"The Hour" is a drama set in a TV newsroom in 1950s London. BBC reporters and soulmates Bel Rowley (Romola Garai) and Freddie Lyon (Ben Whishaw) are offered an opportunity to escape their dull and predictable jobs producing newsreels and work on a new weekly current affairs show called The Hour. Bel knows she will be the show's producer, a role Freddie covets, so she fears she will have a tricky time convincing her headstrong friend that his new position is a prize worth having. When Freddie covers an engagement party he stumbles into debutante Ruth Elms (Vanessa Kirby), an old childhood friend. When Freddie later receives a visit from her, she asks him for help investigating a murder. He realises his only hope of pursuing the story is to join the team of The Hour. Freddie's initial concerns about working on the new show are compounded when he notices Bel is attracted to Hector Madden (Dominic West), the charismatic new presenter of the programme. The first of six instalments originally aired on BBC Two in July 2011. Each episode attracted around two million viewers.