The Real Marigold Hotel series 4 on BBC - Celebrity line up, start date and everything you need to know

The Real Marigold Hotel
(Image credit: BBC/Twofour)

The BAFTA-nominated reality series is back...

The Real Marigold Hotel is returning for its fourth series tonight (3oth April).

Inspired by the film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, celebrities travel to India to experience life out there.

Here's everything you need to know about the upcoming series...

What is The Real Marigold Hotel about?

The reality series follows celebrities who travel around India and live in a retirement resort.

Whilst there, they discover whether retirement overseas would be more rewarding than the UK.

Viewers follow them as they navigate life in India and learn about their culture, food and more.

Who stars in the new series?

A brand new group of celebrities are entering the hotel tonight.

Viewers will follow eight familiar faces in series four, and it's quite the line up.

Dame Zandra Rhodes, Paul Chuckle, and Duncan Bannatyne will be taking part this year.

The Real Marigold Hotel

Dame Zandra Rhodes experiencing life in Puducherry. (Picture: BBC)

Barbara Dickson, Britt Ekland, John Altman, Henry Blofield and Susie Blake complete the line up.

Former EastEnders bad guy John Altman has spoken about his role in the group.

He revealed, "We were all very different. A real eclectic mix. I was Britt’s personal photographer."

The Real Marigold Hotel

Paul Chuckle and Henry Blofeld try out some yoga. (Picture: BBC)

During their time in India, they also look back on their lives and careers.

Entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne said, "There was plenty time to reflect and the more I reflected the more I realised what a truly wonderful and blessed life I have had and continue to have."

Where was series 4 filmed?

This time, celebrities travel to the coastal Indian city of Puducherry.

It's known for sites such as Promenade Beach, yoga centre Sri Aurobindo Ashram and plenty of gardens and temples.

Previous The Real Marigold Hotel destinations were Jaipur, Kochi and Udaipur.

The Real Marigold Hotel returns to BBC1 on 30th April at 9pm.

Lucy Buglass
Senior Staff Writer

Lucy joined the WhatToWatch.com team in 2021, where she writes series guides for must-watch programmes, reviews and the latest TV news. Originally from Northumberland, she graduated from Oxford Brookes University with a degree in Film Studies and moved to London to begin a career writing about entertainment.


She is a Rotten Tomatoes approved film critic and has a huge passion for cinema. She especially loves horror, thriller and anything crime-related. Her favourite TV programmes include Inside No 9, American Horror Story, Stranger Things and Black Mirror but she is also partial to a quiz show or a bit of Say Yes to the Dress