Grand Hotel (TV series)
| Grand Hotel | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | Historical drama |
| Directed by | Carlos Sedes |
| Starring |
|
| Country of origin | Spain |
| Original language(s) | Spanish |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 39 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Ramón Campos Teres Fernández-Valdés |
| Producer(s) | Bambú Producciones |
| Location(s) | Santander |
| Running time | 70 -80 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Antena 3 |
| Original run | October 4, 2011 – June 25, 2013 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Grand Hotel (Spanish: Gran Hotel) is a Spanish drama television series directed by Carlos Sedes and starring Yon Gonzalez and Amaia Salamanca. It first aired on Antena 3 in Spain on 11 October 2011 and on Sky Arts 1 in the UK on 18 November 2012.
The series, filmed at the Palacio de la Magdalena in Santander, is set in an early 20th century aristocratic hotel during the reign of King Alfonso XIII and is centered on the mysteries that involve the owner family and the hotel servants.
Cast
| Character | Actor |
|---|---|
| Teresa Aldecoa | Adriana Ozores |
| Alicia Alarcón | Amaia Salamanca |
| Julio Olmedo / Julio Espinosa / Julio Molins | Yon González |
| Javier Alarcón | Eloy Azorín |
| Alfredo Vergara | Fele Martínez |
| Benjamín | Manuel de Blas |
| Horacio Ayala | Pep Antón Muñoz |
| Diego Murquía / Adrián Vera Celande | Pedro Alonso |
| Sofía Alarcón | Luz Valdenebro |
| Belén Martín | Marta Larralde |
| Andrés Alarcón Salinas / Andrés Cernuda Salinas | Llorenç González |
| Ángela Salinas | Concha Velasco |
International broadcasts
In France, the series premiered on Téva on 1 June 2012 and on M6 on 4 July 2012.[1] In Russia, it started airing on Domashny on 11 June 2012.[2] The rights to broadcast Grand Hotel were acquired in the United Kingdom by Sky Arts. The series has also been sold to Turkey (Sinema TV Aşk),[3] Lithuania (LNK),[4] Estonia (Sony Entertainment Estonia and Kanal 11) and Venezuela (Televen). In Germany, the rights were acquired by Sony Entertainment Television [5] and on the free-TV-channel Disney Channel. In Slovakia, broadcasting by RTVS TV canal, started on the 7th of January 2014[6] In Serbia, it started airing on RTS 2 on 10 March 2015.[7]
In the United States Grand Hotel premiered on VmeTV[8] on 31 October 2013 in its original language. 42 episodes can be streamed on Netflix with English subtitles, where episodes have been broken into shorter, ~45-minute episodes. Content available on Netflix stops at the episode "La última noche." The remaining episodes are still in dispute. Hulu is showing the first season with English subtitles.
Plot
Gran Hotel follows the mysterious happenings within the elegant hotel halls and gardens after the disappearance of one of the maids, Cristina Olmedo. The story spotlights Cristina’s brother, Julio Olmedo, secret lover and close friend to the owner’s daughter, Alicia Alarcon. A second protagonist, Alicia’s younger brother, Javier Alarcon, is shown as alcoholic, irresponsible, immature, and philandering. Next, we have Alicia’s sister, Sofia Alarcon, who plays their mother’s game of secrets to protect the hotel's reputation and keep the family wealthy and of good name. Diego Murquia, fiancé to Alicia, as well as hotel manager, partners up with the Gran Hotel’s owner, la Senora Alarcon, to cover up the attempted murder of Cristina and keep a vital letter hidden. In this letter, information is contained that would mean losing possession of the hotel for the Alarcon family, the letter having been left by the late Senor Alarcon to his wife and discovered by Cristina.
The story starts with the travels of Julio Olmeda to visit his sister, a maid at the Gran Hotel. When he arrives, he finds his sister has been dismissed, and not believing this because he knows she would have told him, he begins searching for clues and suspects throughout the hotel. He passes himself off as a newly hired hotel footman and quickly begins unveiling many secrets. Shortly after beginning his stay at the hotel, he is told that his sister was dismissed because she had stolen some jewelry from a hotel guest, the Duchess of Murquia. He is sure his sister would never do such thing, so at a gala that night, he disguises himself as a guest, the nephew of a famous actress, to obtain the opportunity to speak with the Duchess and see if what they say is true. While he is conversing with the Duchess, Alicia joins them and is introduced.
A few days later, Alicia discovers the truth that Julio is one of her servants and is angered, but their friendship only intensifies, as she becomes involved in Julio’s investigation, to the point where they fall in love.
Many secrets are discovered of the hotel. Alicia finds herself between a rock and a hard place as she sees people being murdered around her with no one being found guilty while things begin to disappear, more clues to Cristina’s disappearance arise, and more secrets of Alicia’s mother are revealed.
The servants’ quarters is also full of stories and secrets. Andres, Julio’s roommate and best friend, is always doing Julio favors. Andres is very shy and he lets himself be manipulated by many people, including the head mistress of servants, who is also his mother. Andres has been in love with one of the maids, Belen, for years, but his mother dislikes Belen.
Belen has been carrying on a love affair with the hotel manager, Don Diego, since Cristina’s disappearance. A few episodes into season 1, it is discovered that Belen is pregnant, and Diego is the father. This is most inconvenient as he has just gotten engaged to Alicia, so he pays Belen to have an abortion. Belen refuses the money and says she will keep the baby, bringing Diego to fire her. When Andres finds out Belen is leaving, he begs his mother to keep her because he loves her, and to give his mother no choice, he tells her the child is his. After much drama between Diego, Belen, Andres, and his mother, Belen and Andres become engaged.
Meanwhile, Julio at a bar one night defends Javier who is about to be beaten up for drinking debts. Julio knows that Javier will then owe him a favor and he can use this to get more information about her sister. Unfortunate events occur and things flip to Julio owing Javier. To pay off his debt, Javier capitalizes on Julio being a great fighter, demanding that Julio take part in a fighting ring. Andres bets on this fight as well to earn money for Belen’s engagement ring. Julio wins, and Javier pays off his debt though soon becomes just as indebted from continued drinking.
This is the night Alicia and Julio realize their feelings for each other, as Julio walks into the hotel, bruised and wounded from the fight, and Alicia tends to his wounds.