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 o.