# The Hour (2011)

> A 1950s London newsroom team fights to expose a dangerous story on a live investigative current affairs programme amid cold war intrigue.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/36462

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 12
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, thriller, history
- Created by: Abi Morgan
- Network: BBC Two, BBC America
- Cast: Ben Whishaw, Romola Garai, Dominic West, Anna Chancellor, Tim Pigott-Smith, John Bowe, Anton Lesser, Juliet Stevenson
- TMDB rating: 8.0/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1778108/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: tense, melancholic, sophisticated, suspenseful

## What critics say

Audiences rated the two seasons positively, praising the period atmosphere, the cast and the newsroom and espionage storytelling.

## Synopsis

The Hour (2011-2012) is a British BBC Two period drama series created by Abi Morgan for BBC Two, running two seasons of six episodes each. Set in 1956 London at the dawn of a live current affairs television programme, the story follows ambitious reporter Freddie Lyon (Ben Whishaw), producer Bel Rowley (Romola Garai), and charismatic anchorman Hector Madden (Dominic West) as they try to make an investigative news show that dares to ask hard questions. Their engine is a constant tug of war: each story they chase risks offending the government, their corporate paymasters, and their own private loyalties, while personal rivalries and romances tangle the newsroom. Each season builds its suspense across the arc of an intelligence-laden conspiracy rather than standalone cases, so the drama feels serialized and urgent. The atmosphere is smoky, tailored and tense, with a melancholic undercurrent of postwar disillusion. Fans of Mad Men, The Newsroom and The Night Manager will find resonance in its blend of period texture, newsroom politics and cold war espionage intrigue.

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