Foxtel today announced the hit period drama series Hotel Portofino will return for a second season, after attracting strong viewing figures internationally and becoming the number one ranked title on FOXTEL (linear and VOD) on the day of premiere, with a dedicated fan base building throughout the six-episode season.
The second season of the lavish drama, a heady mix of romance, intrigue and ambition set on the Italian Riviera in the 1920s, will see a host of key cast from season one return, including Natascha McElhone (Californication) who again leads the ensemble as Bella Ainsworth, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist who has moved to Italy to set up a quintessentially British hotel in the beautiful town of Portofino. Mark Umbers (Home Fires) plays her charming but dangerous aristocratic husband, Cecil and Lily Fraser (Dream Girls) will return as the hotel’s most famous guest singer-turned-movie star, Claudine Pascal.
Also returning for season two is rising star, Australia’s own Claude Scott-Mitchell (The Dry), who will reprise her role as hotel guest Rose Drummond-Ward.
Season two of HOTEL PORTOFINO will see the Ainsworth family relations at breaking point and the future of the hotel threatened, as Cecil does business with some unsavory characters. Embracing themes of sexual and social liberation, the series will continue to deliver intriguing plotlines in a breathtaking Italian setting, while capturing the long-established literary tradition of idiosyncratic British ‘innocents abroad’, and revealing darker storylines set against the historical backdrop of the rise of Fascism in Mussolini’s Italy.
The second season will again be filmed in Portofino, Italy and along the Croatian coastline. All episodes in season two will be written by Matt Baker (Suspect) who created the original series. It will be directed by season one director Adam Wimpenny (Blackwood) and executive produced by Jo McGrath and Walter Iuzzolino for Eagle Eye Drama in cooperation with the BetaFilm Group. All episodes of season one are available to watch On Demand on FOXTEL.
