BBCs ‘The Hour’ TV Set 360 Virtual Tour

TV Set virtual tour takes viewers back to the 1950s within the set of award-winning BBC Drama ‘The Hour’.

BBC Drama: ‘The Hour’

The Hour was a BBC drama which first aired in 2011 on BBC 2. It starred Ben Whishaw, Dominic West, Juliet Stevenson and Anna Chancellor. The series is set around a news and current affairs programme which launches in 1956 during the Suez Crisis. The show captured the spirit of the 1950s perfectly. The sets, costumes and storyline all catapulted the viewers into the chaos and sophistication of that time.

The TV set virtual tour

You can thoroughly explore around the newsrooms in this 1956 TV virtual tour. The period details and props are remarkable. Some are Hornsey Town Hall’s own, and others were part of the set. Details like the Bakelite telephone, the original 50’s stamps, television, files, filing cabinets and old manual typewriter all place the drama perfectly within its time. Our TV set virtual tour gave viewers the chance to engage further with the drama by allowing the viewers to explore areas like the TV set itself, the cutting room and offices.

Hornsey Town Hall

The BBC filmed The Hour at Hornsey Town Hall in Crouch End, North London. Designed by Reginald Uren, the building is a star of 1930s architecture. The Town Hall therefore typifies art deco style with its modernist, almost brutal frontage, Crittall windows and beautiful textures and detailing.

Far East Consortium developed the Town Hall complex, which is now a housing development alongside a community-focused arts centre, co-working space, cafes and a new hotel. In a separate project, we were lucky enough to create a virtual tour of Hornsey Town Hall prior to its redevelopment (which was completed in 2023). Haringey Council ceased to use it as an administrative building in 1965, thus many of the building’s features from this time and prior were still intact when we captured it.