All the Reasons To Watch 'Seaside Hotel' This Summer

Here in the northern hemisphere, we’re in the thick of summer – the weather, the sunlight, the time to get out of town to relax – what better time to find a new-to-you TV series to enjoy, and maybe even to become mildly obsessed with? Have I got a recommendation for you, friends: say hello to Seaside Hotel, a 10-season gem of Danish television, available to PBS Passport subscribers through an eagle-eyed selector of international TV, Walter Iuzzolino. Yes, this is a Walter Presents series! Huzzah!

We’ve covered Seaside Hotel (or Badehotellet in its original language) here and there over the years and wanted to bring our readers something more substantive, the kind of full-throated endorsement it deserves. So! Very briefly, Seaside Hotel is set in a charming, quietly luxurious summer establishment on the coast of Jutland, Denmark’s northernmost region. Anderson’s Seaside Hotel is the kind of place where guests return for their months-long holidays annually, getting to know each other (and each other’s business and quirks) quite well. 

Each season covers one summer from 1928-1946, tracking the ups and downs of the moneyed guests and their families – an officious cigarette factory owner, a workaholic construction magnate, a reserved under-minister for education, a vain and silly actor, a stern widow, a young nobleman – and of the hotel’s ownership and staff, all of whom are competent women of lower social standing. (A male owner is written out midway through the first season, which is just as well, as he was awful. It was a solid performance by a terrible character, and the show is better for his absence.)

If you need more specific details to convince you to hit play, a dozen leaped immediately to mind.

Each season covers one summer, starting in 1928. You can approach Seaside Hotel as a binge-watch just as easily as you could ration episodes out on a weekly basis, and be reliably transported either way. There are a few time jumps to incorporate both the gathering storm of Nazism and its eventual defeat, resulting in Seasons 1-5 covering 1928-1932, while Seasons 6-8 are set during 1939-1941, and Seasons 9-10 take place 1945-1946.

Historical dramedy incorporates many subgenres, and a longstanding popular favorite is the category documenting the lives, loves, foibles, and finer qualities of people of distinct classes. (This includes The Gilded Age in this category, thanks to its Julian Fellowes pedigree, Gosford Park, or the aforementioned Downton Abbey.) That’s not to say that Seaside Hotel is an exact analog for the very British stories that form the majority of so many recognizable titles – Danish culture and history are very much their own specific things, and the series keeps its focus narrowly on this little corner of Denmark. 

There are plenty of characters to invest in and just enough interpersonal and historical twists and turns to keep viewers’ attention locked in. If you do choose to dive into Seaside Hotel, you’ll probably find fans among your friends. This series is so popular among Passport viewers that PBS raced to make the tenth and final season available in the U.S. just a few months after it aired in Denmark. 

If you gravitate towards a series that’s immediately engrossing and fun, which reveals increasingly profound emotional heft over time, look no further. Every season features all of the hallmarks of this genre, offering romance, crossed communication signals, family conflicts, and friendship. Even when the stakes are high, as in the case of one character losing about a year of his life to going on the lam after another character wrongly accuses him of murder, the tension never ratchets up to nail-biting levels. You’ll be invested in and rooting for these characters, but their twists and turns won’t keep you up at night.

Seaside Hotel is deeply invested in love of all kinds, and the second chances it offers include romance at all ages, an adoptive child who reunites with the mother who surrendered him in infancy, even a 1930s version of sperm donation. These are all instances of flawed yet lovable people growing into themselves and into better relationships as they do so. What the world needs now is indeed love, sweet love, for everyone.

Every performance is solid, but I have to give a special shout-out to Jens Jakob Tychsen. His multi-season performance as the toweringly vain and self-centered actor Edward Weyse also reveals his character’s deep kindness and generosity, something I’d have considered impossible had I not enjoyed that arc which continues to unfold over the show's run.

There’s always something engrossing unfolding among the many small dramas of Seaside Hotel, but there’s no shortage of lighter moments here. Gentle, keen observations of all-too-human foibles –  a widow whose sturdy sense of propriety leads her to be cruel to her seemingly flighty younger sister, a maid whose sunny disposition more than makes up for her less astute moments – leaven each episode. 

Women of all ages are particular beneficiaries of Seaside Hotel’s ongoing interest in its characters’ long-term happiness. They found businesses, accept help to pursue further education, and support each other when times are tough. Not unlike All Creatures Great & Small, this is a series full of mostly decent people who take time to see others clearly and largely choose to be good to one another.

Matter of fact embrace of unexpected household arrangements and sexuality? Ooooh, how Scandinavian! One character chooses to protect her closeted husband’s social standing by very graciously offering to take the blame for their divorce. Another long-term, intermittent extramarital affair results in two pregnancies. When her husband learns of their sons’ true paternity, he immediately announces his intent to continue to embrace them – and her – as his own. Homophobia and sexism certainly exist in this world, but there’s a broader range of views about sexuality and gender roles represented in Seaside Hotel than I imagined when I first started watching. 

Everything in Seaside Hotel is lovely to look at—the costumes, the food, the interior decor—if you’re susceptible to beauty, make sure to spend some time with Mrs. Anderson, Fie, Amanda, and Edward. The upper crust here isn’t devoted exclusively to the fanciest of the fancy; I’d describe it as casually lush, with a ton of heart.

Seaside Hotel is perfect for viewers keen to sink their teeth into a complete series run and should feel well served by 64 episodes across ten seasons. The current most common lengths of standard U.S. seasons – 13 or 22 episodes – can be a little daunting, but here we have a just-right degree of both style and substance.

Viewers who are already members of their local PBS stations can hit play this very day, as all ten seasons are now available on PBS Passport. All seasons are also available on the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel for those who subscribe to the Amazon PBS channels. 

Maybe some folks who haven't decided to support their local station will be moved to do so. Bonus: you get to join the ranks of the Viewers Like You who PBS is always thanking!