The Quiet Hour is the fourth in a new series of Play For Today on Channel 5, and stress is in the air…
Archie Panjabi (Doctor Who: The Reality War) plays Riya, a very stressed nurse, who’s having the shift from hell, even though it’s late and meant to be the titular ‘Quiet Hour’, where not much happens.
Except for tonight, since the hospital is very short staffed, and Dennis Pennis – Paul Kaye (Small Prophets) as the grumpy Fred – is being a pain in the bum. Similarly, some patients are refusing to eat, and Mrs Doyle’s (Su Elliot) got out of her room, but she needs to go on, go on, go on back to her bed.
Fred still smokes like a chimney, even though he really shouldn’t be, given the condition that is revealed, and for the staff, they’re stressed while preparing meds, making me wonder if something might go wrong there.
It does take quite some time until The Quiet Hour shows it’s hand, and it would’ve been interesting if we’d had more of that, but Archie Punjabi is superb, and both and she Kaye spar off very well together, all making this the best of this second series so far.
The Quiet Hour is now online, and once broadcast, all Play For Today episodes can be watched online at My5.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Director: Margo Roe
Producer: Meeshan Saxena
Writer: Sarah Louise Madden
Music: Nir Perlman
Cast:
Riya: Archie Panjabi
Fred: Paul Kaye
Marcus: Nathaniel Turay Boxx
Lamar: Mohamed Elsandel
Isaac: Geoffrey Leesley
Mrs Doyle: Su Elliot
Samuel: Aled ap Steffan
Dani: Amber Grappy
Dr Voe: Eve Ponsonby
Elizabeth Glass: Ashling O’Shea
Flashback nurse: Faaiz Mbelizi
Matron: Sarah Leatherbarrow
Young HCA: Isobel Pinsky
Piper: Becky Lindsay
Izzy: Joy-Zahara-Bina Olugboyega
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.