HOTEL PORTOFINO RENEWED FOR SECOND SERIES AFTER BRITBOX SUCCESS

Starring Natasha McElhone, Hotel Portofino follows a British family who open a hotel for upper class travellers on the magical Italian Riviera during the ‘Roaring 20s’.

The first series, which launched on BritBox UK earlier this year, became one of streaming platform's highest rating original commissions. Series 1 is set to air on the linear ITV channel later this year.

Jo McGrath, CCO of Eagle Eye Drama, says: “‘Hotel Portofino’ became an instant hit with audiences worldwide and the second season will feature another heady mix of romance, intrigue, and dangerous ambitions. The setting and fashions will continue to be a sumptuous feast for the eyes, and next season the stakes get even higher for both the guests and the hotel’s owners.”

The Hotel has only been open a few weeks, but the guests including the imperious Lady Latchmere (Anna Chancellor), are demanding and hard-to-please. Bella Ainsworth (McElhone) the co-proprietor and moving spirit behind the hotel, quickly finds herself being targeted by a scheming and corrupt local politician, Signor Danioni (Pasquale Esposito), who threatens to drag her into the red-hot political cauldron of Mussolini’s Italy.

The Hotel demands all of Bella’s resources, energy, and focus, but she’s being pulled in other directions, as she tries to coax her wounded son, Lucian, and her widowed daughter, Alice, towards health and happiness in the traumatic aftermath of World War 1.

And then there’s Bella’s aristocratic but caddish husband, Cecil (Mark Umbers), who’s obsessed with arranging an advantageous marriage for Lucian to secure the future of the Ainsworth family’s estate back in England, and with finding the money to pay for his dilettante lifestyle.

The series has been created and written by Matt Baker, is directed by Adam Wimpenny, produced by Julie Baines and executive produced by Jo McGrath and Walter Iuzzolino. All six episodes in season two will be written by Matt Baker.

Series 1 of Hotel Portofino is available to watch now on BritBox.