Danny Dyer plays tech tycoon Freddie Jones in hit bonkbuster series Rivals, but it’s painfully obvious early on in his new reality show The Dyers’ Caravan Park – which follows his attempts to run a successful holiday park – that the lovable Londoner lacks Freddie’s business acumen. 

'Numbers aren’t really my game,' says ex-EastEnders star Danny ruefully, as the sports day he’s organised at Priory Hill Holiday Park on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent is revealed to have cost an eye-watering £10,000. 

'I didn’t realise how expensive everything was going to be.' 

Disasters like this are par for the course during the six-part series but Danny, 48, reckons it’s precisely his capacity for catastrophes, financial or otherwise, that will make the show popular viewing. 

'I’m doing something I’ve never done before – putting money into a holiday park and helping to run it – so of course there’ll be mistakes on my part and that’s where the charm of the show lies,’ says Danny, who’s aided by his daughter Dani, who won Love Island in 2018.

'I mess something up, the experienced staff at the park say, “Why don’t we do it like this?”, and I reply, “Of course, you know better than me” and on we go.'

Danny added: 'But in my defence, I do give 100 per cent and I think I brought along a lot of passion. I genuinely wanted to give people the best summer holiday they’d ever had and I feel I’ve potentially achieved that.'

The actor’s desire to dive head-first into the £7 billion holiday park industry (although he’s reluctant to reveal exactly how much he pumped into the project) can be traced back to the 80s when he was growing up in London’s East End. 

Summer holidays were spent in a caravan on Canvey Island in Essex and the thrill of those vacations has never left him. 

'I’d go there with my nan and grandad and my cousins and we’d stay in “the ’van”. It was the best time of my life, running about and getting a bit of sea air in my lungs, and a significant reason for investing in the holiday park was the desire to give other people that same kind of experience.’

Danny acknowledges the part played by daughter Dani in his ambitious plans. The eldest of his three children, she’s a moderating influence when her father has one of his madcap ideas. 

'She reined me in a bit and offered a fresh pair of eyes, otherwise I’d have built Disneyland at the park,’ he laughs.

Dani, 29, is generally tolerant of her father’s excesses. When he peppers a promotional video aimed at selling a luxury caravan in episode one with expletives and innuendo, she laughs it off. 

'These adverts are usually boring so Dad decided to go down the comedy route,’ explains Dani. 

'I think we complement each other. I’d take a step back and see what was best for the caravan park generally without diving in and throwing money at just one thing, which Dad might have done. But his weakness is definitely money – he will spend and spend and spend.'

At least the £10,000 sports day at Priory Hill, which includes a mobility scooter ‘Granny Prix’ and a family relay race involving space hoppers, was a hit with the holidaymakers. 

Less successful were Danny’s attempt to cut the grass at the park – he became trapped in mud while driving a ride-on mower – and a giant roadside promotional poster in which, bizarrely, Danny is pictured with a huge static caravan protruding from his mouth.

'That idea went down like a glass of warm lager,' admits Danny, who tries to make up for his mistake by improving the entertainment at Priory Hill.

A bingo session is organised and Danny decides to announce the numbers, which proves to be a surprisingly tough challenge.

'I didn’t realise how intense it was going to be,’ he says. 

'The old girls who take part insist on sitting in the same seats every week and I made the mistake of sitting in somebody’s seat. It nearly kicked off! 

'As for reading out the bingo numbers, that was more nerve-racking than doing a Harold Pinter play at the National Theatre.’

The Dyers’ Caravan Park, Tuesday, 9pm, Sky One and NOW.