Passports at the ready for the sun

The producers of the BBC1 series Passport to the Sun are gearing up to return to Majorca to start filming the second series, which this time will include 40 episodes; ten more than the first series due to the huge success it enjoyed. At the end of the last series, which finished in the middle of February after being shown every week day for six weeks, a telephone number was featured for anybody with an interesting Majorca-related tale. The production office received over 1'000 calls and a substantial number of letters and faxes from people who had seen the series and want to take part in the new one. Many of the telephone calls were made from people in the UK either coming out on holiday or to work this summer, while most of the letters and faxes received were from British people living and working in Majorca. A team arrives on the island in ten days time on a two-week recce and in the meantime, the hundreds of letters and telephone calls are being studied. While the first series broke all previous daytime viewing figures, averaging two million a day with a total viewing figure of around 60 million, it also helped a number of British businesses featured on the programme. The series also proved big hit for the presenter Liza Tarbuck, who went on to present the Big Breakfast on Channel Four and has since been presented with the TRIC satellite/Digital Personality of The Year award.