Making Time for "The Hour"

Set in the 1956 UK, "The Hour" give us a behind-the-scenes look at the workings of a fictional BBC news magazine show, also titled "The Hour," billed as one of the first programs of its kind. The action centers on three characters: producer Bel Rowley (Romola Garai), fighting to prove herself in a male-dominated profession, her best friend Freddie Lyons (Ben Whishaw), a brilliant reporter with a difficult personality, and Hector Madden (Dominic West), the presenter with all the right connections. We see the intrigues, the politicking, and the fights with the censors, as they strive to push the journalistic envelope. To make things even more interesting, the first series involves a murder investigation and espionage conspiracy, while the second goes after a vice ring and police corruption.

Created by Abi Morgan, who scripted "Shame" and "The Iron Lady," "The Hour" is a top-of-the-line production, with beautiful period settings, compelling subject matter, and all the right talent involved. The first episode meanders a bit, but when the story gets going, it can be difficult to stop watching. I've seen other reviews compare "The Hour" to "Mad Men" because of the similar era and the focus on workplace tensions and sexy extracurricular activities. "The Hour" is smaller in scale, though, only having six episodes in each series and a smaller cast of characters. It really only tackles one major historical event, the Suez Canal crisis and the military aggression that followed. It also has considerably more straightforward storytelling, using a standard detective framework for each year's ongoing investigations. Nowhere to be found are any deeper, moodier meditations on living through the troubled era. Rather, "The Hour" resembles a lively crime serial as much as it resembles a serious social drama.

This isn't a bad thing, at all. "The Hour" may not have the ambitions or the thematic richness of "Mad Men," but it is still a smartly written and extraordinarily well-acted show. It's formula is familiar, but it knows how to do that formula well. Without question, the show's biggest assets are Ben Whishaw and Romola Garai as Lyons and Rowley, whose friendship is the bedrock of the series. Rowley is being given a major opportunity to prove herself, but is doubtful of her abilities, while Lyons is one of those insufferable, self-righteous young idealists who's always right and loves to prove it. They have an affectionate, sibling-like relationship where they argue and banter with each other. It's a lot of fun to just watch them do the walk-and-talk. Underlining the relative lightness of the show's tone, their nicknames for each other are "James" and "Moneypenny."

Dominic West as Hector Madden is positioned as the outsider, who quickly becomes entangled in both their lives when they all find themselves reluctant colleagues. He and Rowley quickly start making eyes at each other, while initially antagonistic encounters with Lyons evolve into something more mutually beneficial. West has the character with the most shades of gray, and the most potential for some in-depth social commentary, but doesn't get the chance to explore Hector's deeper recesses as much as I'd have liked to see. The plot tends to background him in the first season, so he never feels quite on the level of the other two. Still, West makes the most of his chances to shine, and it's good to see him back in front of the camera.

Backing up the trio are a wealth of strong supporting performances - Anton Lesser as the avuncular Head of News, Clarence Fendley, Joshua McGuire and Anna Chancellor as other newsroom contributors, Julian Rhind-Tutt as Angus McCain, an antagonistic government press liaison, Peter Capaldi in a second series role that is a massive spoiler, and Oona Chaplin as Hector's upper-crust wife Marnie. And I want to single out Burn Gorman, who has a small but important part in the first series as suspicious reporter, Thomas Kish. it's one of those performances that is so instantly memorable, I couldn't believe that I had never noticed the actor responsible before - and I've seen Gorman in plenty of other movies and television shows before this.

Sadly "The Hour" was cancelled after only two series and twelve episodes, and ends on a cliffhanger that will never be resolved. It's nowhere near as daring or as cutting-edge as the fictional program it examines, but "The Hour" makes the most of its material, delivering some terrifically tense and exciting hours of television. It's also a pretty easy watch, in spite of its torrents of literate dialogue, so I can happily recommend it to the people who prefer the lighter crime shows like "Sherlock" and "Luther" to the moral murkiness of "Mad Men." On the flip side, if you prefer the character drama of "Mad Men," "The Hour" has a couple of fascinating figures that are worth seeking out.
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