The White Lotus (Sky Atlantic) – Mondays at 9-0pm)

We have now reached the second episode of the third series of The White Lotus. Some have criticised it at formulaic but I think it is watchable and possibly the best series HBO have produced since The Sopranos.

The series is located in a high-end well being resort in Ko Samui, Thailand, It’s true that the tried and trusted formula of location shooting in a high end resort with a group of fairly disgusting American guests and an opening reveal of a death is adopted but the writer and director Mike White has given the series enough freshness to sustain it.

In the cast there are some familiar faces from episodes 1 & 2, but new ones too.

There is a group of three Americans women, one of whom is an established TV star, the second a successful financier and the third a well-heeled country wife from Austin Texas.

Hardly has one of them absented herself when the other two are bitching about her. Their continued assertion of what a good time they are having and how great it is to be reunited only covers their unhappiness.

Then there is a family of whose father Larry (Jason Isaacs), a financier in turmoil as he is under investigation, but in a different time zone to reach New York for information and assistance and his three children – one of whom (Saxon) is played by Arnold Schwarzenegger’s son Patrick.

He is a vulgar man hoping to make out with some guest or another.  Then there is the mysterious Rick (Walter Coggins) on holiday with his younger girlfriend from Manchester, Chelsea.

He is not much enjoying the resort and reacts grumpily. Chelsea pals up with Chloe, the partner of another mystery man Nick. They visit the hotel boutique together when it is held up by a robber with a gun.

One of the differences between this series and the previous two is the resort hotel. In the previous two, the managerial staff can scarcely disguise their dislike of the guests.

Here they are positively fawning, which is part of the wellness ambience itself, and a subject of satire. There is a touching romance between the Thai security man that operates the barrier and a young Thai female hotel worker, which progresses from her previous disinterested side when he issued is struck in the face by the robber.

More humour is introduced by the owner, a middle-aged Thai woman, who treats us to her execrable rendition of a Thai song.

Another positive is the beauty of the resort, set in a lush forest with monkeys and a glorious beach. It cannot be a  coincidence that the series is released in the middle of a cold winter.  Not that the guests appreciate  it. Larry is too concerned about reaching New York on his mobile, Chelsea worried that Rick is evidently so unhappy – and none of the guests can stand SXon who describes sex in Thailand as like a box of chocolates:-

“You cannot be sure which is the one with nuts …”

His voyeuristic prying into his sister’s sex life understandably upsets her and causes even more tension when the family dine together.

So there is enough originality to deny the charge of being formulaic whilst adhering to the traditions of the series.