''Hotel Story'' was an Australian

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

series made by

Crawford Productions Crawford Productions is an Australian media production company, focused on radio and television production. Founded in Melbourne by Hector Crawford and his sister, actress and voice artist Dorothy Crawford, the company, also known as Crawfor ...

(now Crawfords Australia) for the

Ten Network Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of fi ...

in 1977. The series, intended as a replacement for '' The Box'', was set in a luxury international hotel. The regular characters were the hotel workers and in each one-hour episode they hosted a new batch of glamorous guest-star hotel guests, and rather like a drama version of ''

The Love Boat ''The Love Boat'' is an American romantic comedy/drama television series that aired on ABC from 1977 to 1986; in addition, four three-hour specials aired in 1986, 1987, and 1990. The series was set on the luxury passenger cruise ship MS ''Pa ...

'' stories would focus on both the self-contained dramas of the passing guests and the ongoing problems of the hotel staff. The regular cast was headed by Terence Donovan as the hotel manager, and also included Carmen Duncan,

George Spartels George Bernard Spartels (born 25 April 1954) is an Australian actor, presenter, director, playwright and children's musician of Greek descent on his father's ancestry, and English and Irish on his mother's. He remains best known for his role on ...

, and American actor Richard Lawson. The title sequence was shot on film at the then Old Melbourne Inn on

Flemington Road Flemington Road is a major thoroughfare in the inner suburbs of North Melbourne and Parkville in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs for 2 km in a northwest–southeast direction, from the southern end of Mount Alexander Road, Flemington, ...

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at ...

. This distinctive looking hotel building is now an accommodation hostel owned by RMIT University. Interior sequences were largely shot on video at Channel Ten's

Nunawading Nunawading is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 18 km (11 miles) east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Whitehorse, Whitehorse Local g ...

studios, giving the series a

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

look. ''Hotel Story'' was cancelled before it even went to air. Originally planned to run for at least 26 episodes, the series was cancelled after only seven episodes had been produced, and before any had been broadcast. In Melbourne, ATV-O ran full-page advertisements in newspapers on the day the first episode was shown, describing it as "The most discussed TV series produced this year", ending with "You be the judge". There was some positive feedback and while it was too late for ''Hotel Story'' itself, the concept was later revived for the series ''

Holiday Island ''Holiday Island'' is an Australian television series made by Crawford Productions for Network Ten. The show aired twice weekly from 1981 to 1982, with the first episode going to air on 17 June 1981. Series synopsis Like preceding Crawford ...

''. Six of the seven episodes were shown in Sydney across two consecutive weeks from 27 December 1977. In 1978 actor

June Salter June Marie Salter AM (22 June 193215 September 2001) was an Australian actress and author prominent in theatre and television, best known for her character roles. Biography June Salter was born in Bexley, New South Wales, the youngest of six ...

won a Sammy Award for Best Actress in a Single TV Performance for her guest performance in one episode. Salter played the American head of a cosmetics firm, Annabelle Lee, a lesbian. Her main co-star was Jane Harders.Salter, June. ''June Salter: A Pinch of Salt''. Angus & Robertson: Pymble NSW, 1995. p 133-4. Former ''The Box'' regular and Network Ten weather girl

Christine Broadway Christine Broadway is a French-born television personality active in Australia in the 1970s and early 1980s. Biography She appeared on ATV-O's ''The Box'', the Australian versions of ''The Gong Show ''The Gong Show'' is an American amate ...

also made a guest appearance in one episode. “Hotel Story” was also the debut show that future TV actress, sex symbol and animal campaigner Lynda Stoner played a guest role too.

Notes

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=0425691, title=Hotel Story
''Hotel Story'' at the National Film and Sound Archive
Network 10 original programming Australian television soap operas 1977 Australian television series debuts 1977 Australian television series endings

See also

Notes

External links