by Helen Langdon
The annals of TV history abound with shows that were cancelled before their time, when the stories the series had to tell had yet to run out, leaving loyal viewers without a sense of closure. However, it’s rare that those shows are themselves about TV series trying not to get cancelled. Which is why it’s so heartbreaking that The Hour was cancelled.
The annals of TV history abound with shows that were cancelled before their time, when the stories the series had to tell had yet to run out, leaving loyal viewers without a sense of closure. However, it’s rare that those shows are themselves about TV series trying not to get cancelled. Which is why it’s so heartbreaking that The Hour was cancelled.
The Hour’s first season was set in 1956, when television was struggling to establish itself as a medium. Set in the early days of the BBC’s televisual output, The Hour focussed on the titular news programme. Amid covering the Suez Crisis and other important news stories, the characters uncovered a Communist spy ring and government cover-ups. In the second season, The Hour delved into the murky underworld of vice and police corruption. Sorry, doesn’t that sound exciting enough? Want some believable and interesting characters? The Hour also delivered them.
The characters were well-written enough that even in the hands of a lesser cast, they’d have been fun to watch. With this cast? Some of the best British talent currently working? If you wanted to look away from their captivating performances you were a fool. Ben Whishaw was Freddie, a sharp, intelligent, highly driven journalist who’d stop at nothing to get to the truth. It was a brilliant role for an actor so often typecast as fey young men, allowing him to really show how quick he can be. Then there was Dominic West in his award-winning role as past-his-prime Hector, kind of a “Don Draper without the pseudonym” character.
But enough about the men. There are plenty of great male characters with intriguing character arcs out there on television. Where The Hour really excelled was with its women. The main three protagonists were rounded out by Romola Garai as producer Bel, who was neither a “Strong Woman”, all shouting and being more masculine than the men to prove her worth, nor an overly emotional caricature of a woman. Instead, Bel’s just believable, a career woman who doesn’t quite have it all together, but is damn good at her job, and who has sex because she wants to. Then there’s Anna Chancellor’s Lix, the foreign news journalist and a wry voice of reason in Bel’s ear. And as for Oona Chaplin as Marnie... She’s amazing to watch as she goes from a conventional housewife, putting up with her husband’s affairs, to stepping out of his shadow and making a career for herself.
But enough about the men. There are plenty of great male characters with intriguing character arcs out there on television. Where The Hour really excelled was with its women. The main three protagonists were rounded out by Romola Garai as producer Bel, who was neither a “Strong Woman”, all shouting and being more masculine than the men to prove her worth, nor an overly emotional caricature of a woman. Instead, Bel’s just believable, a career woman who doesn’t quite have it all together, but is damn good at her job, and who has sex because she wants to. Then there’s Anna Chancellor’s Lix, the foreign news journalist and a wry voice of reason in Bel’s ear. And as for Oona Chaplin as Marnie... She’s amazing to watch as she goes from a conventional housewife, putting up with her husband’s affairs, to stepping out of his shadow and making a career for herself.
So, why isn’t this show still on the air? Why hasn’t it received the same kind of rave reviews, critical acclaim and massive fanbase as other British dramas of the same generation? Well, while Abi Morgan’s scripts won awards, some audiences were put off by the anachronisms and slightly slow pace of the first season. The Hour divided critics, with most positive feedback coming from America, while British reviewers tended to disdain it. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the ratings weren’t high enough for the BBC to renew it for a third season. Which might have been fine if the story had come to a natural conclusion, but instead viewers were left with the sight of a dying Freddie, and will never know if he lived or died.
So, you should find and watch The Hour if you want to see some beautiful looking cinematography evoking the glamorous side of the decade of rationing. Watch The Hour if you want to have your heart ripped in two by Peter Capaldi’s acting (it would spoil it to talk about exactly why, but it’s probably the best bit of work Capaldi’s ever done, wonderfully understated and all the more devastating for it). And watch The Hour if you’re willing to imagine what might have been, if the series had been allowed another season to expand its stories, deal with the social upheaval of the late 1950s and answer the question of whether or not Freddie survived.
So, you should find and watch The Hour if you want to see some beautiful looking cinematography evoking the glamorous side of the decade of rationing. Watch The Hour if you want to have your heart ripped in two by Peter Capaldi’s acting (it would spoil it to talk about exactly why, but it’s probably the best bit of work Capaldi’s ever done, wonderfully understated and all the more devastating for it). And watch The Hour if you’re willing to imagine what might have been, if the series had been allowed another season to expand its stories, deal with the social upheaval of the late 1950s and answer the question of whether or not Freddie survived.
RSS Feed
