You find me in a really good mood because Tuesday night was the beginning of the new BBC2 series ‘The Hour’.
There are no points for guessing why I’m interested in this. It’s a period of time that I feel great affection for, I’ll watch anything with the faintest whiff of 50’s about it.
It was a good start; love the murder mystery edge to it. The characters of Freddie, Bel and Hector were pretty established by the end of the first episode as you would expect.
I’m a fan of Romola Garai from seeing her in the series ‘The Crimson Petal and the White’ and I think she’s perfectly suited to this kind of role. Bel is obviously career driven and has had to make her mark in a male dominated profession but also has a weakness for a man in a sharp suit and debonair smile.
Dominic West plays Hector Madden, charming, charismatic – a man clearly used to getting what he wants. West slips effortlessly into Hectors designer shoes. He’s not my cup of tea but I can see why Bel likes him.
The supporting cast are great, there’s a whole host of British talent. The usually gorgeous Julian Rhind-Tutt plays a really slimy government official that made my skin crawl. Lix is played by Anna Chancellor (aka Duck face from ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral); she’s the hard-drinking foreign correspondent that cajoles Freddie into coming with her and Bel to the new show.
The standout for me was Freddie. Every time he was on screen he was all I could watch. Ben Whishaw has an amazing face, he’s so magnetic. Freddie practically fizzes when he’s talking about he stories they should be reporting, he’s just on the right side of bitter and who could not love a man with a floppy fringe, tweed suit and braces?
The producers must be rubbing their hands with glee; this show couldn’t have come at a better time. In a moment of pure serendipity the debut of this drama comes at a time when journalism and the extents to which journalists will go in pursuit of a story are at the forefront of the news. I think every viewer gave a knowing smile when Freddie slipped a policeman some money in order to get a look at the cadaver of the political academic Peter Durell. Add in the recent revelation that one of the whistle blowers in the current phone hacking scandal has turned up dead and this series seems to have a resonance above that of usual period drama fare.
Abi Morgan’s script (writer of the upcoming film/Oscar bait ‘The Iron lady’) is a bit uneven. It flips from witty and intriguing to unnecessary plot exposition. I think we’d worked out that Bel kicks ass long before Hector says “You work twice as hard as men, and none of them is half as good as you”. It’s hardly cause for massive annoyance but I’m of the opinion that if you credit your audience with a bit of intelligence (i.e. not signposting the plot points) your audience will appreciate your work all the more.
It looks lovely. The set dressers have done an amazing job, everything, even the scraps of paper on Freddie’s desk, looks like they were lifted from the 50’s. The clothes are also brilliant; the wardrobe department clearly did a hell of a lot of research because it all looks like it could be genuine.
It’s been compared to ‘Mad Men’ and as a fan of that show I’d like to say this isn’t a fair comparison. Not because it’s worse or better than ‘Mad Men’, it’s just very different. ‘The Hour’ is set in 1956 in the UK and centres on the employees of a news show; ‘Mad Men’ is set in America in the 1960’s (season 1 starts in 1960 and the latest season finished in 1965) and follows the exploits of a group of people that work in advertising. It’s different times, different people and a totally different feel. ‘‘The Hour’ is dark and moody and I think it owes more to film noir of the 1940’s and 1950’s than it does the bright shiny colours of ‘Mad Men’.
Also how much pressure do you want to put on a show?!?! ‘Mad Men’ is one of the biggest shows of recent years and ‘The Hour’ is only just starting and comparisons like that are heaping massive expectations on it from the start which isn’t fair.
The first episode of ‘The Hour’ was punchy enough to elicit squeals of excitement from me. It isn’t running at breakneck speed; it seem to be pacing itself quite nicely, starting off slow and building up to a cliff hanger. Can’t wait till next week!
‘The Hour’ is on at 9 o’clock, Tuesday night on BBC2.
Now…
Reasons to be Cheerful
1. Eduardo Saverin has been to the gym! The trailer for ‘The Amazing Spiderman’ has been released and Andrew Garfield has buffed up! I totally love him. ‘The Social Network’ is one of my favourite films of last year, ‘Never Let Me Go’ is one of my favourite films of this year, prior to that I’ve seen him in the Channel 4 dramas ‘Boy A’ and ‘Red Riding’ in both of which he’s just amazing. I did find it a bit of a weird step from those kinds of roles to this which is undeniably Superhero, popcorn movie fare, but variety is the spice of life and I suppose he wants to diversify. I say good luck to him and OMFG check out his arms in that trailer *Rachel goes all jelly knee’d*! Also Emma Stone is my girl crush and she looks gorgeous as a blonde :-)
2. More Superhero movie news, the ‘Batman: Dark Knight Rises’ trailer it out! This is, without a doubt, one of the most anticipated films of 2012. In 2005 Christopher Nolan really showed audiences how good a superhero movie can be with ‘Batman Begins’, 2008’s ‘The Dark Knight’ is the 8th highest grossing film of all time and won a posthumous Oscar for Heath Ledger so understandably the pressure is on for Nolan to wrap up the trilogy in style. This is obviously only a teaser trailer and my god does it tease! A fleeting glimpse of Bane! So excited!
That’s me done for today!
Goodbye till next time :-)
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