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In 1956 pushy young BBC TV reporter Freddie Lyon,bored with covering celebrity banquets and debutantes' weddings,applies,with his more self-effacing platonic colleague Bel Rowley,to be on the new news magazine series 'The Hour' but loses out on the job of presenter to the suave,older Hector Madden. Bel however is given the producer's job and uses this to engage Freddie as home affairs correspondent with an assistant,would-be sketch writer Isaac Wengow. Dauntless foreign correspondent Lix Storm,who reported on the Spanish civil war,also joins the team. A man called Peter Darrall has been stabbed to death on the London underground and,whilst the police treat this as a robbery,newly-wed debutante Ruth Elms, a mutual friend of his and Freddie's,is unconvinced and asks Freddie to investigate. On the night of 'The Hour''s launch party Freddie gets an urgent phone call from Ruth,whom he finds hanged.
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Hector proves to be an inept interviewer - and Freddie's baiting of him is no help - and 'The Hour' is a critical failure. To revive interest Freddie interviews Ruth's father about the abolition of the death penalty whilst Lix opts for coverage of the Suez canal stand-off,innocently using Kish,Peter Darrall's killer,to interpret for an Egyptian diplomat.The interview is a triumphant return to form for Hector,despite government aide McCain's efforts to prevent it. Freddie is convinced Ruth was murdered - particularly when he works out that Peter was a crossword compiler who used his clues to send out codes. Seeing Kish in one of Ruth's home movies confirms his suspicion.
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Bel and Freddie spend a weekend in the country with Hector and his wife Marnie at her parents' house. The annoying McCain is present,as is Adam LeRay,TV's 'The Man Who Knew' and the bereaved partner of Ruth. Whilst Lix and Isaac shadow Kish on his behalf,discovering that he is not the BBC employee he claims to be,Freddie quizzes Adam,learning that he is gay and Ruth was to have been his cover. Returning to London,Bel and Hector have sex whilst Freddie meets up with Kish,who tries to kill him but is himself killed,leaving Freddie with the notebook of codes.
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Bel is back at The Hour with gruff new head of news Randall Brown,a man with whom Lix clearly has history,replacing the jailed Clarence. Hector is still neglecting Marnie to frequent a Soho club which fronts sex parties and where he picks up actress Kiki Delaine though it is under police observation. He frequently arrives late for work and annoys colleagues with his cavalier attitude. Bel is both pleased and annoyed when Freddie returns from Paris,brought in behind her back to co-present with Hector,who has been warned he must improve or face the sack. Hector feels threatened by the younger man. ITV news programmer Bill Kendall,however,is impressed when,at a press conference supposedly to discuss civil defence, Hector and Freddie,using a document leaked by Hector's army chum police commander Stern,accuse the minister of shaving the much needed police budget to pay for nuclear weapons. Bel gets a shock when,visiting Freddie,he introduces her to Camille,his new French wife.
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Whilst Marnie gets a job as a television chef and is considered an ideal housewife,Hector is arrested for beating up Kiki. With nobody else anxious to help him Bel does some sleuthing at the El Paradis club and finds that Kiki poses for nude photos and suspects that perhaps she was assaulted by a jealous boyfriend. She is right but he is very high profile and when Hector is released he is unaware of his identity. Nonetheless Hector returns to the club after Marnie has told him that from now on theirs will be a marriage in name only. Freddie courts controversy by announcing that,given the current climate of colour prejudice,he will host a discussion between Sissy's boyfriend,black doctor Ola and a boy with fascist leanings. The doctor's eloquence humiliates the racist and the broadcast is deemed a success. Randall warns Bill Kendall off trying to poach Hector but Bel finds herself being charmed by Bill.
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Freddie takes Camille to El Paradis but Kiki is not there and noone seems to know her whereabouts. Some nights later he returns alone and,although he is ejected,he spots Kiki and follows her home to an opulent flat. Whilst she will not speak to him he suspects that Stern is keeping her. He also finds out that the flat is owned by Pike,his own landlord who is driving out sitting tenants in order to bring in immigrants and charge exorbitant rents. Freddie realises that Cilente,the shady owner of El Paradis,has Stern in his pocket and tries to convince Hector. Whilst Hector finds it hard to think badly of an old friend he chairs a discussion on the government's failure to decriminalize homosexuality. Stern is speaking against its legitimacy and Hector uses the opportunity to claim that he believes the police force is condoning heterosexual vice. At the office party Hector and Marnie put up a show but Bel ends up kissing Bill.
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With Marnie enjoying her own cookery programme Hector agrees to move to ITV for a larger salary,partly as a sop to Manie as he is infertile. Lix and Randall visit the French embassy but there is no news of their daughter. Bel is appalled to read that Rosa Maria has been killed,assuredly on Cilenti's orders and wants to stop the investigation,claiming that,as journalists,they should uncover the truth. Freddie confronts Stern to no avail but Randall presents McCain with photos that will reveal his homosexuality and is rewarded with news that members of the arms company are meeting at El Paradis. Freddie,Hector and Bel turn up and see that Satchell,the government defence minister,is part of the meeting. Before Freddie can discover more Stern leads a raid on the club.
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The club is raided and Stern arrests Cilenti for Rosa Maria's murder but he is released on bail.Next day tabloid front pages name Hector as being caught in the raid and mention his alleged attack on Kiki. As a result Bill cancels his ITV contract,ending things between himself and Bel. Marnie,however,stands by Hector and,to his surprise,announces that she is pregnant. McCain tells the journalists that the government leaked Hector's presence at the club to the press as a face saving exercise,making Freddie determined to follow through the story. He gets Kiki to the studio where Hector interviews her and she reveals everything about Cilenti's blackmail ring,his part in blackmailing the defence secretary into giving his company the tender to build nuclear bases and the corrupt policemen who visit the club. 'The Hour' has triumphed in bringing down a corrupt empire but Freddie is captured by Cilenti and his heavies and badly beaten up. As his battered body is thrown in front of the studio Bel rushes to be with him.
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