robert-temple-1 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.

slabihoud 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.

John Raymond Peterson Unlike many, I was not aware of "The Hour" being taunted as a "Mad Men" like series. So I did not look for similarities or make any judgement in that line of assessment. Good for me. It is set in the early fifties and already it grabs you attention with the fact that a BBC news program producer is a woman, Bel Rowley, played by Romola Garai. Indeed, the story revolves around the characters connected directly or indirectly with the BBC. We have a back-door pass sort of speak. I found it interesting that government influence over the broadcasting enterprise was so openly portrayed. The team working on the daily hourly news program are individuals rich with character, all brilliantly exploited to captivate us and keep us interested in the story's development.They convey work ethics of news people, in particular, that of Freddie Lyon, played superbly by Ben Whishaw. Every movie I've seen with journalists as principal roles, always has a more exciting pull. Intrigues intertwine early and the thriller mode kicks in. The storyline or synopsis you may have read will not come close to indicating all the twists and turns this miniseries will go through. There is sex and romance just like in real life of course; no good thriller should be without. As I have come to expect in all movies, period pieces or not, that involve journalists (print, radio or TV), "The Hour" will touch on historical facts and have you ponder a bit, or much more, on what government and powerful people try to get away with. This work by the talented cast certainly shows the sacrifices individuals make as a result of their decisions, good or bad. Who is a spy for the good guys who is for the bad guys, and what's the difference? I highly recommend it for mature audiences, mature in the full sense of the word; if you have the attention span of a video gamer, it will be too much for you to grasp.

saldb Not sure how this was picked up. The pilot episode is very slow and gets interesting only about 3/4 of the way in. Granted maybe us Americans prefer fast action and suspense - The Hour has potential. Main characters are introduced with little exposure to personality they are left as stereotypes in the first episode.The next few episodes explore the characters more and the story archs develop. The show then becomes more interesting. With a lot of editing (maybe 30-45 min episodes) this would succeed on US TV.It's a lot like MadMen on the cover - bunch of mid-20th century people working in a company. However the plots in the story are not developed like Mad Men and really besides the fashion, alcohol, smoking, secretaries there aren't parallels.