The sitcom was based around the San Remo hotel in Merbella. For the Christmas special, the Pearces and Cochranes upgraded to the Don Carlos Hotel.
Although set in Spain, all episodes of the first three series were shot in studios in Leeds, with no location footage at all. However, for the 1986 Christmas special - which served as the show's finale - ITV upped the budget to film in a real hotel in Spain. This explains why the Pearces and Cochrans are not staying at the San Remo in this episode.
Despite being critically derided by much of the press, Duty Free was an enormous commercial hit, regularly in the Top 5 most-watched programmes on TV, and sometimes topping the chart.
The ratings for each individual episode are listed under their respective entries.
The ratings for each individual episode are listed under their respective entries.