"Hotel Babylon" (2006) TV series

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Creator:

Tony Basgallop

Seasons:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Release Date:

19 January 2006 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Dexter Fletcher	...	Tony Casemore / ... (32 episodes, 2006-2009)
Martin Marquez	...	Gino Primirola (32 episodes, 2006-2009)
Michael Obiora	...	Ben Trueman (32 episodes, 2006-2009)
Raymond Coulthard	...	James Schofield (31 episodes, 2006-2009)
Danira Govich	...	Tanya Mihajlov (28 episodes, 2006-2009)
Emma Pierson	...	Anna Thornton-Wilton (27 episodes, 2006-2009)
Max Beesley	...	Charlie Edwards (22 episodes, 2006-2009)
Natalie Jackson Mendoza	...	Jackie Clunes (21 episodes, 2006-2008)
Tamzin Outhwaite	...	Rebecca Mitchell (16 episodes, 2006-2007)
Alexandra Moen	...	Emily James (16 episodes, 2008-2009)

Runtime:

60 min (8 episodes)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Carnival Films

Quotes:

Rebecca Mitchell: I want you to be as thorough as possible Miss Merchant, any bottle or napkin that can't be accounted for I want to know about it
[hands her keys]
Helen Merchant: Before I start a job I always ask a question, Do you trust your staff?
Rebecca Mitchell: Well I used to
Helen Merchant: Then you've been naive, in my experience people are generally bad, they lie, they steal, they copulate.
Rebecca Mitchell: I'm not sure I should judge them on that
Helen Merchant: A sin is a sin Miss Mitchell, as well as the audit would you like me to set any traps?
Rebecca Mitchell: Traps?
Helen Merchant: I could stick an extra case of wine behind the bar, some steaks in the fridge, see where it ends up in the next audit.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Screenwipe: (#3.4)" (2007)

Fluff

How do I define fluff? To me it is a show that isn't funny enough to make me laugh, yet the characters are too shallow and stereotypical to make me want to take it seriously.

Hotel Babylon tries to poke fun at the "lifestyles of the rich and famous" but to me ends up cranking out more of the same politically correct caricatures that that are rampant in Hollywood-style sitcoms.

Perhaps this is what Seinfeld would have been like if it was void of humor and had a hidden agenda of bluntly preaching overly cliché morals in each episode.

I'm also noticing a trend that all British series today seem obsessed with the idea that no day ever goes by without some man committing a major sexual offense, and that it is the duty of a TV show to constantly remind people about it in every episode as a kind of public service announcement, even if the show is supposed to be a comedy.