The Bletchley Circle is a 2012 television mystery drama miniseries, set in 1952, about four women who used to work as codebreakers at Bletchley Park. A series of murders takes place that seem to have a pattern. The police apparently overlook the pattern, so the women start investigating themselves.On 8 May 2013 it was announced that ITV had ordered a second series
John Crace
theguardian.com, Thursday 6 September 2012 / http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2012/sep/06/the-bletchley-circle-tv-review
TV review: The
Bletchley Circle; Wartime Farm
It's been a busy old week for Anna Maxwell Martin. Just two
days after standing in the dock as Tina the prison warden in Jimmy McGovern's
Accused, she was back as Susan the suburban housewife in The Bletchley Circle
(ITV1). Having almost singlehandedly shortened the duration of the second world
war by a couple of years with her code-breaking skills, Susan was
understandably finding life on civvy street in the early 1950s rather boring
until a serial killer appeared near her neck of the woods in London to liven
things up.
The idea of a group of former Bletchley Park code-breakers
banding together as crime-fighters is more promising for a new crime drama than
many, although it required a large suspension of disbelief. Initially, Susan
decided to tackle the killer alone and, having stumbled on the concentric
theory of geographical profiling at least 20 years ahead of any other forensic
psychologist, she persuaded her husband, Dim Tim, to get her an interview with
the police commissioner at Scotland Yard, who immediately redeployed several
dozen officers to hunt for a body no one knew was missing.
The police search was, however, unsuccessful and Susan was
obliged to rope in some of her old wartime buddies. At which point, The
Bletchley Circle threatened to dissolve into cosy, afternoon drama cliches,
with the three other women all having their well-defined specialisms – Millie
the Map Reader, Lucy the Memory Woman and Jean the Blagger – and only deciding
to team up after having the obligatory scene in which they all agreed
"this is never going to work".
While straying dangerously close to Rosemary and Thyme
territory at times, The Bletchley Circle just about kept the right side of the
line, thanks to a goodish plot, a strong cast and some unexpectedly stylish
touches of 50s period noir. If it can keep the padding to a minimum – why is
that every bloke in dramas with strong women leads is either dull, stupid or
feckless? – and trust the intelligence of the viewers enough not to downsize
the more cerebral, deductive sequences to barely a minute of round-table
guesswork, then this is a series that may well have legs.
It can't be a coincidence that ITV's latest crime drama is
set amid the rationing of the early 1950s; austerity is on everyone's minds
right now and it was certainly very much on view in Wartime Farm (BBC2), the
latest historical re-enactment from Ruth Goodman, Alex Langlands and Peter
Ginn, the team that previously gave us Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm.
I know it reflects poorly on me that I don't find Ruth a
more engaging presenter: she's obviously a decent, intelligent person who knows
her subject well. But something about her manner grates. It's the way she rolls
her eyes when she sees the 1930s kitchen for the first time and exclaims:
"How am I supposed to manage with that?" and insists on calling the two
men "boys". She's too jolly-hockey-sticks, though at least she has a
discernible personality, which is more than can be said for the men.
That said, Wartime Farm works far better than Edwardian
Farm, which felt exactly the same as Victorian Farm, but with a few more
gadgets. There is an immediacy in the way the team are forced to innovate in
response to a situation that requires the upheaval of decades of traditional
agricultural practices in a matter of weeks. Out had to go the inefficient
livestock, and millions of acres had to go under the plough for crop farming.
At least that was the idea. We didn't actually see any cows,
sheep or pigs get the chop in vast numbers – and something tells me we may not
in future episodes either, as I can't see the real owner of Manor Farm near
Southampton topping his entire herd just for the cameras. But there was a lot
of enjoyment to be had as our intrepid trio tried to make an underground boring
tool to stop a field becoming waterlogged. They failed. Ingloriously. Peter
said: "I hope to God we don't have a wet summer, or the Ministry of
Agriculture will be down on us like a ton of bricks." Stand by to be
interned, Peter.
As ever with this programme, some of the enjoyment was
almost certainly accidental. After one reconstruction of a night time manoeuvre
by an auxiliary unit – think farmers with guns – the moustachioed officer said:
"This has just been an exercise. There are no Germans." Captain
Mainwaring couldn't have put it better. In wartime, you take your pleasures
where you find them.
The Bletchley Circle
– TV review
John Crace
The Guardian, Monday 6 January 2014 / http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2014/jan/06/the-739-david-morrissey-sheridan-smith-tv-review
( …) One of the few good things about going back to work in
January is that the TV programmers recognise that everyone, bar Carl and Sally
who are cosying up in the sauna at the gym, is staying in and so they tend to
raise their game. On any other night The Bletchley Circle (ITV) would have got
star billing.
We've moved on a few years since the first series –
"The Germans are now are friends and the Russians our enemies," said
Millie the Map Reader, helpfully – but otherwise everything is still
reassuringly the same. London is still rendered in 1950s noir and our four main
characters, Susan, Millie, Jean and Lucy, are still largely unencumbered by the
burden of any men – Susan looks set to dispense with her dreary husband, the
nice-but-dim Tim – in whom the Foreign Office has noticed some well-hidden
talent and charisma and now wants to post abroad – and are so free to resume
their careers as amateur sleuths.
This time round, one of their former colleagues at Bletchley
Park has been charged with murder and, as she didn't do it – obvs – the Famous
Four have set out to find out just who did. So far they have turned up an
adopted daughter, some top-secret files, a military coverup and a copy of
Paradise Lost and failed to spot a suspicious man in a trilby who's been
walking a few paces behind them. At times it threatens to get a bit too Enid
Blyton as they wander round in a pack solving crimes and making sure they all
have roughly the same number of lines each, but it never lapses into twee and
hits a sweet enough spot for a wet Monday in January.
Title Directed by Written by Original
air date UK Viewing Figures
(millions)
Sourced by BARB; includes ITV1 HD and ITV1 +1
1 "Episode
One" Andy De Emmony Guy Burt 6
September 2012 5.81
Seven(nine)[4] years after WWII, four women who worked as
codebreakers at Bletchley Park have taken up mundane civilian lives. Susan, now
a housewife, has collated data about a series of murders. She tries to convince
the police she knows where another body is, but they are unable to locate it
and dismiss her. Susan turns to her three friends. They work out where the next
victim will be taken, find the body, then decide they are the only ones who can
track down the killer.
2 "Episode
Two" Andy De Emmony Guy Burt 13
September 2012 5.73
The women collate information about the schedules of trains
the victims had been on and use this to identify potential suspects. Susan
gives the police names of three potential perpetrators. As Susan gives the
police the information, Jean and Lucy discover seven similar murders that the
police think they have solved, but where the women believe innocent men have
been framed and convicted. The police arrest one of the men who was among the
names given to them by Susan after finding evidence connecting him to the
victims. The women devise a plan to trap the killer using Lucy as bait but it
backfires when she goes with the wrong man. Another suspect emerges from a top
secret war department headed by Cavendish and Susan comes face to face with the
killer at a closed mental hospital.
3 "Episode
Three" Andy De Emmony Guy Burt 20
September 2012 5.37
Susan returns with the police but the killer has gone. Susan
finds a coded message in her home with Cavendish's address, and going there
finds him dead. A postcard on Cavendish's desk provides a clue; and Susan,
following the thread, walks alone into a trap set for her by the killer.
Series 2
This series will be made up of two 2-part stories totalling
four episodes.
# Title Directed by Written
by Original air date UK Viewing Figures (millions)
Sourced by BARB; includes ITV1 HD and ITV1 +1
1 "Episode
One" Jamie Payne Guy Burt 6
January 2014 5.46
Former Bletchley Park colleague Alice Merren (Hattie
Morahan) is awaiting trial for the murder of a distinguished scientist (Paul
McGann). Despite the overwhelming evidence, Jean is determined to prove Alice
is innocent and reassembles the women to prove it. Their investigation reveals
the misguided reason Alice is willing to hang for a crime she did not commit.
2 "Episode
Two" Jamie Payne Guy Burt 13
January 2014 4.98
The circle's investigation discovers three men with chemical
burns in a truck crash on Salisbury plain near the chemical warfare
establishment at Porton Down. They suspect a high level cover-up involving the
death of the scientist and the framing of Alice Merren and they themselves come
under surveillance.
3 "Episode
Three" Sarah Harding Guy Burt 20 January 2014 3.93
(Overnight)
Due to her notoriety Alice cannot get a job and Millie
offers help. Millie is involved in the post war black market and when she
disappears the women begin to look for her when the police will not take them
seriously. Millie is being held hostage by Soho Maltese gangsters until her
shady business partner Jasper (Rob Jarvis) pays money he owes them. While in
captivity Millie discovers the gangsters are importing eastern European girls to
be sold into prostitution.
4 "Episode
Four" Sarah Harding Guy Burt 27 January 2014 3.89
(Overnight)
Jasper is murdered and corruption in the vice squad leads to
no action by the police. The women plot to catch the gang red-handed by buying
contraband goods, a ruse that enables Lucy to memorise the gangs encrypted
ledger. The women return to Bletchley Park, now a college, where Alice's
daughter is studying to take a Typex machine, from the derelict huts, and
instead a find an old Enigma machine, but they still have to find a way to
inform Customs and Excise about the contraband which includes the trafficked
girls.
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