period soap opera dressed up as a period thriller

paulromney03

This drama has been compared to the American series "Mad Men", and I regret to say that the comparison is justified. The comparison rests in the first place on the "period" setting; but the deeper and more damaging resemblance is in the fact that both dramas are ultimately soap operas.

This is less obvious with "The Hour", which is set up as a mystery-thriller complete in six episodes rather than a multi-series workplace drama. However, the mystery-thriller plot turns out to be a tawdry, sadly vestigial side-show. The writer could scarcely be bothered to make it, and the associated mayhem, realistic and plausible. What is left is an office romance drama which is scarcely more realistic. In a nutshell, the dialogue toys with serious issues that turn out to be just a patina on a melodrama.

These defects are the more glaring because the big screen has recently given us a superb example of a "period" thriller in "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy." But that of course is based on a novel that was, when it was written, a contemporary drama.

One is left, then, with the period setting. Here too, one's efforts to suspend disbelief are constantly challenged. Romola Garai appears in a succession of costumes that seem more calculated to showcase her figure than to approximate mid-1950s workplace attire. And her character would not have asked a question (episode 1) about "Prime Minister Eden" but about "the Prime Minister", or "Sir Anthony".

More damagingly, the setting is inappropriately specific. "Mad Men" is set in an advertising agency, one of many that existed in that time and place. It is patched into historical events - events that actually happened. "The Hour" is a portrayal of an event - a BBC TV programme - that did not happen. It is a weakly realized fantasy.

Why 6 stars, then? Mainly because of the cast. Juliet Stevenson shines in any company; Garai is reliably excellent; but I particularly enjoyed Oona Chaplin's performance as an insecure wife. Either her part was better written than the rest, or she made it seem so.

The men are OK, and Anton Lesser is something more.

score 6/10

paulromney03 16 June 2012

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw2628096/