Laila Zaidi, who played Cyd in the series, features all over Adam's Instagram as far back as 2017 when she joined the sitcom, leaving fans stumped that they're a real life couple.
One fan commented: "Very good looking couple," whereas another simply couldn't believe the pairing, stating: "They are a real life couple!"
Now the co stars have taken a significant step in their relationship, as they recently got engaged.
Adam chose a romantic moment during their vacation in Croatia to propose, marking five years together.
Laila shared her elation on Instagram, posting: "A whole week of being a flirtatious and thirty FIANCÉ !!! [ring emoji] [nine heart emojis]" (sic).
She proudly displayed her engagement ring, which featured a substantial oval diamond set on a gold band, in a series of photos.
Loyal fans were devastated to see the end of the iconic show after the show kept them laughing for over a decade.
Final scenes included watching the Dawson family attempting to get home for their 25th wedding anniversary party but of course, nothing ran smoothly, and the worry over staff at the Solana Hotel when they discovered that the resort of being taken over and sold.
Rumours did swirl for a while that an unexpected series 11 was in the pipeline but actress Siobhan Finneran, who played Janice Garvey, shut that down.
She said to The Sun: "Cast and creatives met at a comedy convention for the show, back in the summer, and some stories about a possible TV revival grew out of that.
"But sadly that was all they were, rumours.
"You should probably never say never to anything so popular but as far as I know it won’t be coming back at any point."
Benidorm famously featured regular Tim Healy, who is Denise Welch's ex-husband and father to The 1975 singer, Matty Healy.
