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From page to screen - Radio Times, January 2006 |
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Imogen Edwards-Jones explains how her best-selling book Hotel Babylon became a raunchy drama series.
"When I first sat down with
the manager of one of
London's five-star hotels,
and the source for my
book Hotel Babylon, I had
preconceptions. These hotels
were obviously going to be
expensive and decadent - places where
the guests had their every whim and
fancy catered for. But what I wasn't
expecting was how secretive this world
would be, or quite how materialistic.
Our meetings were cloak-and-dagger.
We would always liaise by mobile phone,
and meet in various secluded bars. Our
consorting, he explained, could get him
fired as he had, along with the majority
of the hotel staff, signed a confidentiality
contract (and that's why he's credited as
"Anonymous" in the novel.)
But it didn't seem to deter him, and
after a while he began to relax. Eventually
we ended up booking into suites in his
hotel for the afternoon. Quite what his staff thought is anyone's
guess. But, then again, they're used
to that sort of thing.
Bad behaviour, I have learnt, is par for
the course in the luxury hotel business.
What hotel staff have to put up with
from guests who shell out £3,500 a night
would shock the most jaded of souls,
myself included. And it's usually the
chambermaids who are at the sharp end:
dirty needles; used condoms; porn mags;
clearing up after the thrifty businessmen
who urinate into whisky miniatures so
they don't have to pay for their snifter
from the minibar.
Below stairs, the world of Dirty Pretty
Things [Stephen Frears's 2002 film set in
the twilight world of illegal immigrants
working in London's hotels] does exist.
First-generation immigrants, asylum
seekers and foreigners who have only
a minimal grasp of English all work
long shifts for low wages. No-one knows
how long they stay in their jobs, as
no-one knows their names. They're the
lost souls of the hotel industry.
My year's research was an education.
London's luxury hotels are extraordinary
places, full of extraordinary stories. They
are a metaphor for our times; a microcosm
of the world outside.
So I could see why it would appeal to
the BBC and Carnival Films to turn my
book into a drama. But what I didn't
bank on was how well they would do it. I have to say that executive producer
Gareth Neame, producer Christopher
Aird and writer Tony Basgallop have
done me proud.
The eight-part drama series has an
upbeat contemporary feel that I wasn't
expecting. And with the likes of Tamzin
Outhwaite, Max Beesley and Dexter
Fletcher leading the cast, my characters
have been given a life and attractive
personalities all of their own.
So, unusually for an author, I'm
excited and can't wait for the first episode,
and I know "Anonymous" feels the same.
In fact, we're talking of taking a suite
together in his hotel to watch it go out.
That should get some tongues wagging;
but only very discreetly, of course."
**
Now take a look at our full Hotel Babylon guide.
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