Calling time on 'The Hour'

Hello Everyone :-)

I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve posted on here but Cyprus was calling me and I had to go. But now I’m back and I’ve been catching up on the telly I’ve missed over the last two weeks.

Today I’ll be casting an eye over the last three episodes of ‘The Hour’

We find ‘The Hour’ in episode 4 after the self inflicted demise of Thomas Gish. Freddie visits Mr Gish’s widow Jane (played by Jessica Hynes) so he can get some answers about the relationship between Mr Gish, Peter Durell and Ruth Elmes. After visiting Jane Freddie realises that he’s being followed by a sinister black car and confides in Executive Producer Clarence. Meanwhile things are getting more and more heated between Bel and Hector and they eventually take their relationship to the point of no return.

I bloody love Jessica Hynes (nee Stephenson). She’s been in just about everything I think is good, Spaced, Doctor Who (possibly the most heartbreaking Dr Who double bill ever ‘Human Nature’ and ‘The Family of Blood’), Shaun of the Dead and now this. She’s not in it for long but she’s great, Jane is a woman that’s had to deal with having a husband that kills people for a living and has the stiff upper lip to show for it.

As always Mr Lyon held my attention like no one else. I’m going to have to buy the box set when it comes out because I don’t think I can go without my weekly Freddie fix.

The penultimate episode in the series sees word getting out about Bel and Hector’s affair and in the wider world there are riots on the street as the public say they won’t take part if war is wages against Egypt in the Suez crisis.

It’s all gathering speed at this point and I think the writers deal with the shift up in gear rather well. Freddie puts aside his Ruth Elmes investigation so he can do what he does best, go out, get in amongst the riots and report from the heart of the story. Also the relationship between Hector and Freddie gets more and more genial, especially when Hector starts helping Freddie with his investigations.

The series finale turned everything up to 11. Freddie’s digging in the Ruth Elmes case went to new, more dangerous heights and Bel was given an ultimatum by Clarence to end her affair with Hector or face the consequences. Add to that Bel’s decision to run a controversial sketch about the Suez crisis and the whole episode was so anxiety laden my shoulders actually tensed up.

They pack a lot into the last three episodes, the revelations are eked out over the three but it did seem like a bit of a race to the finish. The discovery of what the ‘Brightstone’ is, the nature of Ruth Elmes and Adam Le Ray’s relationship or more to the point the relationship between Angus McCain and Adam Le Ray.  The ultimate twist has been discussed in my house since over the past week, my Dad says he feels let down because it wasn’t done in a massive way and he wanted the finale to pack a punch. My argument is that the whole series has been so slow burning, if you threw in a mad, loud final twist it would be out of place with the rest of the series. I personally thought the ending worked but that’s a matter of taste, I just hope that for those that didn’t enjoy it, the ending didn’t detract from what was otherwise 6 hours of excellent television.

I’ve spoke a lot about Ben Whishaw, possibly to the point of tedium and I still maintain that he is brilliant but he’s not the only brilliant one in the cast. Romola Garai is great as Bel, I’ve really enjoyed her. You can tell that she’s a bit of a feminist because she’s really made Bel someone for girls to look up to, a woman that really can make it on her own in an industry that was at the time, dominated by men. Also the relationship between Bel and Freddie is totally believable, they’re a mix of old married couple and best friends with one having unrequited feelings about the other.

A special mention must go to Julian Rhind-Tutt. I am a big fan of the Channel 4 comedy ‘Green Wing’ in which Mr Rhind-Tutt plays Mac who is gorgeous in every way and has meant that my default reaction to anything he does is just to love him. The reason I say this is because this series has bucked that trend. In Angus McCain, Julian Rhind-Tutt has created a character that is just about the creepiest, slimiest weasel of a character that I’ve ever seen. He made me feel queasy when ever he was on screen which is a massive achievement considering prior to watching this I thought he was just about the loveliest thing going.

Lovely supporting performances from Oona Chaplin as Marnie Madden, Juliet Stevenson and Tim Pigott-Smith as Lord and Lady Elmes, Anna Chancellor as Lix and Anton Lesser as Clarence Fendley who was more present in the last three episodes of the series and was quietly superb.

Over all I’ve been very impressed with the series. As always with the BBC the production values are brilliant, every shot is gorgeous and everything within that shot has a reason to be there. The period detail throughout the series has been spot on, the cars, the clothes, all of it.

I saw the last three episodes in one sitting because I simply couldn’t bring myself to stop watching them and that can only be a good thing. In this time of disposable, transient television like ‘Come Dine with Me’, ‘TOWIE’ and ‘The X Factor’ it is so lovely to have something with such depth. If they were foodstuffs  programmes like ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ would be candy floss, sugary, fun but ultimately gives you a headache if you have too much, ‘The Hour’ is like dark chocolate, something to be slowly savoured, piece by piece until you realise 3 hours later you’ve eaten the whole bar.

Whether it will get a second series, I’m not sure. The way it ended seemed to be quite final but you never know. I think this is a case of quality over quantity, I’d rather it end and be the 6 episodes of engaging, exciting drama that it is than have them make another series with a half arsed story just for the sake of it. I have loved this series and will treasure it on DVD.

Now it’s time for

Reasons to be Cheerful

1.  Some people are sick of it already and it’s not even out till May next year but new pictures have turned up online of the cast of the Avengers filming in New York. We get to see not only Robert Downey Jr as Iron Man/Tony Stark, Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans looking totally gorgeous on a lovely retro Motorbike), Thor (the bang tidy Chris Hemsworth), Loki (Tom Hiddleston) but also Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner and his lovely arms), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and the new Hulk/Bruce Banner played by Mark Ruffalo, which is super exciting!!! I have said it before and I’ll say it again, I love Superheroes and I think with the current standard of Marvel films being as high as it is and that cast being as great as they are this film looks set to leave me a Superhero induced puddle on the floor.

2. We are out of Summer Blockbuster season and into the season of Oscar bait. Bless them, the Academy Awards panel are a forgetful bunch so, seeing as films released in the US from 1^st January to the 31^st December are eligible, film makers that want their films nominated release them in the latter half of the year to limit the amount of time the Academy have to forget them. For example, James Cameron’s Awards magnet ‘Avatar’ released on 18^th December, ‘Titanic’ released on 14^th December, ‘The Social Network’ released 1^st October, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ had it’s US premier on 12^th November, ‘Shakespeare in Love’ opened on 3^rd December and ‘The King’s Speech’ which pretty much cleared up at every awards ceremony this year, released in the US on 6^th September. All of this means that we’re due some good films after some of the tedious popcorn fare of the summer. I’m personally looking forward to ‘Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy’, ‘War Horse’ (alas not out in the UK till 13^th January next year but hits cinemas in the US on 28^th December), '30 Minutes or Less' (not Oscar bait but I bloody love Jesse Eisenberg), 'Drive', 'Crazy Stupid Love' (bit of a Ryan Gosling theme with those last two...) and 'Warrior'.

3. ‘Doctor Who’ is back! Yay! The second episode of this season aired on Saturday and it was a good ‘un! ‘Night Terrors’ was penned by Mark Gatiss who I love. It was a great stand alone episode; I’ll be posting a review of it and its predecessor, the brilliantly titled ‘Let’s Kill Hitler’, later this week.

That’s it for today.

Goodbye till next time :-)

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