Every British show isn't a masterpiece — and shouldn't have to be.
Maybe it's the accents, which in their posher varieties tend to register in American ears as classy, intelligent and hallmarks of high quality. But the truth is that British TV productions, as do their American counterparts, run the full gamut from classic to trash. And some of the trash is actually fairly lively fun, like the BBC America import Hotel Babylon.
Based on one of those scandals-behind-the-scenes exposé books, Babylon is Las Vegas in London, with comparable acting, slightly better writing and vastly less impressive glitz. It could be, of course, that London's high-rollers expect less flashy opulence than their American counterparts. Still, you can't help feeling that the show's reliance on tight shots is in part designed to keep our eyes off the underoccupied and unimpressive sets.
Our guide through the secret passages of this fictionalized ultra-luxury hotel is head receptionist Charlie Edwards (an amusingly rough-hewn Max Beesley), who is best friends with the concierge (Dexter Fletcher) and secretly bedding the head housekeeper (Natalie Mendoza). By hour's end, he will have gained a nemesis, a work rival played by Emma Pierson in a style that is both too cutesy and too aggressive.
Charlie's goal tonight is to become the hotel's deputy manager. But first he must impress his boss (Tamzin Outhwaite), and that means getting a reclusive American rock band to spend some money and make a few outrageous headlines.
As with any show built around hotel guests, from Vegas to the old ABC hit Hotel, Babylon is heavily dependent on the quality of its own. Tonight, the show is nearly done in by Rachael Stirling's overdone performance as the band's harridan manager, complete with one of those exaggerated American accents British actors routinely affect when they want to seem particularly crass. (It might be nice if someday, someone on the American side of BBC America let the British side know how offensive that is.) Things improve next week, however, with a visit by Anthony Head (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) as a suicidal musician Charlie is trying to keep alive.
Happily for Babylon, even when the guests and plots falter, the regular cast keeps the hour in painless motion. As a bonus, there are all those purposely dropped tidbits meant to make us feel like we're learning the secrets of the hotel trade — along with a chance to visit London without worrying about the dollar's sorry state.
In the dog days of TV's summer, that may be reason enough to check in.
