PREMIUM SPOTLIGHT ON HOTEL PORTOFINO PERIOD SET SERIES SEASON 3 WHICH ARRIVES THIS SUMMER

    HOTEL PORTOFINO   

THIRD SEASON IS COMING THIS SUMMER

Hotel Portofino opens this summer again

I must admit I am surprised this one got pass the first season, but it seems HOTEL PORTOFINO is returning for the third one this summer Sunday July 28th on PBS. As you know, the series takes place in the late 1920s following the Ainsworth family who move from England to the Italian coastal city of Portofino to open an upscale hotel. The story is set after World War I when the world is in a global post-war upheaval. The charming Italian seaside town with its warm climate and enchanting culture and townspeople provides the perfect respite for the elite British traveler. The main characters are Bella (Natascha McElhone) and her estranged husband Cecil (Mark Umbers) together with their son Lucian (Oliver Dench), his wife Rose (Claude Scott-Mitchell) and sister Alice (Olivia Morris). If I got it right, six episode season 3 is already available in UK on BritBox before arriving to ITV later this year in linear viewing, and also on Sky Italia and Foxtel in Australia.

  IN THE THIRD SEASON OF THE SERIES

Bella is preparing for her father and sister’s arrival but is thrown off when Cecil appears requesting a divorce. Over the weeks, Bella must decide her future as well as avoid fascist leader Danioni. But with the Wall Street stock market crash, things get worse, and Bella and Cecil lose everything. Dark secrets are exposed during another adventure in this sun-soaked 1920s Italian drama. Louisa Binder returns as Constance March, Lucian's true love interest and the nanny of his sister's daughter, Pasquale Esposito as Signor Danioni, Lily Frazer as American singer and actor Claudine Pascal, who has become Bella's best friend, and Daniele Pecci as the rich Count Albani, who is Bella's advisor and Alice's love interest. Check out the third season trailer below:

 

Back again in the Italian seaside town of Portofino 🍷#HotelPortofino, Thursday 25 April at 8.30pm AEST on Showcase, or Watch On Demand on #Foxtel pic.twitter.com/fXcx2t6fN6

— Foxtel (@Foxtel) April 21, 2024

PREMIUM SPOTLIGHT ON HOTEL PORTOFINO PERIOD SET SERIES SEASON TWO WHICH IS BACK THIS AUTUMN!

   HOTEL PORTOFINO SERIES   

SECOND SEASON BACK OCTOBER

Hotel is open again this October on PBS

Back in January your trusted spy told you that Australian Foxtel and Binge streamers will stream the second season of HOTEL PORTOFINO period set drama earlier than the rest of the world and it really did air there in February and also on Sky in Italy and possibly some other countries, but later this year it is finally coming to PBS in USA and also on their Masterpiece channel on Prime Video, October 15th to be exact. It will air on Sunday nights together with World on Fire series returning season. In UK it should air sometime on ITV but given that they only aired the first season this spring, God only knows when will the six part second season arrive to poor old Brits. In Germany it will be soon on Magenta TV.

 

SET ON THE ITALIAN RIVIERA

 in the 1920s, HOTEL PORTOFINO tells the story of the Ainsworth family that has relocated to Italy to set up a quintessentially British hotel in the beautiful coastal town of Portofino. Amidst the rise of Fascism in Mussolini’s Italy, season two will see Ainsworth family relations reach breaking point and the future of the hotel threatened.New faces and old — some more welcome than others — stir up adventure, romance and drama at the Hotel Portofino. With Cecil eyeing control of the Hotel, Nish moving against Mussolini’s Fascists and Rose and Lucian’s marriage growing more precarious, Bella will have more than tight budgets and grand galas to worry about.

 

WHO'S BACK IN THE HOTEL?

Embracing themes of sexual and social liberation, season two will see Natascha McElhone reprise her role as owner of Hotel Portofino and family matriarch, Bella Ainsworth. Mark Umbers plays her charming but dangerous aristocratic husband, Cecil, Oliver Dench is their handsome son Lucian, Daniele Pecci as the dashing count Albani, and Lily Fraser will return as the hotel’s most famous guest singer-turned-movie star, Claudine Pascal. Assad Zaman is back as Lucian's best friend, the Hindi gay student of medicine. Roby Schinasi has joined the cast as the handsome Victor Michel. Check out the trailer below:

 

HOTEL PORTOFINO OPENS ITS ITALIAN RIVIERA DOORS AGAIN IN THE SECOND SEASON TRAILER FOR THE PERIOD SET SERIES! NICHOLAS GALITZINE JOINS JULIANNE MOORE IN MARY & GEORGE PERIOD SET SERIES

 NICHOLAS GALITZINE JOINS 

JULIANNE MOORE IN MARY & GEORGE COSTUME DRAMA

After announcing Julianne Moore as the lead star of their new costume series MARY AND GEORGE, Sky and AMC have cast Nicholas Galitzine as her son George. In the eight part series she will play Mary Villiers, Countess of Buckingham, who in 17th century England molded her beautiful son, George (Galitzine), to seduce King James I and become his all-powerful lover. Through outrageous scheming, the pair rose from humble beginnings to become one of the richest, most titled and influential mother and sons England had ever seen. 

   HOTEL PORTOFINO   

SECOND SEASON TRAILER!

The second season returns this February

Well, it comes sooner than I expected, but Australian Foxtel has released today a trailer for the second season of HOTEL PORTOFINO period set drama which hits the streamer February 12th and will air on ITV February 3rd and later this year on PBS in USA. Set on the Italian Riviera in the 1920s, HOTEL PORTOFINO tells the story of the Ainsworth family that has relocated to Italy to set up a quintessentially British hotel in the beautiful town of Portofino. Amidst the rise of Fascism in Mussolini’s Italy, season two will see Ainsworth family relations reach breaking point and the future of the hotel threatened. Embracing themes of sexual and social liberation, season two will see Natascha McElhone reprise her role as owner of Hotel Portofino and family matriarch, Bella Ainsworth. Mark Umbers plays her charming but dangerous aristocratic husband, Cecil, Oliver Dench is their handsome son Lucian, Daniele Pecci as the dashing count Albani, and Lily Fraser will return as the hotel’s most famous guest singer-turned-movie star, Claudine Pascal. Roby Schinasi has joined the cast as the handsome Victor Michel.

Let the good times roll. #HotelPortofino Season 2 premieres February 12 on Foxtel. pic.twitter.com/pTllDpr4oE

— Foxtel (@Foxtel) January 12, 2023

SEE STUNNINGLY GORGEOUS STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS SF SERIES TRAILER WITH ANSON MOUNT, REBECCA ROMIJN! BBC SAS ROGUE HEROES TV SERIES TEASER IS HERE! VIKINGS: VALHALLA, HOTEL PORTOFINO, THE WITCHER UPDATES!

 STRANGE NEW WORLDS 

STAR TREK GETS A TRAILER

The series arrives May 5th to Paramount +

New STAR TREK series STRANGE NEW WORLDS has got a launch date of May 5th over at Paramount + and the first ultra spectacular trailer as well after that gorgeous teaser that I shown you a few weeks ago! It is interesting that the series has already been renewed for a second season. It will follow episodic adventures of the Enterprise’s original crew long before James T. Kirk was captain. Anson Mount, Rebecca Romjin, and Ethan Peck will be returning as Captain Pike, Number One, and Spock Celia Rose Gooding will play Uhura, Babs Olasanmokun will play Dr. M’Benga, and Jess Bush will play Christine Chapel; new characters on the bridge include Christina Chong as La'an

Anson Mount takes the lead role of captain Pike

Noonien-Singh, Melissa Navia as Erica Ortegas, and Bruce Horak as Hemmer. With other series in the franchise, Discovery and Picard proving a disappointment with the fans, the audience is having high hopes

New series will be episodic in nature

 for this one which will have episodic stories rather than having a seasonal plot. That is something that we haven't seen in 17 years ever since Enterprise finished.

 

 

  SHORT NEWS BULLETIN

In other short news today, VIKINGS: VALHALLA will start shooting season 3 in May with season 2 already shot before with the first one. HOTEL

Hotel Portofino has been sold to more than 55 countries so far

PORTOFINO series got a second season order after becoming a huge hit for Britbox, PBS and Foxtel. And the work on THE WITCHER season 3 has

First look at the Witcher season 3 snowy set

been announced with the first set photo. It will see Geralt and Yeneffer taking Ciri to Aretuza, where they discover they’ve landed in a battlefield of political corruption, dark magic, and treachery.

 SAS: ROGUE HEROES 

BBC RELEASES FIRST TEASER

The series will arrive this Autumn, but BBC has already released a teaser for their new six part series SAS: ROGUE HEROES set in  Cairo, 1941. David Stirling (Connor Swindells) - an eccentric young officer, hospitalised after a training exercise went wrong - is bored. Convinced that traditional commando units don’t work, he creates a radical plan that flies in the face of all accepted rules of modern warfare. He fights for permission to recruit the toughest, boldest and brightest soldiers for a small undercover unit that will create mayhem behind enemy lines. More rebels than soldiers, Stirling’s team are every bit as complicated, flawed and reckless as they are astonishingly brave and heroic. Jack O'Connell, Alfie Allen, and Dominic West also star.

BREAKING NEWS: BRITBOX' HOTEL PORTOFINO PERIOD SET SERIES TRAILER TAKES YOU TO ITALIAN RIVIERA WITH NATASHA MCELHONE, ANNA CHANCELLOR, MARK UMBERS, LORENZO RICHELMY

  HOTEL PORTOFINO  

PERIOD SET SERIES TRAILER

Britbox has released a trailer for their new period set drama HOTEL PORTOFINO which starts streaming January 27th! Starring Natasha McElhone, it follows a British family who open a hotel for upper class

The series will stream exclusively on Britbox January 27th

travellers on the magical Italian Riviera during the ‘Roaring 20s’. 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,

Natasha McElhone leads the cast of the new series

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

Gorgeous Oliver Dench is Lucian Ainsworth, Bella's son

tries to coax her wounded son, Lucian (Oliver Dench), 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

The series will stream in six hourlong episodes

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. Daniele Pecci stars as charismatic Count Carlo Albani, Lorenzo Richelmy

After Britbox, the series will probably air mid February on ITV

as his son, Roberto. And Rocco Fasano plays anti-fascist activist Gianluca Vitali. The series will later on air also on ITV and PBS Masterpiece for American audience. 

HOLLYWOOD SPY'S ULTIMATE GUIDE THROUGH ALL NEW EPIC, PERIOD SET AND HISTORICAL 2022 TV SERIES: FROM LORD OF THE RINGS AND VIKINGS, TO ROYAL COURTS, WILD WEST AND HISTORICAL VENUES

 UPCOMING 2022 EPIC SHOWS 

 WORLD'S MOST EXTENSIVE LIST

Your Spy is bringing you our traditional list of all the period set series to expect in the upcoming new year. We have a few ultra exclusive pics (Tom Jones, Hotel Portofino etc) and if you click on the links within the sections you will find out more about the series.

 

LORD OF THE RINGS

Without any doubt the most anticipated of the 2022 new epic shows and also, with the budget of over half a billion dollar, the most expensive series ever made is LORD OF THE RINGS which arrives to Amazon with

The second season is moving production over to UK from New Zealand

the first eight part season September 2nd. Set thousands of years before the events of the films, it will follow a group of characters as they confront the re-emergence of evil in Middle-earth. Morfydd Clark plays young queen Galadriel, and the second season is in works too.

 

SERIES FROM STARZ

Starz, the usual home of lavish epic dramas, is bringing us three of them this year: SERPENT QUEEN in which Samantha Morton plays famous

First photo from the sets of The Serpent Queen in France

Catherine de Medici with Colm Meaney as her hubby King Francis and Charles Dance as the pope . They also have a prequel to cult DANGEROUS LIAISONS 18th century French story with Alice Englert and Nicholas

John Heffernan as Duke of Somerset in Becoming Elizabeth

Denton as leads. Their BECOMING ELIZABETH will reveal young years of the Virgin Queen with Alicia von Rittberg, Tom Cullen,  Romola Garai, Jessica Raine, Jamie Blackley in the cast.

SHOGUN AT FX

FX has started production (which will last till April) on their small screen version of SHOGUN which means we might get it at the end of the year.

Cosmo Jarvis takes the lead role in new Shogun

Cosmo Jarvis takes the lead role a risk-taking English sailor who ends up shipwrecked in Japan, a land whose unfamiliar culture will ultimately redefine him! Hiroyuki Sanada will be Lord Toranaga.

SERIES FROM GREAT BRITAIN

BBC is bringing us Connor Swindells, Jack O'Connell, Alfie Alen in SAS ROGUE HEROES six part series on the creation of the famed Special Forces Unit. We might also get, over at ITV, a new version of Henry Fielding's

SAS Rogue Heroes will probably arrive rather soon to BBC

TOM JONES from the Poldark team. Solly McLeod plays the poor foundling in the story of the young man's complicated journey to find love and

Exclusive first look at Solly McLeod as Tom Jones

success in 18th century England. BBC is also bringing us GALLOWS POLE which follows a development of a criminal enterprise set against the backdrop of the coming industrial revolution in 18th century Yorkshire, with George

Ultra exclusive first look at the cast of Hotel Portofino

Mackay, Tom Burke and Michael Socha in the cast. ITV and BRITBOX will air HOTEL PORTOFINO 1920s Italian riviera set mini series starring Natascha McElhone, Anna Chancellor and Lorenzo Richelmy.

 

THE ESSEX SERPENT

Apple has Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston leading six part THE ESSEX SERPENT which follows newly widowed Cora, who, having been released from an abusive marriage, relocates from Victorian London to the

Claire Danes will sport a lot of interesting costumes in the series

small village of Aldwinter in Essex, intrigued by a local superstition that a mythical creature known as the Essex Serpent has returned to the area. 

WILD WEST SET SERIES

We are probably most interested in BBC produced and Emily Blunt, Rafe Spall, Ciaran Hinds, Tom Hughes, Stephen Rea, Toby Jones starring THE ENGLISH six part saga about a woman who seeks revenge on the man

First look at Matthias Schoenaerts as Django

she sees as responsible for the death of her son in the Wild West. Rival Sky is bringing us DJANGO in which Matthias Schoenaerts plays a gunslinger in the Wild West who is searching for his daughter who he believes escaped the

Douglas Booth and Dominic Cooper in That Dirty Black Bag series

murder of his family eight years ago. Tom Austen, Noomi Rapace also star. AMC has THAT DIRTY BLACK BAG a raw, epic and romantic spaghetti western series about the dark side of the Far West. Travis Fimmel,

Tom Blyth as Billy the Kid in new Epix historical series

Douglas Booth, Dominic Cooper and Aidan Gillen star. Epix will have BILLY THE KID series in which Tom Blyth plays the young gangster. It comes from Michael Hirst.

 

WILLOW AT DISNEY PLUS 

Disney Plus has a new remake of the famous 80s cult classic WILLOW ready for 2022. Warwick Davis returns as a dwarf farmer who does magic.

First look at the cast that is shooting Willow over in UK

The story will take place years after the events of the film bringing new characters to the enchanted realm of fairy queens and two headed Eborsisk monsters! Ellie Bamber leads the now femalecentric cast. 

 

  NEW HBO EPIC SERIES 

HBO is of course headlining its epic offer with Game of Thrones spin off series HOUSE OF THE DRAGON! Paddy Considine, Olivia Cooke, Matt Smith, Rhys Ifans, Ryan Corr, Graham McTavish, lead the new saga

House of the Dragon is a Game of Thrones spin off

following the story of the House Targaryen set 200 years before the events of the original series. In January, HBO is bringing us Julian Fellowes

Gilded Age comes from Downton Abbey's Julian Fellowes

produced costume drama THE GILDED AGE set in the 19th century golden age of New York and following the clash between the new business families

Sarah Lancashire is famous cook Julia Child

and old aristocrats. They will also air JULIA series in which Sarah Lancashire plays famous TV cook Julia Child. David Hyde Pierce plays her husband.

 

 BOUNDLESS AT AMAZON

Amazon will take us on a sail across the seas in historical four episode saga BOUNDLESS in which Alvaro Morte and Rodrigo Santoro play

Rodrigo Santoro plays the lead role in Boundless series

Juan Sebastián Elcano and Ferdinand Magellan whose epic voyage around the world after they set sail from Spain 500 years ago is in the focus of the story. 

 

EPIC SERIES ON NETFLIX 

World's most popular streamer will launch this spring THE EMPRESS series on Austrian empress Sisi starring Devrim Lignau and Philip

The imperial couple in The Empress series on Sisi of Austria

Froissant as the imperial couple. They also have our dearest boys Leo Suter, David Oakes and Sam Corlett in VIKINGS: VALHALLA which

Valhalla already has the second season shot and done!

arrives February, set 100 years after Vikings series and centering on the adventures of Leif Erikson, Freydis, Harald Hardrada and the Norman King

Blood Origin is a six part prequel to Witcher series

William the Conqueror. They also have BLOOD ORIGIN prequel to their popular Witcher, with Laurence O'Fuarain and Michelle Yeoh leading

The cast aboard the ship in spooky series 1899

the cast of the series set in an elven world 1,200 years before the original show, centering on the origins of the very first Witcher. 1899 will be set on a 19th century spooky voyage ship whose journey becomes a trip to nightmare.

 

EPIC SERIES FROM FRANCE 

Another queen awaits us in Canal + series MARIE ANTOINETTE which will see Emilia Schule playing the 18th century queen with James

First look at the queen of France in Marie Antoinette

Purefoy also in the cast. Isabelle Adjani will play DIANE DE POITIERS in the two part series on the famous lover of French king Henry II, the

Isabelle Adjani is the royal mistress in Diane de Poitiers

husband of the above mentioned Catherine de Medici. They also have AND MOUNTAINS WILL BLOOM a six episode family saga set in 1837 in Provence with Guillaume Arnault in the lead. 

 

  EPIC SERIES FROM RUSSIA 

Russians are bringing us a historical saga on their tzarina ELIZAVETA in which Yulia Khlynina plays the heiress of Peter the Great. They also have Ilya Malakov playing a Russian boy who ends up in Turkish

First look at the tzarina Elizaveta in the new Russian epic saga

sultan's army in RUSSIAN PRISONER saga, and also DECEMBER in which Alexander Petrov plays famous poet Yesenin in his last days when he was in love with Isadora Duncan, the famous dancer. You will also see Ivan

Our boo Ily Malakov is Russian Prisoner

Bosilychich in CASANOVA IN RUSSIA where he is seducing Catherine the Great and LAND OF LEGENDS in which Alexander Kuznetsov play 15th century prince Mikhail who tries to unite the people of Rus.

 

GERMAN PERIOD SET SERIES 

Coming from Germany next year we have a number of period set dramas. HOUSE OF PROMISES, set in the 1920s Berlin inside a newly

First look at the cast of House of Promises series

opened department store. BONN will, meanwhile, be a six-part political thriller about the rise of Germany’s Federal Republic after the terror of WW2.

Hotel Europe will air sometime next year on German ARD

HOTEL EUROPA will be set between WW1 and WW2 in a hotel on the Rhine which hosted some of the most famous names of that time including Hitler and Charlie Chaplin. Currently we've no news on upcoming historical series coming from Italy or Spain, so if you have any info contact us freely!