Watch The Hour
- TV-14
- 2011
- 2 Seasons
-
8.0 (9,920)
The Hour is a BBC television drama series focusing on the work of a group of journalists during the 1956 Suez Crisis. The two seasons of the show are divided into six hour-long episodes that were produced by Kudos Film & TV for broadcast on the BBC2 network in the U.K.; the second season, which began airing during 2012 was co-produced by the BBC and its sister network BBC America. The first season of the show received a mixed critical reception that improved as the series continued. The series was created and is written by Abi Morgan. The Hour begins with BBC journalist Freddie Lyons, played by Ben Whishaw becoming disillusioned with his life creating newsreels shown before movies in the U.K. in the 1950s. His friend Bel Rowley, played by Romola Galia, is given the job of creating and producing a news program for the BBC called The Hour; Freddie is given the job of heading the domestic news desk, a position he feels is beneath his skills but which he accepts to gain a foothold in television news. Rowley and her boss Clarence appoint Hector Madden as the anchor for the show; Rowley and Madden quickly begin an affair that is ended when she is warned her career is in danger because of Hector. As the series progresses, the worsening situation in the Suez becomes the main focus for most of the news team; because of this, Freddie is left alone to investigate the death of two people, Ruth Elms and Peter Darrell. As the Suez Crisis becomes a global problem, The Hour news teams battle to get information from the government to pass on to their viewers. Freddie's investigation leads him to discover Darrell and Elms were Soviet spies he suspects were killed by the British government; an interview with Elms Father leads to the sacking of Rowley after he denounces the British government live on the air.
