Eagle Eye Drama and Beta Film are to make a second series of drama Hotel Portofino.

Hotel Portofino’s season two cast and crew will travel back to Portofino, Italy, and along the Croatian coastline. Natascha McElhone (Ronin, Californication, Halo) will again head up the cast as Bella Ainsworth, the daughter of a wealthy industrialist who has moved to Italy to set up a quintessentially British hotel in the breathtakingly beautiful town of Portofino. Mark Umbers (Home Fires) plays her “charming but dangerous” aristocratic husband, Cecil, and Lily Fraser (Saint Maud, Motherland) will return as “the hotel’s most famous guest singer turned movie star, Claudine Pascal.”

All six episodes in season two will be written by Matt Baker, who created the original Hotel Portofino series. Adam Wimpenny (Blackwood) also returns to direct all episodes with Jo McGrath and Walter Iuzzolino overseeing as executive producers.

PBS Distribution holds the North American rights to Hotel Portofino. Season one will launch in the US in June on PBS.

The series is produced in cooperation with the BetaFilm Group, which also handles the world sales. Production service is provided by Drugiplan.

Jo McGrath, CCO of Eagle Eye Drama, says: ‘Hotel Portofino became an instant hit with audiences worldwide and the second season will feature another heady mix of romance, intrigue, and dangerous ambitions. The setting and fashions will continue to be a sumptuous feast for the eyes, and next season the stakes get even higher for both the guests and the hotel’s owners.’

Oliver Bachert, EVP International Sales & Acquisitions, Beta Film, adds: “We are more than pleased to continue our successful relationship with Eagle Eye. It is Beta’s pleasure and honour to be the international partner of ‘Professor T’ and ‘Hotel Portofino’ and make both series travel the globe. We can’t wait to embark on new journeys with all-time favorite genius Professor T, and dive with our stellar cast of Hotel Portofino into their Mediterranean adventures. Both really feel like the bright drama we need these days.”