User reviews

When receiving a lengthy series of quality, my usual pace is about two hours a night; with The Hour, I went for three, easily, and was hard put not to stay up past midnight and watch the entire series. This outstanding BBC thriller is many things--conspiracy and spy thriller, mystery, romance, period drama--and certainly much more. It has been exquisitely mounted, with lots of convincing period detail, and is acted by a unified ensemble, laying out numerous vivid characters in a plot that begins confusingly, but soon weaves a seductive plot-line that is not merely a whodunit but also reflects social concerns nations face today, about the power of governments and the behind-the-scenes manipulation of events. Its often funny, brilliantly paced, and is intelligent entertainment

Comparisons with "Madmen" are inevitable but they also run the risk of distracting the viewer from properly appreciating "The Hour" in its own right. For all the obvious similarities between the two shows with their period-piece settings and respective portrayals of entrenched misogyny, this BBC/Kudos production marches resolutely to the beat of its own drum. "The Hour" is gritty and gray. It's temperature is cold. One of its main themes is the examination of conflict in a variety of forms; the deep internal conflict between ardent idealism and soul-numbing compromise or between personal integrity and ruthless ambition; and the dogged pursuit of truth in the face of suppression and censorship. Other classic struggles between opposing dynamics are also explored. These include individualism and conservatism, inspiration and convention, impoverishment and privilege, courage and fear, rational caution and paranoia, democracy and tyranny etc - all of which are set amid the historic backdrop of two salient international military conflicts. The landscape is panoramic and the brush-strokes reach far and wide but the painting remains clearly defined. All the elements are tautly packed into a 360 minute thought-provoking thriller. If comparisons must be drawn, then "Goodnight and Good Luck" might prove to be a helpful suggestion. With its subtle script, insightful direction, solid casting and a stunning performance from Ben Whishaw, "The Hour" is one of the BBC's finest. Congratulations to all involved with this production. Thoroughly recommended.

The Hour is an intriguing new drama, created and written by Abi Morgan, that spans several genres and weaves them together cleverly and effectively. There is espionage, murder and suspense on the one hand; romance on another hand; comedy on yet another hand; and political drama on the final hand. The central emphasis is on the characters, however, of Bel Rowley (producer of The Hour), Hector Madden (its presenter), and one of the best characters of recent years, the funny and confident Freddie Lyon, one of the show's journalists.

The acting is uniformly excellent; Romola Garai ('Atonement'; 'The Crimson Petal and the White') and Ben Whishaw ('Perfume'; 'Criminal Justice I') especially shine as Bel and Freddie. There are other superb performances from the seedy Julian Rhind-Tutt ('Green Wing') and the suave Dominic West ('The Wire'), along with my personal favourite Anna Chancellor ('Four Weddings and a Funeral') as Lix, an acid-tongued feminist in the newsroom.

The story does start off a little slowly, but prepare for a roller-coaster ride later on, particularly in the extremely tense final episode, where the drama is perfectly pitched. The loose ends are nicely tied up, and the conclusion is suitably ambiguous, ready for the second series which has been commissioned.

The only quibble is the sometimes anachronistic dialogue; but one tends not to notice this as everything else is so good.

So, overall this is an intriguing, intelligent drama with plenty of strands, twists and turns, and fantastic acting all round. I await series two eagerly.

Now available on disk from Netflix and streaming on Amazon Prime, this smart, stylish BBC series, set in the mid-50s, really hits its stride by the end of its first season. Sumptuous Bel and geeky Freddie (Romola Garai and Ben Wishaw), escapees from the BBC newsreel floor, are the offscreen talent behind the eponymous news program; Hector (Dominic West) is the hearty, "highly corruptible" frontman. The plot lines are a little over the top at times—Mr. Kish, the palefaced spook who self-destructs when he fails to hit the target, is straight out of the old "Avengers" series (not necessarily a bad thing)—but the interplay among the main characters is beautifully portrayed. Anna Chancellor and Peter Capaldi are great together as a pair of prickly ex-lovers, and Oona Chaplin, at first mainly decorative as Hector's neglected wife, has an amazing scene in which she kicks her latest rival to the curb in the kindest, gentlest way.

The first season is built around the Suez Crisis and the Burgess-Maclean spy scandal, but the political backdrop is pretty much self-explanatory; the second season reverts to more familiar hardboiled themes—bent cops, shady nightclubs, showgirls in jeopardy and a porno racket (innocuous b&w photos in this case)—before getting back to the big stuff, high-level corruption and the nuclear threat. A "behind the scenes" clip on the second DVD focuses on the obsessively detailed production design, which, as with "Mad Men," is a big part of the show's appeal.

The Hour is a great series made from an interesting angle: media in post-War Britain. Since I have a media background, the story line of a BBC news show that is made under influence of the government appeals to me very much.

What I especially like about The Hour are the characters. None of them are either good or bad and their behavior and views seem very realistic. There's no crude division between good or bad which gives the overall story line a layered kind of dynamics: the overall story line as well as the personal drama interested me from the beginning to the end. How I 'grew into' the characters while watching the series reminded me of The Wire. Acting is well done by the way, which pushes the series to a very high level.

This is the first series I saw after seeing the American-made Homeland and it is such a relief to me that the British do not seem to fall for the blunt simplifications of good and bad as portrayed in American drama.

Bravo!

Three times great may stand for the main cast of characters in this wonderful mini series by the BBC about the BBC, well done and professional as it is the house style. It brings you back to the old days of television in the mid-fifties by inviting us the watch the birth of a fictional weekly news magazine and the ups and downs of three journalists. One is a dynamic producer, trying hard to prove to herself and all others that she is worth the job, another a brilliant but difficult to work with intellectual lower class journalist, and finally a charming but eager to please and womanizing moderator. These three are not only connected through their work but simultaneously by friendship, love and hate. Together they get themselves into deep trouble and are bound to rely on each other when things get worse. The story draws us into a forgotten world of secrets, espionage and crisis, all through the eyes of the fifties! Both seasons are excellently done, rich of details and exciting facts.

Review of Series One:

This decent BBC drama miniseries depicts the lives and loves of three journalists working for the corporation during the 1950s. The series gets off to a dodgy start with the first couple of episodes, mainly because the main characters are all so damn cold. It then gets a lot better as we get to know those involved, and by the end it's become a real blast.

Romola Garai's Bel is really the centrepiece of the whole production, the producer who attempts to hold it all together while making some huge mistakes along the way. Ben Whishaw's Freddie is a bit of an oddball at first, but his deepening involvement with the series' conspiracy undertones makes him a character to watch and, come the finale, he's the most interesting by far. Dominic West is faultless, as he has been in everything I've seen him in.

The attention to detail is impeccable, and I particularly enjoyed the way that world-shaping events have a key influence on the plotting. There's romance, drama, murder and humour in spades here, along with strong performances from both veterans (Anna Chancellor, Juliet Stevenson, Tim Pigott-Smith) and relative newcomers (Burn Gorman and Julian Rhind-Tutt are both particularly good).

There are occasional faults – the unravelling of the conspiracy storyline is over-complicated and muddled – but these can be easily forgiven. Altogether a compelling piece of literate TV drama, and I'm overjoyed to hear a second series has been commissioned.

Review of Series Two:

Series two of THE HOUR turns out to be an improvement on the first series, which was great to begin with: the performances are more natural, the storyline more tightly focused, and the sense of danger and impending deadlines far more pronounced.

The series boasts impeccable production designs, intriguingly interwoven plotting and some excellent performances. In this series, Hector is really put through the wringer, allowing the audience some more of Dominic West's finely mannered acting; Oona Chaplin, playing Hector's wife, also comes into her own as a fully developed, sympathetic character for the first time.

There are casualties: Romola Garai is utilised less well here, although Ben Whishaw is as charming as ever. The problem is that the focus is away from Garai, unlike in the first series, and she's given little to do. Everyone else seems to have deeper, stronger character stuff, whereas her screen time is limited to some corny romance that never goes anywhere.

There are missteps, too, not least Abi Morgan's attempt to give ALL of the main characters some emotional storyline, even the nerdy bespectacled comic relief guy. There's just not room for it, and bringing in a typically hissy Peter Capaldi doesn't work either; his sub-plot with Anna Chancellor just left me cold, getting in the way of the REAL story.

Still, these flaws aren't enough to ruin the enjoyment of this series, which just seems to get better and better with each episode. As with series one, it culminates in a remarkably tense and gripping final episode that leaves me hoping for third outing.

Behind the Machinations of BBC: A Debut Series from the Brits, August 18, 2011 By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (REAL NAME) This review is from: Hour (DVD) Summer seems to be test time for new series for the television audience and so far the shows that are coming out of Britain look the most promising. First we had the abbreviated 3 episode appetizer ZEN which in its short run got progressively more interesting and promising and now come THE HOUR from BBC America. The series just debuted in what appeared to be prolonged trailer for the long series that hopefully will continue: the title refers to a television news broadcast that is created before our eyes, the final scenes being a toast to this new venture acting as an overture to what is to come.

Overtures to operas usually introduce themes that will appear in the opera that follows once the curtain opens and that is how THE HOUR comes across. This is a time piece set in the 1950s when Cold War-era England was awash in the news of the Suez crisis, one of Britain's sharpest intimations of loss, with a more intimate look at sex, ambition and espionage in the workplace along with the world wide speculation of JFK as a vice presidential candidate in the US. It's a time of unsettling change, except at the BBC, where even driven reporters are assigned to do feel-good newsreels about débutante balls and royal visits. The series opener, written by Bafta Award-winning Abi Morgan, takes us behind the scenes of the launch of a topical news program in London 1956, and introduces a highly competitive, sharp-witted and passionate love triangle at the heart of the series through the lives of enigmatic producer Bel Rowley (Romola Garai) and her rivals, journalist Freddie Lyon (Ben Wishaw) and anchorman Hector Madden (Dominic West): we will begin to see the decade on the threshold of change - from the ruthless sexual politics behind the polite social façade of the Fifties to the revelations that redefined the world for a new generation. Aside from the behind the scenes views and devious workings of the BBC we also see the beginning of a crime element in which the victim is touted as being part of a robbery while the ever-suspicious and career climbing Freddie sees it as a murder to be investigated. There are 1950s reminders of Debutante Balls, the universal cigarette smoking habits, the 'gentlemen only clubs' where women are not allowed (secondary citizens, you know!), and all the clothes and hats that reek of the 50s.

The cast is rich in fine British actors (Juliet Stevenson and Tim Pigott-Smith appear briefly in roles that will likely be expanded, Anna Chancellor is the acid tongued foreign correspondent, Burn Gorman is the suspicious, hatted man, etc), but if were only Ben Wishaw and Romola Garai and Domenic West every week the show would sail. There is a lot of style and sophistication and just the right amount of British intrigue and humor that almost sure that this series will fly.

Grady Harp

This drama has been compared to the American series "Mad Men", and I regret to say that the comparison is justified. The comparison rests in the first place on the "period" setting; but the deeper and more damaging resemblance is in the fact that both dramas are ultimately soap operas.

This is less obvious with "The Hour", which is set up as a mystery-thriller complete in six episodes rather than a multi-series workplace drama. However, the mystery-thriller plot turns out to be a tawdry, sadly vestigial side-show. The writer could scarcely be bothered to make it, and the associated mayhem, realistic and plausible. What is left is an office romance drama which is scarcely more realistic. In a nutshell, the dialogue toys with serious issues that turn out to be just a patina on a melodrama.

These defects are the more glaring because the big screen has recently given us a superb example of a "period" thriller in "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy." But that of course is based on a novel that was, when it was written, a contemporary drama.

One is left, then, with the period setting. Here too, one's efforts to suspend disbelief are constantly challenged. Romola Garai appears in a succession of costumes that seem more calculated to showcase her figure than to approximate mid-1950s workplace attire. And her character would not have asked a question (episode 1) about "Prime Minister Eden" but about "the Prime Minister", or "Sir Anthony".

More damagingly, the setting is inappropriately specific. "Mad Men" is set in an advertising agency, one of many that existed in that time and place. It is patched into historical events - events that actually happened. "The Hour" is a portrayal of an event - a BBC TV programme - that did not happen. It is a weakly realized fantasy.

Why 6 stars, then? Mainly because of the cast. Juliet Stevenson shines in any company; Garai is reliably excellent; but I particularly enjoyed Oona Chaplin's performance as an insecure wife. Either her part was better written than the rest, or she made it seem so.

The men are OK, and Anton Lesser is something more.

THE HOUR is a decent 2-hour movie crammed into a 6-hour miniseries.

It's about a ground-breaking BBC news show in 1956, in which the daring, progressive news team dares to face down the government and its undercover minions! Doesn't this sound like a thousand other BBC plots: government=bad, journalists=good! Of course, the bad government is carrying on a bad war, and covering it up with evil spies! I wonder if we're supposed to draw any comparisons with more recent history. Hmm!

Some people compare this with MAD MEN, seemingly for the sole reason that it's set in the 1950s. For me, it's like a bad British remake of BROADCAST NEWS with a spy plot grafted on. By the last episode, it's easy to forget all the details of the setup, although I must say the writer did a decent job of explaining the whole plot (something the Beeb often forgets to do). The main character is an annoying little git who looks like Frank Sinatra's famous mug shot photo. The rest of the cast is more tolerable, including a tightly-wound Anton Lesser, the versatile Julian Rhind-Tutt in a semi-tough guy role (hard to take seriously with those dorky 50s glasses), and Burn Gorman, sinister as usual with his mouth like a badly-healed scar.

Having worked in broadcasting for many years, I enjoyed the behind-the-scenes aspect of the plot. The spy subplot needed LOTS of tightening, but even so the series was worth a watch.

Fast moving, very well written show about spies and TV Broadcasting in 50's Britain. The cast is uniformly superlative both as individuals and collectively (sorry about the 'socialist' term - but it is 50's Britain)... sorry, 'Ensemble' is the word. All great down to the smallest parts. Excellent script, good period atmosphere, lighting, photography, set design. There's even some James Bond references which I think is premature but by 1956 Fleming had published three books.

I've never seen Mad Men so I can't relate to the comparisons and I have yet to see Series 2. I watched this on DVD (remember those?) in two 150 minute chunks and both parts held interest from start to finish. Outstanding.

I didn't think The Hour was perfect, but overall for me it was very good and intriguing. The Hour does have a slightly slow start, but the pace soon picks up just in time for the tense finale, and I personally loved how ambiguous the ending was. I do also agree that some of the dialogue is rather anachronistic, however in the final episode especially it has several intense and intelligent moments. For any problems The Hour has, it does have potential to grow and there are many things to redeem it. The story is intriguing and full of twists and turns that are brought in and resolved nicely without the drama feeling rushed. The production values are wonderful, right down from the setting, to the photography, to the lighting to the fashions. The music is memorable and not over-bearing or generic like some programmes this year. The characters are interesting with like the series potential to grow. The acting is very good too, especially from Ben Whishaw and Romola Garai, but Julian Rhind-Tutt, Juliet Stevenson, Tim Piggott-Smith and especially Anna Chancellor also make a positive impression. Overall, while imperfect and leaves room for growth, I thought The Hours was very good on the whole. 9/10 Bethany Cox

This spectacularly brilliant drama series is Britain's answer to America's MAD MEN and Denmark's BORGEN. It is every bit within their league. Set in 1956 and 1957 at the BBC (with contemporary footage of the Suez Crisis and a speech to camera delivered by Anthony Eden himself), it features searingly powerful performances, intrigue, melodrama, mystery, pathos, comic moments, and profound psychological studies of the characters. It was written ('created') by Abi Morgan, who wrote the screenplay for BRICK LANE (2007, see my review), one of the finest British independent films in years. I suppose I must have met her at the private screening of that, but do not recall her personally, as I was too busy being charmed by the alluring Monica Ali who wrote the novel. Morgan has written the film SUFFRAGETTE (where Meryl Streep plays Emmeline Pankhurst), directed by the same Sarah Gavron who directed BRICK LANE, which many of us are eagerly looking forward to in 2015. It features the amazing Romola Garai and Ben Whishaw, who are both in THE HOUR, so it looks like key talent are sticking together and forming a much-to-be-welcomed old pals' club. Maybe that will result in a lot of first-rate films and series, if they bundle up their enthusiasms and push hard as a team. It reminds me of the talent cluster which surrounds the American director Amy Heckerling (see my review of CLUELESS, 1995, where I discuss that). In THE HOUR, the central performance which makes the entire series compulsive viewing is that by Romola Garai. She has so many emotional shades no spectrum analysis could ever classify them. Astronomers study spectra to see what stars are made of. But this star is made of everything. You want hydrogen? She's got hydrogen. You want helium? She's got that too. Rare earth elements, heavy metals, inert gases, mercury, iron, radioactive elements, everything is there. Just turn on Romola Garai and it all spews out as a cosmic jet, different each time, always perfectly tuned to requirements. And such big soft eyes alternating between insecurity and determination! Such female vulnerability mixed with such inflexible will! What a woman! But let us not forget Dominic West, whose masterful performance as a nice guy who just cannot control his impulses has plenty of shades of subtlety as well. We don't know whether to cuddle him or kick him, and neither does Romola Garai or anyone else for that matter. What a masterful performance of the ambiguities of a shifting, rootless personality! And then there is Ben Whishaw, skinny and earnest, heroic in his idealism but hopeless in declaring his love, also perfectly portrayed. Anna Chancellor is in a strong supporting role and gives what it probably the finest performance of her career. Once again, we find more shades than exist on any palette, if I may drag in one more metaphor. She comes from a Somerset gentry family named Windsor Clive, whose nearest neighbours are badgers and crows, but somehow Anna has acquired an encyclopaedic understanding of human nature in between long, thoughtful country walks in the hills, and she draws on emotions which some people do not even have, in her well-rounded portrayal here of a woman posing as a hard-bitten 'woman who has seen it all' but who is tormented by the loss of her child which no one knows she had. Everything about this series is so subtle, the sets and costumes and perfect, the atmosphere is all there. Anton Lesser and Peter Capaldi are unforgettable in their major roles also (Lesser in Season One and Capaldi in Season Two). Julian Rhind-Tutt oozes such powerful poison and menace that he provides one of the best portraits of a sinister Whitehall mandarin ever filmed. And Oona Chaplin, what a surprise! There are so many grandchildren of Charlie Chaplin popping up with talent. This one is Geraldine's daughter. I must say I was previously unaware of her, but she is so exquisitely talented that now she will be giving her first cousins James and Aurélia Thierrée a run for their money as most talented Charlie grandchild. In THE HOUR, so much talent pours out of Oona that it could be called Oona's Ooze, which if other actors are not careful can easily engulf them as she steals all the scenes. Although she was in an episode of SHERLOCK (2010, see my review), I somehow missed her in all the excitement. This time no one can miss her. So altogether, this is just one big bag of thrill, and a triumph of television drama. What, no third season? Or fourth? Or fifth? Has the BBC simply no staying-power? More please.

My wife and I have only just come across The Hour. We considered the acting excellent. The story was sequential, absorbing and compelling.

I was born and raised in the U.K. I was 16 years old in 1956; the year of Suez and the Hungarian uprising. I remember them well. Those events as depicted in the series relate well to the memories I have of those times. Also, in contrast to some anonymous comments, the day to day personal issues and interactions are compatible with my own memories of those times; the only possible exception being the amount of alcohol consumed by both sexes at the BBC.

The main point of the series for me however is that it depicts how the issues of today would have been exposed had they occurred in those days; but not today. Today such exposures are either not current or are smothered under the guise of the public good and safety. It is not surprising that the series was not continued. Indeed it is surprising that it was shown at all, by the BBC.

Barry Stanley

Ironic that the series about the BBC is in fact produced by the BBC. Because it is the BBC producing it, the aesthetic and production values are every bit as good as an award winning feature film would be. The cast deliver first rate acting; every one of them, which is rare. The script will intrigue you , you will be thinking you missed something but you haven't. Some of the writing falls toward the melodramatic , some of the romance and the minor characters. Except for the script, which is good overall, this series would be an eight or nine star rating; much better than so many I have seen.

Too bad it didn't continue....cliffhanger ending, but unsatisfying. It had great possibilities to be be renewed.

Very well written & the acting was brilliant!

I just watched the first episode of the Hour on BBC. It was better than I thought it would be.

I had heard it was supposed to be a lot like Mad Men, or at least very similar. There are a lot of similarities, and in the first episode I think they overdid it at times the fact that it is 1950 where gender roles are quite specific. Apart from that it is not that much like Mad Men at all. This is not so much a show where men are the main characters and it is their work life and how they have to use their strong character to get ahead in a difficult business.

In the Hour it seems to be more about a journalist's life at the time, no matter if you are a man or a woman. Although gender roles will play a part, it is not necessarily the core of the show like in Mad Men. It is not as glamours either.

What I really like about the Hour that there is also a mystery part to it, almost like a police show. In the beginning of the pilot we are introduced to a murder. The police are calling it a robbery, but one of the journalists finds out there are more to the story. The episode then switches between finding out the truth, at the same time as we learn about the life of journalists in the BBC, and how men and women work together to make a new, current affairs show that covers important moments in history. I'm sure historic moments will be highlighted in the show as well.

So a mixture between Mad Men and a police mystery (that doesn't necessarily get solved in every episode).

So so far, very good.

Wow! This reminds us that TV-Series can be serious, high quality undertakings. It was pure joy to watch both seasons of this series and left me wanting for more.

Even though in it's essence this is, simply put, pure escapist entertainment, it is so well done that it transcends the stereotypes and becomes something much more. Similarly to "Fleming (2014)" which I reviewed some time ago, almost everything in this production is very well done, the Direction, the script, the performances, set decoration, costumes, camera, etc. Yet another wonderful production of the BBC (about the BBC, curiously enough), one of many in a long-standing tradition of excellence.

Such a gripping storyline and beautifully acted! I wish there were more episodes!!!