Soon is The Hour – But Not Here on Blu-ray

Fans of The Hour who wish to see the second series in HD will need to be SoHo subscribers or import the Blu-ray.

Whereas the first series was released here on Blu-ray, the BBC has opted to offer the second on DVD only.

US Blu-ray art

It goes on sale in March, following its SoHo run, which begins February 11.

The BBC appears to be cutting back on its Blu-ray commitment.

Two other March releases you would have expected to be on Blu-ray but are DVD-only are Top Gear Special: 50 Years of Bond Cars and Richard Hammond’s Journey to the Centre of the Planet.

What makes these two DVD releases frustrating is neither can be seen in HD on air, as both are Prime TV properties.

At least with Episodes, for which the BBC adopted the same disc strategy as The Hour, TV One aired the second series in HD.

Also bypassing Blu-ray is the BBC’s Red Dwarf X, which lands next month only on DVD — despite being out on Blu-ray in the US and UK.

Yet sometimes even the UK misses out on BBC Blu-rays.

Case in point: series two of The Hour, which can be bought on Blu-ray in the US but not the UK.

Said one reviewer of the release: “The episodes on the Blu-ray look much better in their 1080p transfer then they did on television.

“The audio on this Blu-ray includes a sharp DTS-HD 2.0 track, which works with the dialogue and the score.

“Last series, Daniel Giorgetti delivered some really great music. This season Kevin Sargent take over and continues making this show very intense and nail biting through the score.”