4 days Ago
Even if you’ve never personally heard “the Hum”, the chances are you’ve heard of it. It first came to attention in 1973 in a university study of 50 people who separately complained of constantly hearing a low, throbbing background noise that others were unable to hear. Since then, there have been reports of people hearing the Hum in New Mexico, New Zealand, Canada, Germany, the United States and elsewhere.
The most recent incidence was in Omagh, Co Tyrone, last year. In that case, though, the Hum was audible to an uncommonly large number of townspeople, and also to the investigating noise officers. Research conducted into the Hum over the years suggests only about 4pc of the general population can hear it, and opinions on what might be causing it vary widely.
The Hum is the subject of The Listeners (BBC1, Tuesday, November 19), a four-part drama adapted by London-based Canadian author Jordan Tannahill from his 2021 novel of the same name. Frankly, “drama” might be the wrong word to describe the first episode, which is strangely short on excitement and low-key to the point of somnambulant. Read more The novel apparently takes the form of a memoir by its protagonist, an English teacher called Claire, played by Rebecca Hall.
A common problem with adapting a first-person narrative is that so much of it unfolds inside the character’s head. Short of using a clunky voiceover or even clunkier expository dialogue, trying to bring what a character is thinking to life on screen is like trying to catch smoke in your fingers. Claire is married to the easy-going Paul (Prasanna Puwanarajah).
Their teenage daughter Ashley (Mia Tharia) attends the school where Claire teaches, but isn’t in her class. They seem happy enough as a family, although Claire’s passing remark to a friend about her youthful ambition to “change the world” having fallen by the wayside hints at a faint dissatisfaction with where her life is at in her early 40s. While driving with Ashley to school one morning, Claire begins to hear a low, rumbling sound.
Ashley can’t hear it. Neither can Claire’s colleagues. She initially puts it down to being sleep-deprived and working too hard.
As the noise becomes more persistent, Claire starts looking for external sources. Maybe it’s caused by electrical appliances, by some nearby industrial plant or even by the 5G mast that recently appeared near her house. Paul, who’s glib and more than a little annoying, responds to this by mocking her and making her a tinfoil hat.
The noise, which is now non-stop, starts to cause Claire migraines, nosebleeds and insomnia. Her restlessness at night is keeping Paul awake, so he moves to a different room. Claire can hear the noise when she puts her fingers in her ears, meaning it’s internal, not external.
She seeks the help of a medical specialist, who tells her she’s hypersensitive to white noise and has become fixated on tones that would otherwise go unnoticed. Ironically, for a drama about a mysterious noise, it makes little innovative use of its soundscape The doctor condescendingly suggests it could be stress or the onset of menopause. Claire is outraged at the suggestion and demands further medical investigation.
A brain scan and a spinal tap turn up nothing out of the ordinary. Claire is unravelling. When she notices one of her students, Kyle (Ollie West), is listening to music on his earbuds in class, she tells him to either pay attention or “f**k off” out of her classroom.
He chooses the latter option. After class, however, Kyle approaches her and tells her he can also hear the Hum. She initially refuses his suggestion that they meet outside of school to investigate what might be causing it together, but later relents and begins secretly meeting up with him.
Rebecca Hall and Ollie West in 'The Listeners'. Photo: Element Pictures/BBC Apart from their shared problem, there seems to be an attraction between them – dangerous territory for a teacher, especially one whose odd behaviour is already the source of school gossip. Then Kyle tells Claire he’s discovered a group of people who can also hear the Hum, and the pair make contact.
I watched The Listeners using a set of good-quality headphones. But ironically, for a drama about a mysterious noise, it makes little innovative use of its soundscape. Underwhelming in every sense.
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