bluegoldhighlander
I sincerely hope this show gets another season as I really enjoyed it's debut. The Hour was a real "don't miss" for me with it's mixture of suspense, drama, romance and occasionally a laugh. *Caution, spoilers.* The show's setting in such a fascinating political time added to it's appeal, and coupled with a subtle exposure of the abuses of power as demonstrated by Britain's MI6 made for a very intriguing mixture.I enjoy British TV and film, as it seems to rely less on slapstick, sex, toilet humour and car chases. This is an intelligent series that made me want to refresh my memory on the history of the era, with Suez, the Hungarian Uprising and British spy scandals.I thought the entire cast did a great job, with special nods for: * Ben Whishaw's nervous intellectual * Romola Garai's professional woman trying to walk the line between career and personal life * Anton Lesser's subtly menacing manager * Dominic West's upper class, prep school type working to be accepted as a part of the mostly working class teamI thought the show demonstrated a skillful blending of personal interest with political events. And the tone and scene was very well set, with the BBC's offices slightly darkened atmosphere and wonderful period feel.Applause, and please give us more.
dean-556
I so wanted to like this show that I watched the whole first series... I love Madmen and wanted to give this time to develop into something similar,another richly subtle and voyeuristic view into a begone era.What I got was someone's a 21st Century wish what they would have liked the 50's to have been. Chauvinism-lite that let's our talented and plucky girl get everything she wants accept an affair. Racism that is challenged with no apparent consequences, just do the story and problem solved. People lighting up in studio like the 50's while others go outside to have a smoke like modern second-hand pariahs. I waited patiently for this to take off, for the conspiracy to make sense. Figuring there is some missing clue that will bring this all together. Then the climax into some hazy non-revelation. They tried so hard to make the government the villain even when the characters or their motives make no sense. She's being targeted for recruitment by the Soviets and then suddenly she's British intelligence who kill her because she can't keep secrets. What made her so recruit- able in the first. Meanwhile the completely invisible soviet spies finally appear as the tortured intellectual souls that the left (and I assume the creators of this show) know them to be. Which would explain the revisionist of history casts Britain as the violator of international law and not Nasser whose nationalization of the canal is just delivering the needed comeuppance to the arrogant colonial superpower. I assume this is the first and last season.
Francis Hogan
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.
LCShackley
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.
AD
