The Oscar and BAFTA winning The Hours was directed by Stephen Daldry and follows the story of how Virginia Woolf’s novel, Mrs Daloway, impacted the lives of 3 women, including the author herself, over an extended period of time. All 3 were also faced with suicide situations at one point or another, although critics did not feel this made the film morbid; certainly the director wanted to portray hope. Meryl Streep plays Clarissa Vaughan and is referred to by her friend Richard (Ed Harris) as Mrs Daloway. Harris was nominated for an Oscar for his performance as was Julianne Moore for her portrayal of Laura Brown. The story is based on Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer prize-winning novel of the same name, and shot on location in Florida, which doubled for Los Angeles, New York and England. Whilst Woolf committed suicide in the River Ouse (Sussex), this river could not be used in the film as the drainage system since the 1920s had altered. An alternative river was therefore found to shoot these scenes. Nicole Kidman (Virginia Woolf) subsequently acts all the stunt sequences rather than a stunt double and won an Oscar for her role – a note of trivia … the nose she appears to have in the film is not her own!

Release / Airing: 14/02/2003