S11 EP5: Tamer Hassan: Cyprus, Danny Dyer & The British J-Lo

Alan Carr's 'Life's a Beach'

Tamer Hassan joins Alan Carr for a travel-themed chat, sharing stories about his deep connection to Cyprus and his extravagant packing habits. The

Key takeaways

• Tamer Hassan packs 25 suitcases for weekend trips, comparing his style to Joan Collins
• He stars in Rise of the Foot Soldier: Retribution, described as an adult version set in Ibiza and the seventh entry in the franchise

Main topics

• Cyprus travel and cuisine
• Extravagant packing habits

Notable quotes

I go for a weekend with 25 suitcases. I'm mental.

Conclusion

The episode blends lighthearted travel banter and Hollywood promotion

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:04) Welcome to Life's a Beach. I'm Captain Carl and I'm your in-flight entertainment. Are you ready to take off? Speaker 1 (0:11) Good, because I go all the way. Speaker 2 (0:15) My passenger today is one of Britain's best loved bad boys, Speaker 2 (0:22) From the football factory and the business to Game of Thrones, he's built a brilliant career and he's got a serious connection with IB for two. Tama Hassan, welcome to Life's Speaker 1 (0:32) a Speaker 2 (0:32) Beach. Speaker 1 (0:34) Oh, look who we've got on board. Speaker 2 (0:37) Tamer Hassan, how you doing, Tam? Speaker 1 (0:39) I'm good, Alan. Good to be here. It's nice to fly your plane. Yeah, fly the plane. No, you're a passenger, love. I'm a passenger. You're not the Speaker 2 (0:45) pilot. I'm the pilot. Look at you, always trying to big your roll up. Look at him. He's flying Speaker 1 (0:51) the plane. I'm the pilot. Speaker 2 (0:52) Yeah, he's like, this is Hollywood. Oh, I want a bigger part. Speaker 1 (0:55) I don't have to do that. I'm always a leading man. Sorry, I can't get it Speaker 2 (0:59) up. Speaker 1 (1:00) I'm always here for you, mate. You are such a Speaker 2 (1:02) sweet guy. Thank you, mate. I'm so honoured to have you on Life's a Beach. Thanks for having me. Listen, we've got to talk about holidays. We'll talk about your new film in a minute. But you grew up in South East London, Turkish Cypriot family. Yep. And I want to know the answer to this. You think Cyprus is the best place on Earth, is that right? Speaker 1 (1:20) I think so, yeah. It's an island of paradise. It's got two sides to it. One the world recognises, which is southern Cyprus, and the other side, well, the world don't recognise, and we're quite happy to be that way. Speaker 2 (1:31) Yeah, yeah. We get left Speaker 1 (1:32) alone then, don't we? Yeah, yeah, nice. It is a beautiful place. So what would you Speaker 2 (1:36) do if I went to visit you in Cyprus and brought me flowers along, went there, brought me Speedos, what would we do? Speaker 1 (1:41) Take you to the best beach on the planet, Speaker 2 (1:42) Turtle Speaker 1 (1:43) Beach. where all the turtles are, and then I'll take you to eat some good food because, mate, the food on that island, both sides, is magical. There's something about Cypriot cuisine that you can't... It's unrivaled. It's beautiful. What Speaker 2 (1:55) do they say? Is it one place you can't call it Halumi? No. Is it something Speaker 1 (1:59) else? That's quite funny, that is, because the Greek and the Turkish language, especially the Cypriot language, we have very similar words. Like, they'll say Halumi, and we'll say Halim. They'll say Tziki, we say Cagik. And Tarama Salata belongs to them. So we have to call it Tarama Salata. We say Turkish Salata. Look at you getting all Speaker 2 (2:17) political. No, Speaker 1 (2:18) but we say Turkish Salata. They say Greek Delight. We say Turkish Coffee. They say Greek Coffee. So it's for everyone else to worry about. We're Cypriots. It doesn't matter to us. No. Oh, I love that. We're Cypriots and that's it. Speaker 2 (2:29) I love that. There you go. So listen, what kind of a traveller are you? Because I've seen your CV. You have non-stop. Honestly, your CV is like a receipt. I mean, do you have time for holiday? Do you like holiday? Or are you one of those holiday people that when you're there on your sun lounger, you want to work? Speaker 1 (2:49) Yeah, working holidays. I'm non-stop me, Ellen. I'm very lucky to be in my business. It's a privilege. I get to travel the world and work and see places. Speaker 1 (2:59) I do like to holiday, but you're right. You know, my family absolutely kick off with me all the time because I can't keep still. I've got ants in my pants. I'm very lucky. I go really dark in about 20 minutes. Speaker 2 (3:10) I Speaker 1 (3:11) lay down for about 20 minutes. You Speaker 2 (3:12) watch Speaker 1 (3:12) me change colour. Once I've got my Speaker 2 (3:13) colour, Speaker 1 (3:14) I'm off. Oh, yeah. I'm trying to find things to do, trying to be naughty, but when I do get... Yeah, the naughty boy comes out. Looking for trouble everywhere. Speaker 2 (3:23) You like me, I forget to pack my morals. Yeah, well, I don't have any morals to pack. Speaker 1 (3:27) Oh, no, I've Speaker 2 (3:27) left the morals on the side. Speaker 1 (3:29) You're going to have to be a Speaker 2 (3:30) slag. Speaker 1 (3:31) It was quite funny. The girls in my family, my house is full of women. I got raised by women. It's quite funny. And I said, what kind of a traveller am I? And we were talking about Joan Collins earlier. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I travel like Joan Collins. You travel like Joan Speaker 2 (3:46) Collins? Speaker 1 (3:46) I go for a weekend with 25 suitcases. I'm mental. Oh, my God. I'm mental. I Speaker 2 (3:51) can't imagine. You're a stylish man. I've noticed those Tom Ford glasses. How much are you getting paid for these films? Even I can't afford that. It's not even. It's not even. You Speaker 1 (4:01) know what it is for me? I just need to know it's there. I'll go away for two weeks, wear the same thing, don't care. I just need the cupboard full. I just need some variety. And it drives my friends insane because they go with wheelie bags. How long are they going for? They go with wheelie bags, right? Like Speaker 2 (4:17) Joe Speaker 1 (4:17) Collins. And they won't stand near the carousel. They walk off and leave and I just wait. Speaker 2 (4:22) No, you wait for all 25 bags to come. Don't care. No. Don't care. Don't Speaker 1 (4:26) care. Speaker 2 (4:26) Well, you're lucky because you can go and film abroad, can't you, with your films? Most of it's abroad. Yeah. Not Speaker 1 (4:32) a Speaker 2 (4:32) lot's done here, Speaker 1 (4:32) to tell the truth, because all the tax breaks and stuff aren't getting that boring stuff. But I'm grateful that it's Speaker 2 (4:38) a Speaker 1 (4:38) ways away. Every way's a way. I've been... probably everywhere in the world and shot something. Yeah, yeah, everywhere. So let's Speaker 2 (4:47) talk about The Rise of the Foot Soldier, Retribution. It's out now. Speaker 1 (4:50) It is. It's in cinemas. It's in the Speaker 2 (4:52) 90s, isn't it? It's based around Speaker 1 (4:54) the 90s, but that film, I have to say, has just been said that it's the number one independent British film now. It's in cinemas. It's doing really well. It's the seventh edition of the franchise. I call it season seven. Speaker 2 (5:08) yeah i don't like franchises Speaker 1 (5:10) because i hate to frown what number is this number Speaker 2 (5:12) 57 no Speaker 1 (5:13) mate Speaker 1 (5:15) Just another film. Speaker 1 (5:19) Do you know what I mean? But this one... Speaker 2 (5:21) Where were you going? Is it Ibiza, Marbella? There was one in Marbella, weren't there? Speaker 1 (5:25) Yeah, they did Marbella. They've been all over the foot soldier fantasy, but this one was Ibiza. But I call this one the adult, the adult version. I mean, trying to get me for a tour. Adult? Speaker 2 (5:35) What's the other ones? There's fucking Effing and Jeffing in it. There's drugs. It's an adult Speaker 1 (5:39) one. Fucking what's Speaker 2 (5:40) in this one? Speaker 1 (5:42) Animal porn. Not your sort of adult. Not triple X adult. Speaker 2 (5:46) Oh, they're the only ones I like. Speaker 1 (5:47) Yeah. I call this the adult version. It's a lot different, Alan. But what's going on then, innit? Because it's Speaker 2 (5:54) pretty hardcore, it's like, innit? Speaker 1 (5:56) Well, it's quite funny. There isn't all the effing and blinding or a bad language in this one. I actually said, like, everyone's allowed one fuck. I wish I was. One fuck. Everyone did have one fuck. It's Speaker 2 (6:06) been Speaker 1 (6:06) such a long time. I need a fuck. But you do. What? You need a fuck? Yeah. Do you know anyone? I'm a chubby Speaker 2 (6:12) chaser. Is someone fat? Yeah, that's me. Yeah. Speaker 1 (6:16) Stop it, Tam, now. As Speaker 2 (6:18) I walked in, I thought you were going to be in the room. I know you, yeah. You came in like you were delivering milk tray. Look at you. Holding back. Speaker 1 (6:29) I forgot it was a holiday programme. I've turned that one in black. Do you ever Speaker 2 (6:35) wear anything colourful on holidays? Yeah, I Speaker 1 (6:37) do. Yeah, I do sometimes. I do sometimes. Do Speaker 2 (6:39) you wear Speaker 1 (6:39) like Speaker 2 (6:39) the Hawaiian shirts with flowers? Speaker 1 (6:40) No, no Hawaiian shirts, no flowers. But I do go linen pastel now and again. Oh, nice. In the summer, yeah. That's Speaker 2 (6:46) how Speaker 1 (6:46) I Speaker 2 (6:46) started. Do you know Speaker 1 (6:47) what it is? The black covers up a multitude of sins. Oh, tell me about it. You know what I mean? You can sit and hide a lot of the fat bits. Especially at my age, you know what I mean? I'm a little bit older than you, so I've got to hide bits. But anyway, go back to the film. Go back to the film. Speaker 2 (7:03) It's got a good 1990s... I'm just going to pop them there. Lovely. It's got Speaker 1 (7:08) an action feel to it, this one. It's in the cinemas at the moment, and I think it's one that should be watched in the cinema. Nick Nevin did a great job as a director. Andy Love. delivered a brilliant film and it's very different to the other ones. Oh, that's good, yeah. You have to keep Speaker 2 (7:22) it fresh, don't you? Speaker 1 (7:23) Yeah, well, they pulled all the stops out on this one and they're already talking about the next one. It's the second part of a trilogy and the final part of the trilogy is going to be set in Morocco and they're saying that my character's Mad Max in the desert. Oh, wow. So, yeah, it's going to have Speaker 2 (7:39) a Speaker 1 (7:39) Mad Max feel to it. I can't tell you the opening scene, but it is fucking Speaker 2 (7:42) epic. Yeah, yeah. It's going to be big. Oh, nice. Speaker 1 (7:45) Got another one I did, which premieres on the 30th of October. It's called Bad Day at the Office. It's a film that's never been done before. Yeah. It's me, John Hanna, and Ryder Mitchell. John Hanna, everybody knows him for The Mummy. slight Scottish man, always sort of chirpy and lovely. Speaker 2 (8:00) He's Speaker 1 (8:00) brilliant. Speaker 2 (8:01) You Speaker 1 (8:02) want to see what he does in this. Oh, okay. All action, all epic. And I