Last week’s opening episode of BBC Two’s latest foray into quality original period drama featured a lot of set-up. That’s not to say it was dull – far from it – but at times the exposition threatened to overwhelm, and main character Freddie Lyon’s enthusiasm for creating a new style of news programme threatened to get preachy.
Thankfully, then, this second instalment throws us straight into the action. ‘The Hour’ (the show within the show) is now up and running, with Freddie covering home affairs, pal Bel Rowley producing, and rival Hector Madden in front of camera. However, while Hector’s charm-offensive in Episode 1 seemed to imply that he was supremely confident in his broadcast ability; the reality is a little more humbling.
Hector Madden is a disaster. Fumbling and bumbling in front of camera, he seems to have no ability to drive an interview or even to remember the right questions. None of this is helped by Freddie, who struggles to balance his glee at Madden’s failure with his own frustration at the knowledge that he could do the job so much better.
Freddie is undoubtedly brilliant, but his passion and ability are often obscured by his petulant, childish nature. In that regard, there’s more than a little Dr. Gregory House in Freddie, and Ben Whishaw does a superb job of balancing these aspects of the character. The Wire‘s Dominic West, meanwhile, is equally good at playing a side of Hector we may not have expected to see. At times he’s almost pitiful; a shambles in front of camera, and increasingly frayed when off it. And when the Suez Canal Crisis breaks midway through the episode, the pressure really begins to tell.
But the Suez Crises seems to bring out the best in everyone. Even Freddie – immature, petulant Freddie – seems to realise that this is exactly the sort of event that ‘The Hour’ was designed for and calls an unspoken ceasefire with Hector, even taking it upon himself to prepare him for a big, high-profile interview.
The Suez Crises brings some much needed urgency to proceedings. As fun as it is watching Freddie cut people down with that sharp tongue of his, there’s only so much we can take without a meaty plot to back it up. Thankfully, there’s also the matter of the conspiracy, which remains a little ambiguous, but was given real impact last week with the apparent suicide of Freddie’s friend Lady Elm. Freddie’s convinced it was murder and sets about investigating in his spare time (which shows, in very Sherlock-esque manner, that in another life he’d have made a great policeman.)
Most concerning of all is Torchwood alumni Burn Gorman as the mystery assassin. He remains on the fringes of the show, hovering in the shadows, with an icy, implacable look on his face. And when he turns up at Lime House as a new intern – one who can conveniently translate Arabic during the Suez Cries – it’s a real shock. It’s chilling to see him interacting innocently with the rest of the characters, who are blissfully unaware of his true nature.
Who is he? Who is he working for? And what are they trying to cover up? It seems suspiciously convenient that he’s the only one who can translate Arabic, at just the right time. And why does Bel’s phone keep ringing, with nothing but mysterious silence at the other end…?
The Hour continues to do a surprisingly masterful job of balancing the more noirish conspiracy plot, with the slightly more light-hearted goings on of the newsroom. The characters and plots are all now well established and with the Suez Crises in full flow – and with Freddie cracking what appears to be a secret code hidden in crossword puzzles (strong, probably coincidental, shades of AMC’s recent spy-thriller Rubico’ there) – The Hour is proving to be extremely compelling television. With all the plots now set in motion, it only promises to get better.
Airs at 9pm on Tuesday 26th July 2011 on BBC Two.