Visitors - Families love a day at Southend beaches SUNBATHERS, families, sand castle-building tots and now even TV comedian Susan Calman have flocked to Southend’s sandy beaches The Echo told on Monday how the Scottish stand-up comic explored Southend as part of her new Channel Five series, ‘Susan Calman’s Grand Week by the Sea’. In the series she highlights the best beaches and staycation destinations in the UK and demonstrates how seaside Meccas like Southend want to move away from their ‘kiss me quick’ and stick of rock image in favour of modernisation. But it is important to remember the hard – and often back-breaking work that went into making Southend the place we know today.