Clockwise from lower right: Ben Whishaw as Freddie Lyon, Romolas Garai as Bel Rowley, and Dominic West as Hector Madden.

The Hour series 1 (6 episodes)

I said I was going to be it episode by episode. But then I went and watched all of it. So here’s the first series in one fell swoop.

I have to say, after the train wreck that is Downton Abbey series 3, I needed this.It is such a fantastically written series. Just brilliant.And it’s timely. It talks about censorship and the government telling journalists what to say in the ’50s just when we are worrying about these things today.

Set in the ’50s, The Hour revolves around a new news programs on the BBC called, you guessed it, The Hour. Freddie Lyon is disappointed he gets home affairs but takes the position because he’s bored of his job and he wants to continue working with Bel Roawley. Bel, who is named producer of The Hour, is Freddie’s best friend, and she’s also the woman he’s pining for. Hector Madden is the charming presenter. And the rest of the team is filled out by the badass Lix Storm, the hopeless Isaac Wengrow, and the chipper Sissy Cooper. Together, the team hopes to present a fair and balanced story, even if it means giving airtime to those who disagree with the government. With the Suez Canal Crisis building and Freddie uncovering a government conspiracy, this isn’t going to be easy.

The writing is just amazing. The writing is absolutely flawless. I am so happy I started this series.

I love how every character is so well defined, and everyone has a personality. Even Marnie’s brother has a personality and he’s really minor. The series has the strongest and most forthright female characters on television. I will stand by that statement. I can define all the female characters by more than their romantic relationships. I haven’t been able to do that with many females recently. Though I ship Bel/Freddie and Sissy/Isaac, I  feel that both Bel and Sissy do not need romantic subplots to be interesting characters. Bel’s struggle to keep The Hour afloat, and Sissy’s desire to simply be a part of something worthwhile make them compelling. Lix herself doesn’t even have a guy to be attached to.

I usually hate love triangles. Boring things. The show does have a love triangle: Freddie-Bel-Hector. (Hector is having an affair with Bel. She says to hell with it.) But the triangle is not forced to be the center of the show. The triangle fuels the professional rivalry between Freddie and Hector. Freddie wants to be in front of the camera but he does not have Hector’s charm, and Hector does not have Freddie’s ability to ask the right questions and find the answers. Pining over the same woman brings out this rivalry. However, they prove that they are not petty and become close friends.

All of the characters have amazing relationships and interactions, and it’s refreshing to see it all so beautifully written. Bel and Freddie’s friendship is just beautiful. Better than any I’ve seen on television. Although there is so much romantic tension between the two, it doesn’t mar their friendship. There are scenes where they are completely comfortable with each other. Bel is right when she says, ‘I’m the last female who’ll tolerate him,’ and he definitely drives her insane and she truly hates him just a little. But they support one another. They are comfortable with one another. And isn’t that what a good relationship is built on? I believe Bel also loves Freddie, but she does not realize it. Hector himself says that Bel is different when she talks to Freddie. She is not the hard and demanding producer she puts on for the TV execs, and she is not the seductive and very feminine lover she puts on for Hector. For Freddie, she drops all pretense and simply is Bel. As Hector notes, she is completely different. This is the Bel that she is for only Freddie. The real Bel. It’s because of they are BFFs. She trusts him to come into her bedroom when they are both very drunk. He calls her up in the middle of the night when he has a crisis of confidence, and she tells him that he must never doubt himself because he is the best at what he does. She truly loves him.

It breaks my heart to see Freddie acquiesce to Hector, but at the same time, it’s fantastic writing that he does so. He sees that Bel does not love him and that she loves Hector and Hector treats her well. Though it’s not the responsible thing to do, he gives his blessing (in a way) to the affair because it makes Bel happy. It strikes me that he is doing this as her friend, and not in a romantic ‘her being happy makes me happy and he makes her happy’ kind of way. However, he was sleep-deprived (three days sleepless) and drunk in the scene. The acting in that scene is gorgeous. Though Freddie wears his heart on his sleep, it’s surprising to see how brave a face he puts on while Bel is grinding his heart into sand. And this was on his birthday. I think you could do the guy a favor and not destroy his heart on his birthday. I thought it was interesting that Lix swept him up into that one night stand immediately after. She realizes that Freddie needs this one night stand. Without it, he’d probably be crushed under his love for Bel.

Marnie, I’m a bit less enthusiastic about (mostly because I’m not a Oona Chaplin fan). But I love how Marnie is not as headstrong and fiery as Bel is, and yet she proves that she can be an interesting and forthright character. I love that she is a strong female lead who just wants to be a housewife. Lix is amazing. Just when I think I couldn’t love her more in episode one with that “I earned that desk” comment, she points out Freddie’s lack of a poker face and starts dispensing advice. She sails through the scene, steals it, then walks out with not a single care given. But she’s balanced: snarky but supportive. (That doesn’t sound as good as it does in my head.)

Acting all around is flawless. When everyone first hears that Egypt has taken the Suez Canal and Sissy asks ‘Are we going to war?’, I swear I could feel a slight panic rising in the room. Deep breaths and wide eyes all around as the thought set in. Freddie watching that reel the first time was amazing. The tears in his eyes are he watched Ruth. And when Hector believes that Freddie knows about the affair and starts admitting to everything, Freddie looks so crushed but he keeps his composure at the same time. Marnie when she sees Hector left his briefcase when he said he was going to the office. The interaction between characters is just gorgeous also. All that tension between Marnie and Hector when she finds the lipstick on his neck and then suggests that he’s tired. Freddie and Bel in the waiting room of that club (I think) in episode two (was it?) and then again when they were celebrating his birthday and talking about their hypothetical future. I love their workplace environment.

In short, I really recommend this show.