''The Devil's Hour'' is a British

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

thriller television series created by Tom Moran, and executive produced by

Steven Moffat Steven William Moffat (; born 18 November 1961) is a Scottish television writer, television producer and screenwriter. He is best known for his work as showrunner, writer and executive producer of the science fiction television series ''Doct ...

through his production company Hartswood Films. The series consists of six episodes, and premiered on 28 October 2022 on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

. In November 2022, the series was renewed for a second and third season.

Plot

Lucy Chambers is a social worker dealing with family and relationship woes. She wakes every night at exactly 3:33 AM, after experiencing terrifying visions during the so-called devil's hour between 3 AM and 4 AM. Her eight-year-old son is withdrawn and emotionless. Her mother speaks to empty chairs. Her house is haunted by the echoes of a life that is not her own. Lucy's name is inexplicably connected to a string of brutal murders in the area, and she is drawn into the hunt for a serial killer.

Cast and characters

Jessica Raine Jessica Raine (born Jessica Helen Lloyd; 20 May 1982) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Jenny Lee in the television series ''Call the Midwife'' (2012–2014) and Verity Lambert in the television film ''An Adventure in Sp ...

as Lucy Chambers, a social worker suffering from

insomnia Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder in which people have trouble sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy, ...

Peter Capaldi Peter Dougan Capaldi (; born 14 April 1958) is a Scottish actor, director, writer and musician. He portrayed the Twelfth Doctor, twelfth incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in ''Doctor Who'' (2013–2017) and Malcolm Tucker in ' ...

as Gideon Shepherd, a mysterious criminal who has reincarnation abilities. * Nikesh Patel as DI Ravi Dhillon, a detective with haemophobia *

Alex Ferns Alexander Ferns (born 13 October 1968) is a Scottish actor and television personality, best known for his ''EastEnders'' role as Trevor Morgan, who was described as "Britain's most-hated soap villain" when he played the role between 2000 and 200 ...

as DS Nick Holness, Dhillon's partner and colleague *

Meera Syal Meera Syal FRSL (born Feroza Syal; 27 June 1961) is a English comedian, writer, playwright, singer, journalist and actress. She rose to prominence as one of the team that created '' Goodness Gracious Me'' and portraying Sanjeev's grandmother, ...

as Dr Ruby Bennett, a child psychologist treating Isaac *

Barbara Marten Barbara Marten (born 3 January 1947) is a British actress. She is most known for playing Eve Montgomery in ''Casualty''. She has appeared in various soaps, including Eastenders and Brookside, as well as many other drama serials such as ''Harry' ...

as Sylvia Chambers, Lucy's mother who suffers from

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

and

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

Phil Dunster Philip James Dunster (born 31 March 1992) is an English actor. He is known for in the Sky One drama '' Strike Back'' (2017–2018), the Channel 4 science fiction series ''Humans'' (2018), the ITV comedy-drama ''The Trouble with Maggie Cole'' ( ...

as Mike Stevens, Lucy's estranged husband and Isaac's father * Benjamin Chivers as Isaac Stevens, Lucy and Mike's emotionally troubled son

Episodes

Production

Development

In December 2019, it was announced Tom Moran was developing ''The Devil's Hour'' for Amazon. In June 2021, it was announced Amazon had greenlit the series. The series is written, created, and executive produced by Tom Moran.

and

Sue Vertue Susan Nicola Vertue (born 21 September 1960) is an English television producer, mainly of comedy shows, including ''Mr. Bean'' and ''Coupling''. She is the daughter of producer Beryl Vertue. Vertue worked for Tiger Aspect, a production company ...

also executive produce the series. The series is produced by

Hartswood Films Hartswood Films is a British television production company founded by Beryl Vertue in 1979. They have also produced dramas such as '' Jekyll'', as well as documentaries, and the 1990s ITV/BBC sitcom ''Men Behaving Badly''. In 2009, Hartswood opened ...

. Johnny Allan and Isabelle Sieb were set to direct episodes of the series.

Casting

In mid-June 2021,

and

were cast as the leads. Nikesh Patel,

, Thomas Dominique, Rhiannon Harper-Rafferty, John Alastair, Sandra Huggett, and Benjamin Chivers were also cast.

Title sequence

The

title sequence A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often a opening theme song with visu ...

is a stylised interpretation of a 'vortex', featuring kaleidoscopic effects and bright colour overlays. It was made in London by Peter Anderson Studio.

Music

The series' score is composed by

The Newton Brothers John Andrew Grush and Taylor Newton Stewart, known collectively as The Newton Brothers, are American film score composers, record producers, conductors, and multi-instrumentalists. Their works include scores for several films with director Mike ...

, and the soundtrack album was released on October 28, the same day as the series release.

Release

''The Devil's Hour'' premiered on 28 October 2022 on

, and consists of six episodes.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

100% of 17 critic reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

it has a score of 71 based on reviews from 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Lucy Mangan Lucy Katherine Mangan''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007'' (born 1974) is a British journalist and author. She is a columnist, features writer and TV critic for ''The Guardian''. A major part of her writing is related t ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' awarded the first episode four stars out of five, praising Raine and Capaldi's performances. Amanda Whiting of ''The Independent'' gave the first two episodes four out of five stars, dubbing it "haunting". Jasper Rees of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' gave it three stars, remarking that "There’s certainly pleasure to be had from the denouement, and from Raine’s protean turn as the figure trapped in a horror mystery. But some may find that gratification is too teasingly postponed." Martin Carr of the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' also gave it three stars, stating, "''The Devil's Hour'' fails to concisely pull all its puzzle pieces together and satisfy. There is a sense of kitchen sink in the construction, which may make audiences think twice before investing valuable time in this convoluted premise."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Devil's Hour, The 2022 British television series debuts 2020s British drama television series British thriller television series English-language television shows Amazon Prime Video original programming Television series by Amazon Studios Television series by Hartswood Films Television shows shot in London