The Hour - a very fine piece of work!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

this piece in the Atlantic says it for me ... i am finding The Hour a serious and praiseworthy attempt at the dramatisation of the transitions of the fifties with the sixties waiting around the corner and Romola Garai is an absolute revelation in this ...

[Mr Pee]

Oh sorry, but I must disagree. It's had a huge amount of money thrown at it, but it just doesn't ring true, or engage me. It's all very worthy- and also extremely dull .......and has been shedding viewers at an alarming rate.

[amateur51]

this piece in the Atlantic says it for me ... i am finding The Hour a serious and praiseworthy attempt at the dramatisation of the transitions of the fifties with the sixties waiting around the corner and Romola Garai is an absolute revelation in this ...

To each their own

Ben Wishaw

[eighthobstruction]

Cannot agree at all [have not read link]....cardboard characters, catoon in depth and style....could have been much darker....I think it is really poor [McNulty it certainly ain't the Wire]....good idea for a topic and era mind....Next: surely McMillan PM as Boothby bonks his wife, Labour Party MP's followed by MI5 spooks....

....Thin while trying to be thick would be my judgement re The Hour....

[Norfolk Born]

Can't really help, other than to report that the 1st episode proved so disappointing that I felt not the slightest urge to tune in again the following week.

[hackneyvi]

Cannot agree at all [have not read link]....cardboard characters, catoon in depth and style....could have been much darker....I think it is really poor [McNulty it certainly ain't the Wire]....good idea for a topic and era mind....Next: surely McMillan PM as Boothby bonks his wife, Labour Party MP's followed by MI5 spooks....

....Thin while trying to be thick would be my judgement re The Hour....

I'd caught scenes and then sat down and watched half of an episode (the one when Whishaw interviews Jessica Hines about her late husband). It seemed very ordinary to me, even a little pompous. Slow without the right to be because it lacked interest in either dialogue or situation; there seemed to be little or nothing but predictable spats, portenously solemn stares and foresighted political judgement. Listless, I'd call it. Some scenes seemed to wander to a halt and then the next one wandered to an opening. As a piece of drama it had an unhappy mix of all-star cast where the sole source of illumination on the screen came from the 'star light', none was cast on them either by the script or the direction. Could even have been an improv (or a pastiche, for that matter).

I'm not against TV and have enjoyed it greatly in the past but there's been nothing much on it to keep me long from a book since last winter. All watched over by machines of loving grace was the last thing I watched and that collapsed in a puzzled, conservative heap at the end.

[Mr Pee]

I watched a wonderful documentary on BBC HD last night- it was also on BBC2- about Mallory and Irvine's attempt on Everest in 1924. Fascinating stuff, and stunningly filmed. It was as close as I'll ever get to the summit of Everest! The film began with footage of the discovery of Mallory's body on the mountain in 1999- he lies there still- and then told his and Irvine's story, alongside with that of Conrad Anker, the American mountaineer who found the body, as he attempted to re-create Mallory's route up the North Face. The upshot was that it seems very likely that Mallory and Irvine did reach the summit, nearly three decades before Hillary, but perished as they attempted to descend in failing light.

Rather poignantly, one piece of evidence suggesting that Mallory did reach the top was that he had promised his wife that if he made it, he would leave a photograph of her there. Amongst the belongings on the body when it was found were letters, and various other such items- but no photograph.

A spectacular film, well worth catching on Iplayer or DVD if you missed it. The only blemish was, once again, the Bl***y continuity annoucer yacking over the rather lovely music that accompanied the closing credits. Totally ruined the mood.

[Simon]

Just the sort of thing regret that I miss by not having a TV. But these excellent programmes were few and far between even 5 years ago... and occasionally you can get them via the net.

[Richard Tarleton]

Can't really help, other than to report that the 1st episode proved so disappointing that I felt not the slightest urge to tune in again the following week.

Exactly the same here.

Romola Garai is an absolute revelation

I think she's very good - I thought she was superb in Atonement, indeed I've had my eye on her since I Capture the Castle, but found all the characters here very two dimensional. The (many) trailers have not tempted me to get involved again.

Off to listen to the Prom

[Nick Armstrong]

I couldn't disagree more with Messrs Pee, Eighth&c and others who find this programme dull

Like you, it seems akaCDJ, I've been rivetted by each episode - the performances and production (the lighting!! ) as well as the story drew me in instantly. I was delighted to find my original impression, that it was only 4 episodes long, was wrong. I could watch it for... Hours. Everyone's good, but ammy I agree, Ben Whishaw is magnetic at the centre of it all.

Tremendous stuff and I am setting aside an Hour this evening to watch Episode 5 recorded this week. Big treat

Thanks for the link to the Atlantic article

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

... that's thee and me sorted then Caliban .... the rest can please themselves ...

[aeolium]

Sorry to say that on this occasion I'm with the naysayers, Calum. There is the familiar problem of period adaptations that however carefully the producers pay attention to the costumes and the background, the cast give themselves away as firmly in the 21st century as soon as they open their mouths (and in their interaction). The only things I found convincingly period were the black and white broadcasts on small TVs of Eden and Gaitskell speaking about the Suez crisis.

And so much of the plot is simply unbelievable. Why wasn't Freddie at least interrogated by the police for being at the scene of the crime/suicide of the debutante or for the death of the MI6 character? Why does Clarence allow Freddie to pursue his own private investigations at the time of the Suez crisis and the Hungarian revolution??!!! Something of a luxury on a major weekly news programme, you would have thought.

I'm still watching it, as I want to know how the convoluted plot unravels, and there are some good performances - I like Anton Lesser as Clarence. But I think Romola Garai really needs to get away from period drama to avoid getting typecast. I first saw her in a very good (but little noticed) Tony Garnett series called Attachments - that was not a period drama and she was impressive.

[gurnemanz]

My wife is keen on it and I am going along. Quite a few tiresome elements, as pointed out - plot and characters not always entirely convincing - but enough there to enjoy.

the cast give themselves away as firmly in the 21st century as soon as they open their mouths

I agree with this in principle, but I wouldn't overdo the point. As far as I know Shakespeare was quite happy to have his actors speaking like like contemporary Elizabethans whoever they were portraying.

[aeolium]

I agree with this in principle, but I wouldn't overdo the point. As far as I know Shakespeare was quite happy to have his actors speaking like like contemporary Elizabethans whoever they were portraying.

Maybe, but people are more aware of cultural differences in historical periods than they were then, and nothing about the Elizabethan productions pretended at historical accuracy. Some period dramas have worked very well with almost deliberate anachronisms, such as I Claudius, but that did not make historical verisimilitude one of its key attributes, as The Hour has attempted to do.

I'm not the only one who's commented on the linguistic anachronisms - the scriptwriter has too:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/shes-on-it-scriptwriter-of-the-hour-admits-some-lines-havent-worked-2341651.html

Btw, I think Lix (the Anna Chancellor character) would have made a more interesting (and more plausible) producer than Bel, but that's another story

[muzzer]

This has now appeared on Netflix. Like some above, I was not over impressed back in, erm, 2011. I’ve re-watched, just to check ;). I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it on second viewing. The cast are truly outstanding. It does get a bit scooby gang in the second series but that aside I’ve been reminded of, well, a working environment being fun. Fun that I miss tbh.