The series was centred on a fictional current-affairs show being launched by the BBC in June 1956, at the time of the Hungarian Revolution and Suez Crisis.
It stars Ben Whishaw, Dominic West, and Romola Garai, with a supporting cast including Tim Pigott-Smith, Juliet Stevenson, Burn Gorman, Anton Lesser, Anna Chancellor, Julian Rhind-Tutt, and Oona Chaplin.
Desperate to get onto television, which he feels offers greater immediacy, Freddie is unaware that his best friend Bel Rowley (Romola Garai) has been selected by their mentor Clarence Fendley (Anton Lesser) to produce a new news magazine, the eponymous "The Hour".
Rowley selects experienced war correspondent Lix Storm (Anna Chancellor) to head the foreign desk for the programme, leaving Freddie to run domestic news, a position which he considers inferior.
They are joined by Thomas Kish (Burn Gorman), a mysterious and taciturn translator for the BBC who helps them cover the developing Suez Crisis.
As British troops move to seize the Suez Canal, Freddie does a live interview of Lord Elms, Ruth's father, who denounces the government.
Bel is then fired by the BBC and Freddie confronts Clarence, who tells him that he had put him on the Bright Stone list, and that he is a Communist spy.
A new Head of BBC News, Randall Brown (Peter Capaldi) has taken over, to whom Bel must report while attempting to prevent the programme's now famous and increasingly dissolute presenter Hector Madden from defecting to rival ITV.
Despite marital problems, Hector frequents a Soho nightclub run by Raphael Cilenti, El Paradis, whose leading dancer is Kiki Delaine.
Show-girl Rosa-Maria visits Bel to tell her that Kiki has disappeared; Hector calls Laurie for help, unaware that he has contacted the person who assaulted her.
Freddie and Bel continue their search for Kiki; they pitch the exposé of Cilenti's criminal activities coupled with anti-nuclear policy, but Randall challenges them to get sources to show that the first story is ready.
Freddie and Hector, however, follow the story further to establishment corruption involving a mystery company aiming to profit from nuclear bases.
Finally Hector's face hits the tabloids in connection with the vice scandal, making it more difficult for The Hour to cover such a major conspiracy.
[13] However, AA Gill in The Sunday Times called it "Self satisfied guff" with "a script that would shame a Bruce Willis movie", and Michael Deacon of The Telegraph criticised it as "an exercise in upbraiding the past for failing to live up to the politically correct ideals of the 21st century", although he praised Morgan's writing and concluded by stating "I wouldn't want to give up on The Hour too soon".
"[18] In the full printed version of the same article, she adds "[It is] as if it were a space containing chocolate, gold, a book you've always wanted to read, your favorite music, and the love of your life, who desires you unceasingly.
"[21] Founder member of ITN Lynne Reid Banks criticised the series for putting a more recent modus operandi into the 1950s.
[27] Kudos Film and Television produced a four-DVD set of the complete two BBC series (with a 15 age certificate), along with 'extras' such as features behind the scenes and the art design of the programmes, and with interviews with members of the cast, in 2012.