Harry Springer keenly bought up a Birmingham hotel when the newspapers were sure that the city would win the bid to host the 1992 Olympics. When it failed, the ex-Army cook was left with a grotty, run-down and now-Olympic-themed business: its assests include the Torville & Dean Lounge, Fatima Whitbread Grill, and rooms such as the Eddie The Eagle Suite.

His residents are mostly supplied by the DSS and other Government agencies: a guest paying of their own accord is a rare luxury at the Olympic!

Springer's sidekick is Duggie, a socialist-leaning teacher who served with him in the Falklands war. Harry's hapless nephew Simon also ends up staying among the homeless and hopeless who make up the rest of the guests