PICK OF DIGITAL & ON DEMAND TV

HOTEL PORTOFINO, BRITBOX

DOWNTON ABBEY meets the Italian Riviera in this sumptuous six-episode series set in the 1920s. It’s a feast of G&Ts, floppy-haired men looking for love and vinegary aunts brimming with put-downs. The only shadow on the horizon is some chap by the name of Mussolini. The series focuses on Bella Ainsworth (Natascha McElhone, pictured), the daughter of a wealthy industrialist who opens a hotel for English people on Italy’s Ligurian coast. She’d also like to find a suitable wife for her son Lucian (Oliver Dench — a great-nephew of Dame Judi), who’s still traumatised by his First World War experiences. But while the hotel has lots of glamorous residents — many of them seemingly running from intriguing secrets in their past — Lucian only has eyes for kitchen maid Paola (Carolina Gonnelli). Hotel Portofino is perfect escapism and, having proved to be one of Britbox’s most popular original shows since it arrived on the streaming service in January, it has already been commissioned for a second series.