are more dramatically enticing than hotels. They offer the possibility of fresh starts, of chance encounters, of sex, of death. They set up contrasts: between the guests, who are united in their choice of accommodation but wildly different otherwise; between the visitors and the staff; and between a hotelier’s smiling, helpful disposition and their real opinions. Many screenwriters have recognised this potential and set their work in establishments ranging from the down-at-heel to the upmarket.
“The White Lotus” creates a mood of claustrophobia. It is played to comic effect when Rachel and Shane plan a romantic boat trip but end up spending the outing with another guest who wants to spread her mother’s ashes. But there is malice, too, as tension builds between Shane and the manager, Armond . In “Nine Perfect Strangers” one guest knows that the woman running the resort had an affair with her ex-husband.
For a returning drama series, the structure saves writers a great deal of work. “It is genuinely the easiest way to write television, I think,” says Tony Basgallop, who created “Hotel Babylon”, a British show which aired between 2006 and 2009. “I’ve never found an easier circumstance that gives you that many options.” The single location focuses the action, and the writer can move the characters around like puppets without needing to explain why they are in a particular place.
That's a terrible show
Because they are non-places