The Hour Has Passed

I do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens; only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses
nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands

The Hour has been axed by BBC2 and will not return for a planned third series, it's been confirmed. The period drama, which was set in the late 1950s and concerned the genesis of a fictional current affairs programme on BBC Television, was created by Abi Morgan and starred The Wire's Dominic West, Skyfall's Ben Whishaw and The Crimson Petal and the White's Romola Garai. It had been the original intention of the production company behind the programme, Kudos, to produce at least three series. Jane Featherstone, chief executive of Kudos Film and Television, said she was "sad and disappointed" by the decision. Speaking in November, Morgan admitted that she would relish the chance to continue the story. "I love those characters and I'm really excited to create more characters, so fundamentally I'd love to see it develop and grow." Garai - who played Bel Rowley - also declared that she would be interested in starring in more episodes. "I don't think the format of this show lends itself to running for 10 or 15 years, but hopefully we'll do some more," said the actress.

In its two years on air, The Hour received four Golden Globes nominations, having been shown on BBC America, and three Bafta nominations. In 2011 it was named as one of the 20 best shows of the year by Radio Times critics and launched with 2.89 million viewers. Yet in comparison with another of the BBC's period dramas, Call The Midwife (which, unsurprisingly, will be receiving a third series), series two, which aired in November and December 2012, saw the show struggle to attract large numbers of viewers, with fewer than 1.5m tuning in.


In the spirit of felling tall oaks to let little acorns flourish, the news comes in the wake of the BBC drama department previewing a raft of new projects, including a Liz Taylor/Richard Burton biopic that's intended as BBC Four's drama swan song (the channel will be all factual, all the time in future), starring Dominic West as the Burton to Helena Bonham-Carter's Taylor. There is also the six-part adaptation of Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, the recently announced fantasy series Atlantis, and BBC Three zombie comedy series In The Flesh. A BBC spokesperson said: "We loved the show but have to make hard choices to bring new shows through."