Jake Canuso has confessed he was terrified having to film a dramatic action stunt on a horse for the new series of Benidorm.

The 44-year-old actor returns as Spanish barman Mateo in the hit ITV series this Christmas and was asked to perform a dramatic horse-riding stunt which involved “jumping over a police barrier while at full gallop” – even though he had never ridden a horse.

Jake confessed: “The first time I met the horse, I was petrified.

“You realise, ‘Oh my God, it’s not easy to control a horse’, and when you’ve never ridden properly and you know eventually, you’re going to have to do it in front of a camera crew, you have to hit the marks and make it special.”

Jake Canuso as sleazy waiter Mateo in Benidorm
Jake Canuso as waiter Mateo in Benidorm (ITV)

After stalling in practice when he was nearly thrown off, Jake eventually found his stride, and once he’d filmed the stunt admitted he felt exhilarated.

And the actor revealed he went from being scared to becoming so attached that he called upon Benidorm’s cast and crew to dig deep to fund a lifesaving operation for one of the horses.

“I felt quite silly,” he confessed. “I was walking around set on the last day of filming at 2am with a big box in my hand, basically telling people that if they weren’t going to give me the money, they were murderers. So it worked!”

Joan Collins
Joan Collins is back in the new series of Benidorm (Joel Ryan/AP)

The new series of Benidorm also sees Joan Collins return as Solana hotel’s stern CEO, Crystal Hennessy-Vass.

Jake revealed: “Growing up, I watched Dynasty, so we all had expectations that she’d be like her character in that.

“But she’s nothing like that. She’s such a pro and has the most fantastic stories to tell. I don’t know many people still alive who can tell stories of when they met James Dean or Marilyn Monroe or Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, so it’s a really nice window into the Hollywood of the past.”

Benidorm returns to ITV on Friday January 2 at 9pm.