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hestia8Oh gosh, what to say about The Hour? Well, it’s got Romola Garai, Ben Whishaw, Dominic West, Anna Chancellor, Burn Gorman, Jessica Hynes and about a bajillion other people.
It’s got interesting characters and complex relationships, it’s got funky names (Lix Storm, Clarence Fendley, Marnie Madden), it has intrigue and mystery and at least one ‘did they just say that? OMG’ moment per episode. It is, of course, set in the 1950s, but is not actually the British Mad Men. Honest.
(I have never watched Mad Men but people who have watched it seem quite clear on that last point)
The script is delightful; eventually I’ll just make a quotes post, I think (I would do it now but iplayer is being a bastard).
Oh, and it has a gorgeous title sequence.
So far four episodes of six have aired, and the episodes so far are on iPlayer.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012rfwv/The_Hour_Episode_1/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012xyz7/The_Hour_Episode_2/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0133jn4/The_Hour_Episode_3/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b013c8hj/The_Hour_Episode_4/
Under the cut are spoilery comments (up to episode 4), observations and rambling.
1. Somehow Hector, despite being smug, a bit of a git, unfaithful to his wife and coasting on his charm and privilege, is my favourite. It’s bloody annoying, actually, but I like how he’s got interested in things because of being brought onto the show. And at the moment, despite other characters saying he’s ambitious, he seems to be more concerned with doing a good job. I am a bit worried that this is going to change, however (I am now wondering if he might be getting influenced to be underhanded with his ambition, because that’s what people keep telling him he is).
2. LIX. Lix ought to be the main character of this thing, as she is fucking awesome. She is the smartest and the funniest and THE BEST at her job (foreign correspondent), and while Anna Chancellor is doing a great great job within the ensemble cast, I would happily watch the Lix Storm show.
3. Freddie needs to get less naïve, now. Dude’s got involved in some sort of MI6 conspiracy, and he just keeps going round telling people exactly what he does and doesn’t know. In another show (yes, alright, Spooks, but plenty of others too), he’d totally be dead by now.
4. I am not terribly interested in Bel/Hector, but I am really rather taken with the possibilities of Bel/Freddie (have come to the conclusion that Bel knows how Freddie feels about her but doesn’t return his feelings), Freddie/Hector, or indeed Bel/Freddie/Hector.
5. Seriously, watch it for Anna Chancellor though, she’s so great.
6. There are spies. Loads of the bloody things right now. It is, amazingly and once again, all about THE RUSSIANS. Somehow THE RUSSIANS are involved with everything ever. At least this time it's historically appropriate...
7. Bel is, unfortunately, not doing too well out of the character development. It’s a shame, as she’s clearly intelligent, self-possessed and the kind of person who can get a whole new TV show up and running with herself as producer in the 1950s. But still, what we have at the moment is a woman who lets her best friend go around doing whatever he likes instead of fucking working, and who is having an affair with a married colleague. There’s a whole lot more than that going on, but it’s her main plotline :/
8. Someone, we know at the end of episode 4, is a mole for THE RUSSIANS. Possibilities right now look like Lix (foreign correspondent, experienced), Hector (right age and socio-economic group for the Cambridge Spies, which could be a clue, also ambition, and they tried to recruit him, hahaha), and Clarence (brought up the mole, possibly as cover?)
9. It is possible that everything is connected, or nothing is and it’s all a bunch of red herrings.
10. Also, Bel and Hector are SO USELESS at keeping their affair secret. It is hilarious.
11. The man from the government – Angus McCain – is a complete bastard, excellently played by Julian Rhind-Tutt.
12. The whole Bel/Freddie/Hector triangle is deliciously tragic and is all going to end in tears.
It’s got interesting characters and complex relationships, it’s got funky names (Lix Storm, Clarence Fendley, Marnie Madden), it has intrigue and mystery and at least one ‘did they just say that? OMG’ moment per episode. It is, of course, set in the 1950s, but is not actually the British Mad Men. Honest.
(I have never watched Mad Men but people who have watched it seem quite clear on that last point)
The script is delightful; eventually I’ll just make a quotes post, I think (I would do it now but iplayer is being a bastard).
Oh, and it has a gorgeous title sequence.
So far four episodes of six have aired, and the episodes so far are on iPlayer.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012rfwv/The_Hour_Episode_1/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012xyz7/The_Hour_Episode_2/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0133jn4/The_Hour_Episode_3/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b013c8hj/The_Hour_Episode_4/
Under the cut are spoilery comments (up to episode 4), observations and rambling.
1. Somehow Hector, despite being smug, a bit of a git, unfaithful to his wife and coasting on his charm and privilege, is my favourite. It’s bloody annoying, actually, but I like how he’s got interested in things because of being brought onto the show. And at the moment, despite other characters saying he’s ambitious, he seems to be more concerned with doing a good job. I am a bit worried that this is going to change, however (I am now wondering if he might be getting influenced to be underhanded with his ambition, because that’s what people keep telling him he is).
2. LIX. Lix ought to be the main character of this thing, as she is fucking awesome. She is the smartest and the funniest and THE BEST at her job (foreign correspondent), and while Anna Chancellor is doing a great great job within the ensemble cast, I would happily watch the Lix Storm show.
3. Freddie needs to get less naïve, now. Dude’s got involved in some sort of MI6 conspiracy, and he just keeps going round telling people exactly what he does and doesn’t know. In another show (yes, alright, Spooks, but plenty of others too), he’d totally be dead by now.
4. I am not terribly interested in Bel/Hector, but I am really rather taken with the possibilities of Bel/Freddie (have come to the conclusion that Bel knows how Freddie feels about her but doesn’t return his feelings), Freddie/Hector, or indeed Bel/Freddie/Hector.
5. Seriously, watch it for Anna Chancellor though, she’s so great.
6. There are spies. Loads of the bloody things right now. It is, amazingly and once again, all about THE RUSSIANS. Somehow THE RUSSIANS are involved with everything ever. At least this time it's historically appropriate...
7. Bel is, unfortunately, not doing too well out of the character development. It’s a shame, as she’s clearly intelligent, self-possessed and the kind of person who can get a whole new TV show up and running with herself as producer in the 1950s. But still, what we have at the moment is a woman who lets her best friend go around doing whatever he likes instead of fucking working, and who is having an affair with a married colleague. There’s a whole lot more than that going on, but it’s her main plotline :/
8. Someone, we know at the end of episode 4, is a mole for THE RUSSIANS. Possibilities right now look like Lix (foreign correspondent, experienced), Hector (right age and socio-economic group for the Cambridge Spies, which could be a clue, also ambition, and they tried to recruit him, hahaha), and Clarence (brought up the mole, possibly as cover?)
9. It is possible that everything is connected, or nothing is and it’s all a bunch of red herrings.
10. Also, Bel and Hector are SO USELESS at keeping their affair secret. It is hilarious.
11. The man from the government – Angus McCain – is a complete bastard, excellently played by Julian Rhind-Tutt.
12. The whole Bel/Freddie/Hector triangle is deliciously tragic and is all going to end in tears.
