- Radio Times
- Review by:
- Alison Graham
Christmas is coming and there are paper chains dangling from The Hour’s office walls. But no one is feeling very festive, particularly Hector, who is drunk and maudlin after the travails of the previous episode. The nightclub singer who accused him of beating her up is missing and Hector’s long-suffering wife, who has become, of all things, a TV chef, makes him fry his own eggs for breakfast.
It’s another leisurely episode of a drama that is so deeply in love with its own image it might just as well draw hearts on the screen and order itself a bunch of flowers. I think the problem is that The Hour looks so gorgeous (and really, it does, its production is lushly beautiful), but it’s all a bit stolid and perfunctory underneath.
There are good things about it, though — Peter Capaldi, Anna Chancellor and Tom Burke, never around long enough as a suave ITV news boss.
About this programme
3/6. It's Christmas at Lime Grove and also a time for much soul-searching within the team. Kiki has gone missing and Hector's self-destructive behaviour escalates. leaving Bel and Freddie to search for the truth about what happened to the showgirl. Meanwhile, Randall tells Lix the real reason for his return - but is she willing to dredge up the painful past?
Cast and crew
Cast
- Freddie Lyon
- Ben Whishaw
- Bel Rowley
- Romola Garai
- Hector Madden
- Dominic West
- Lix Storm
- Anna Chancellor
- Angus McCain
- Julian Rhind-Tutt
- Randall Brown
- Peter Capaldi
- Camille Mettier
- Lizzie Brochere
- Bill Kendall
- Tom Burke
- Marnie Madden
- Oona Chaplin
- Isaac Wengrow
- Joshua McGuire
- Sissy Cooper
- Lisa Greenwood
- Raphael Cilenti
- Vincent Riotta
- Laurie Stern
- Peter Sullivan
- Kiki Delaine
- Hannah Tointon
- Rosa Maria Ramirez
- Hannah John-Kamen
- Norman Pike
- Morgan Watkins
- Det Attwood
- Robert Whitelock
- Mrs Goldman
- Gillian Raine
- Peter Tufnell
- Peter Temple
- Peter Grey
- Jake Canuso
- Hawtree
- Adrian McLoughlin
- Ron
- Paul Chahidi
- Society photographer
- Dominik Golding
- Tombola announcer
- Andrew Bone
- Stern's secretary
- Sonja Nathan
Crew
- Director
- Catherine Morshead
- Producer
- Ruth Kenley-Letts
- Writer
- Nicole Taylor
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