Can ‘Hotel Portofino’ on PBS Become The New ‘Downton Abbey’?

With its stiff upper lips, inter-war setting and even a character blatantly modeled on Dame Maggie Smith’s fearsome Dowager Countess, PBS’s new import Hotel Portofino was always going to draw comparisons with the ultimate posh soap opera, Downton Abbey. But it’s practically inviting them by arriving just a month after the Crawleys went on a jaunt to the South of France in second cinematic outing, Downton Abbey: A New Era. 

As its name suggests, the adaptation of J.P. O’Connell’s same-named novel also takes place alongside a Mediterranean riviera, specifically the eponymous Italian fishing village renowned for its cerulean waters, lush greenery and multi-colored architecture. And boy does director Matt Baker take advantage of the surroundings. Almost every scene is bookended by sweeping shots of the sun-soaked coastline, and at times the show looks more like a tourist board advert than period drama. (Ironically, the majority of its six episodes were actually filmed in Croatia). 

Once you’ve stopped Googling flights to Genoa, there are several interweaving stories of varying interest to follow, too, all of which develop amidst the opening of a lavish hotel overseen by Natasha McElhone’s matriarchal Bella Ainsworth. Indeed, the kind-hearted proprietor has more to worry about than the cook’s aversion to Italian beef and heavily constipated guests. Her husband Cecil (Mark Umbers) is an ill-tempered chauvinist hellbent on frittering away her rich father’s fortune and arranging a marriage between his lover’s daughter, an innocent rose subtly named Rose (Claude Scott-Mitchell), and his disinterested son Lucian. 

Played by Oliver “great-nephew of British national treasure Judi” Dench, the latter is still recovering from both the emotional and physical scars of his WWI service: the brief flashbacks to his battlefield experiences are one of the few occasions when Hotel Portofino adopts a much darker disposition. And Bella has problems of her own, namely being blackmailed by corrupt politician Signor Vincenzo Danioni (Pasquale Esposito) over some hopelessly corny love letters (“The beauty of that blessed country is surpassed only by your beauty”) sent from a mystery man abroad. 

Of course, this being the era of Mussolini’s Italy and all, the show has no option but to also address the rise of fascism. Bella might be frustratingly apathetic about the whole situation (“we are not to get involved in local politics”). Yet son Lucian and his closeted best friend Dr. Anish (Assad Zaman) do join an underground protest movement, while the hotel’s young low-level criminal Billy (Louis Healy) witnesses a friend being beaten to a pulp by Danioni’s cronies. 

As you’d expect, though, Hotel Portofino – which first screened on BritBox in the UK earlier this year – is far more comfortable at dealing with more frivolous matters. The tantalizing “will they/won’t they” between Lucian (he really does get everywhere here) and Constance (Louisa Binder), the illiterate nanny with a scandalous past, for example. Or the even more forbidden relationship involving Anish and rebel leader Gianluca (Rocco Fasano). And then there’s the slightly icky love triangle in which Bella’s uptight daughter Alice (Olivia Morris) flutters her eyelashes at both the suave Count Carlo Albani (Daniele Pecci) and his non-English-speaking son Roberto (Lorenzo Richelmy). If repressed longing romance is your jam, then you’ve now got a new favorite show.

And just to cover all bases, a mildly diverting whodunnit provides the fourth episode’s cliffhanger, with the disappearance of a valuable Flemish Baroque painting by Peter Paul Rubens causing suspicion among all key players. “It was like being in an Agatha Christie novel” enthuses Anna Chancellor’s demanding Lady Latchmere on checking out, dismissing the need for an apology for all the chaos. The mystery isn’t exactly as compelling as a Murder on the Orient Express, nor is its reveal as satisfying, but it’s the most involving of the many subplots. 

Lady Latchmere’s surprisingly meta remark is proof of how Baker gives his female characters all the best lines. Bethan Cullinane nearly steals the show as the hilariously passive-aggressive wife of a tennis star who can’t hide her disdain toward his current poor form. And while Julia (Lucy Akhurst) is a cliched ‘guest from hell’ whose complete absence of redeemable qualities makes her extra-marital affair seem implausible, her constant withering put-downs do give viewers someone to actively root against. Alongside the perk of escaping the notoriously fickle British weather for several months, you can understand why so many acclaimed actresses signed up. 

Hotel Portofino has already been commissioned for a second series, and its surprisingly empowering finale suggests that once again the women will be running the show. That’s another thing it wisely shares in common with Downton Abbey. And while this obvious imitation doesn’t reach the grandiose heights of Julian Fellowes’ aristocratic antics, it’s a picture-perfect stopgap until the real thing returns. 

Jon O’Brien (@jonobrien81) is a freelance entertainment and sports writer from the North West of England. His work has appeared in the likes of Vulture, Esquire, Billboard, Paste, i-D and The Guardian.