Burgh Island is closely linked to Agatha Christie, as it served as the inspirational setting for Soldier Island (And Then There Were None) and for the setting of the Hercule Poirot mystery Evil Under the Sun. The hotel, with its Art Deco styling, was also a bolt hole in the 1930s for some of London’s rich and famous, including Noël Coward. The 2002 TV adaptation of Evil Under The Sun used the island as a filming location. In 1994 an episode of the television series Lovejoy was set and filmed on the island, entitled Somewhere – Over the Rainbow.
The island was also the location for GMTV’s Inch-loss Island slimming feature in 2008, as it was for the original series in 2001. The climactic scene of the 1965 British film Catch Us If You Can (featuring The Dave Clark Five) takes place at the island.
In the 1890s, the music hall star George H. Chirgwin built a prefabricated wooden house on the island, which was used by guests for weekend parties. The island was sold in 1927 to the filmmaker Archibald Nettlefold of Nettlefold Studios, the heir to the Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds engineering firm, who built a more substantial hotel in the Art Deco style, which became a popular destination in the 1930s. Additions were made through the 1930s, including a room created from the captain’s cabin of the warship HMS Ganges (1821). The hotel is now a Grade II Listed Building.
During World War II, the hotel was used as a recovery centre for wounded RAF personnel. The top two floors of the hotel were damaged by a bomb during the conflict. Despite being repaired, it suffered a period of post war decline after being converted to self-catering apartment accommodation. The hotel was restored during the early nineties by Tony and Beatrice Porter.