Category: TV

Hotel Babylon
Season 4, episode 7
Aired: August 7, 2009 on BBC1

SYNOPSIS

Famous Sicilian artist (and frequent Babylon guest) Christiano Cucci has died, and he so loved the hotel that he wants his funeral service held there. James, smelling a chance to become the manager of all food and drink at Babylon, begs Juliet for the chance to show her what he can do. She agrees – if he pulls off the event, he will get his promotion. However, at Juliet’s insistence, James must partner with Geno to do so.

Meanwhile, famous comedian Jim Doody (played by real-life comedian Hugh Dennis) has checked into the hotel. One of Juliet’s old flames, she starts swooning whenever he’s around… which sets Sam off on a jealous rage. He ends up going to the room of Sophie (Poppy Elliot), a flirty guest, to have a one-night stand. But Juliet is in for disappointment: despite his being all flirty with her, Jim is married. Sam, too, feels awful, because he only slept with Sophie to “get back” at Juliet… until Sophie says that they didn’t actually sleep together, as Sam passed out from tequilla before anything happened. So Sam feels better, and he and Juliet try getting back together again.

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Hotel Babylon
Season 4, episode 6
Aired: July 31, 2009 on BBC1

SYNOPSIS

Hotel Babylon is in trouble. Thanks to an accounting error, the hotel now owes £200,000 in taxes. Sam thought he’d fixed the problem when he snagged a “royal wedding” for the hotel – a wedding between a member of Britain’s 24th wealthiest family and a minor princess from Liechtenstein’s royal family. As always, though, things don’t go according to plan: the groom was spotted cavorting with another woman, so now the wedding’s off… and the £250,000 that Sam was charging an Italian gossip magazine for the wedding pictures falls through… or does it? Sam has an idea. Since Gennaro Fazio, the Italian magazine’s owner, doesn’t know what the couple looks like, the hotel will have a fake wedding, thus bringing in the much needed £250,000.

Meanwhile, Tony spies a lonely teenage guest, Jo (Kelly Osborne) and tries to play “friend matchmaker” with equally lonely Mandy (Eleanor Gecks). Mandy is a competitive swimmer, and is staying at the Babylon to film a commercial, for which she thinks she’s getting paid £60,000. Her overbearing parents seem to be enjoying the good life – ordering expensive wines and high-end dinners, having expensive designer shoes brought to the hotel – while Mandy is forced to work and train almost non-stop. After Mandy’s mother, Alexis (Annabelle Apsion) rubs Tony the wrong way, he tells Jo how much money Mandy is really getting paid to film the commercial – £300,000! Jo, of course, tells Mandy, who retaliates by inviting her grandmother to take charge of her finances.

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Hotel Babylon
Season 4, episode 5
Aired: July 24, 2009 on BBC1

SYNOPSIS

Sam has arranged for Meredith Sutton, a team-building expert, to visit the hotel during what is traditionally a slow week. However, unbeknownst to everyone else in the hotel, Juliet has just signed up Babylon to host a convention for the “Captain Stranger Appreciation Society”, a group of fans of a cheesy 1970s sci-fi TV series.

At first, no one seems to take the “team building” exercises very seriously, least of all Juliet. This causes friction between her and Sam, who feels that her flippant attitude about it makes both of them look bad in front of the staff.

Meanwhile, Ben finds a homeless man that’s apparently been living in Hotel Babylon for weeks now. He tries to throw the man out of the hotel, but recognizes his voice: he is apparently Martin Armstrong, a man who once hosted a popular children’s television news show back in the 70s. Ben doesn’t have the heart to throw him out, so he sets him up in a vacant room. Unfortunately, Martin is caught by Juliet, who was exhausted and went to the supposedly vacant room to take a nap. She too almost throws Martin out, but she also recognizes his voice as the “man from the telly”. She “hires” him to record new voice prompts for the hotel’s phone system and elevators, and “pays” him by cleaning him up, buying him a £1000 suit, and arranging a job interview with a contact she has.

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Hotel Babylon
Season 4, episode 4
Aired: July 17, 2009 on BBC1

SYNOPSIS

In this episode, Tony meets his doppelgänger in the form of American author Bobby Mack. The two end up trading places for the day, with Tony enjoying a steak dinner from room service then having a book reading and Q&A session, while Bobby tries his hand at being a concierge.

There is also a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament taking place in the hotel that afternoon, and one of the players – Emily’s father, hotel tycoon Damien Rushby – will be there. Lastly, shipping magnate Arianna Adams is scheduled to stay at Babylon, but the staff aren’t too worried – she normally books several rooms at different London hotels during her stay, and she’s booked and paid for a room at Babylon (but never actually stayed there) for three years now.

The staff normally would have Ms Adams’ truffles and saffron gin on hand, but they stopped bothering to carry them after she continually booked rooms but never actually stayed in the hotel. So when she does show up, James and Geno have to scramble to find them. Coming up empty, James doctors some more common mushrooms, hoping they’ll pass for the rare truffles. Geno takes some regular gin and adds a red dye, hoping that the color will mimic the saffron-infused gin. When Adams’ teeth turn red from the dye, she goes on the warpath, and the only thing that can save Babylon’s reputation is Bobby (acting as Tony acting as Bobby), who talks to her about his books. As luck would have it, Mack is Adams’ favorite author, and this is why she’s staying at Babylon in the first place.

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Hotel Babylon
Season 4, episode 3
Aired: July 3, 2009 on BBC1

SYNOPSIS

This episode begins with a flashback to 1973. Harold Kelly, a jewel thief, is on the run from the cops, and he rushes through the service entrance to Hotel Babylon. There he hides a cache of giant, flawless emeralds behind a painting. He’s then arrested and sent to prison, where he is given a life term.

What does any of this have to do with Hotel Babylon today? Well, it seems that Kelly’s autobiography was recently published (posthumously), and in it he left several clues to the location of the stones. Babylon is soon overrun with curious treasure hunters, and the staff start finding them all over the hotel. Sam and the rest of the staff are convinced that the whole thing is a hoax… except for Anna, who spies a clue right under her nose.

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