| Hotel Trubble | |
|---|---|
Title card used from Series 2 onwards, showing (l-r) Tanya Franks (Dolly), Dominique Moore (Sally), Sam Phillips (Jamie), Sheila Bernette (Mrs. Poshington) and Gary Damer (Lenny). |
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| Genre | Comedy drama |
| Developed by | BBC Film and General Productions Ltd |
| Directed by | Natalie Bailey |
| Starring | Dominique Moore Sam Phillips Gary Damer Sheila Bernette Tanya Franks (Series 2–present) Susan Wokama (Series 3) |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 39 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | John Pocock |
| Location(s) | London |
| Running time | 28 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | BBC One CBBC Channel |
| Original run | 24 December 2008 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Hotel Trubble is a children's comedy drama made by the BBC and broadcast on its television channels CBBC and BBC One. It stars Dominique Moore as Sally, the receptionist; Gary Damer as Lenny; Sam Phillips as Jamie, the bellboy; and Tanya Franks as Dolly[1] and Sheila Bernette as Mrs. Poshington, a guest who never leaves (and who becomes the hotel's cleaner in series two and three). It is a farce sitcom. A total of 39 episodes have aired on TV between December 2008 and August 2011.. Many guest stars have appeared, including Tom Price, Josie d'Arby, Miranda Hart, Stephen Evans, Steve Furst, Steve Marsh, Dan Wright, Les Dennis and Phil Cornwell.
Contents |
Jamie is the bellboy of Hotel Trubble and probably the one with the most common sense, he does at some parts, have a lack of confidence and panics. He also does embarrassing things when he is in a panic. He is always the first person to yell "Noooooo!" when its time to panic. He was also like Sally, nominated, but for being the best bellboy. He is sensitive, has strong emotions like the time Verity Lumiere kissed him. Jamie is a good character and always means well. He is probably the most normal of the threesome. It is shown on several occasions that he has romantic feelings for Sally – for example in "Super Trubble", he shouts "Don't hurt the woman I love!" after Lionel shoots her with an arrow, only to correct himself moments later. Sally and Jamie are tecnically married after an accident with a mix-up between a fake and real vicar. It's shown that Jamie is very over-enthusiastic about his work, as in one episode it is noted that he never wears anything other than his uniform; it can only be assumed he has a wardrobe somewhere full of identical blue suits.
Sally is the receptionist of the hotel. She can be rather naughty and arrogant at times, but she means well. She makes herself look very glamorous and tries to be cool. In one episode she tells Lenny, "Good is Gossip magazine and bad is orange nail polish". In one of the episodes she gets nominated for the person with the best shoes. She has a reasonable amount of common sense and thinks she is the best at acting, dancing and being odd-looking. She did though, only get as far as playing the sheep in her Cinderella play at school. Sally is thoughtless at times and also arrogant, but has a good heart. In one episode, she says to Jamie "You rescued me" and she acts really flirty towards him and then when she answers the phone, she gives him a big smile.
Leonard Lemon, better known as Lenny, is the least intelligent of the trio. He does all sorts of embarrassing things like asking people for help when they do not know what he is talking about. However, quite a few times, he has messed up things for Sally and Jamie, like the time when their hotel was to be demolished. Lenny's father worked at the council and when Lenny asked him if there had been a demolition for their hotel, his father said no, it was next door. When Lenny is asked to do something, he often takes the phrase too literally. Lenny, Jamie and Sally put in so much effort on the day of the demolition, and achieved hardly anything. Lenny is a humorous but a silly character at the hotel. At the beginning of every episode, Jamie says that Lenny is "a man of many talents" but they just don't know what his talents are yet.
Dolly is Mr Trubble's fiancée who first appeared in series two. She is seen as a posh lady and is effectively the manager of the hotel. In her first episode, there was a mix-up in which both Jamie and Sally thought they were the manager. She is constantly looking for new business ideas including a toilet made out of flowers and exclusive parties at the hotel. Dolly is seen as rather unintelligent and is not liked by Mrs. Poshington, Jamie and Sally. She seems to get on best with Lenny as they act in a similar way, though Lenny always has to carry out her orders for her crazy business ventures. In series 3 it is discovered Dolly used to be big in Japan as a singer, performing under the name Yolly Dolly.
Mrs. Poshington is described by Jamie as a "regular pest... I mean, guest" who never leaves. The first thing she does in the morning is comes downstairs with complaints, often with no logical answer such as "Why is there sunlight?" She claims to be a marathon runner, running the London Marathon 30 years ago (in 2009) even though it was established in 1981, the Queen's cousin, a former actress and a grandmother. In a few episodes, she helps Sally, Lenny and Jamie with solutions to their problems. She has great determination and gets things when she asks for them. Mrs. Poshington seems to be demanding, but kind-hearted and filled with willpower. She loses her entire fortune in series 2 and is allowed to stay at the hotel as long as she is the new cleaner. In "Time Trubble", it is revealed she's had eight husbands; all of which died in suspicious circumstances. Mrs. Poshington is not a great cleaner as it shows in episodes 13 (4011); her video shows her breaking various items.
General Sirius Poshington is a fake stuffed cat belonging to Mrs. Poshington. She does not seem to realize that he is not real and she pushes it on a wagon. Mrs Poshington says things like "Sirius doesn't like running, he likes the cycling trips we go on together". She even asks Sally to look after it for her when she goes out and calls frequently during this period to ask how he is in series 1 and 2. In "Fashion Phonies", Jamie says Sirius will never walk again.
Mr. Trubble owns Hotel Trubble and calls very often on a special red phone with a siren instead of a bell or tone caller. Once, he threatens to fire Sally, Jamie and Lenny if they don't give him a good birthday party. Mrs. Poshington is responsible and is told that she will lose her room if the party isn't good. In one episode the Trubble diamond is brought in by an impostor who tries to steal it. He first tries to accuse Sally and then Lenny. Mr. Trubble does not have a particular personality as he is never shown and is heard only as a shouting, unintelligible voice over the phone, a la the General in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series Dastardly and Muttley in their Flying Machines.
Like Mr. Trubble, Chef is never seen and is represented only as a shouting unintelligible voice emanating from behind the double doors leading to the kitchen. He would seem to be an extemely hostile individual, as whenever Jamie or Lenny enters the kitchen to speak to him, there is always a lot of shouting before they emerge looking rather frightened.
Daisy is the new receptionist, first appearing in the series 3 episode "American President". She is an animal rights activist who has kidnapped an elephant from London Zoo, and is on the run from the police. Daisy is plotting to smuggle the elephant, which she has named Trunky and has hidden in room 360, back to the jungle where the two of them can start a new life together. She states that Sally found out her secret, thus prompting her to kidnap Sally and post her to Guatemala so that she would not be found out. The rest of the characters are unaware of all of this, despite regular elephant noises coming from room 360. In "Fashion Phonies", the characters receive a postcard from Sally in Guatemala saying "DON'T TRUST THE RECEPTIONIST!", but Daisy tells them it's actually Guatemalan for "Ahh, lovely time".
Note: The character of Daisy, played by Susan Wokama, was introduced when Dominique Moore had to leave the show during recording of series 3 to have treatment for Hodgkin's Lymphoma. The scripts were thus hastily rewritten so that Sally would not have to appear (though she would still be referred to in dialogue), incorporating the underlying sub-plot of Daisy having kidnapped an elephant and Sally's absence being explained by her having been sent to Guatemala by Daisy.
She is a recent new character, first appearing in the show on the fourth episode where she is mopping the floor of the hotel and cleaning out the toilet. She also appears in an episode where she is kidnapped by an evil witch planning to rule the world and saved by the Hotel Trubble crew.
| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | Season Premiere | Season Finale | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 | 2008–2009 | 24 December 2008 | 24 February 2009 | |
| 2 | 13 | 2010 | 20 September 2010 | 13 December 2010 | |
| 3 | 13 | 2011 | 15 August 2011 | 31 August 2011 | |