The Bletchley Circle

The Bletchley Circle
Written by	Guy Burt
Directed by	Andy De Emmony Jamie Payne Sarah Harding
Starring	Anna Maxwell Martin Rachael Stirling Sophie Rundle Julie Graham Hattie Morahan
Composer(s)	Nick Green
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	7 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Simon Heath
Producer(s)	Jake Lushington
Cinematography	John Pardue
Running time	45 minutes
Production company(s)	World Productions
Release
Original network	ITV
Original release	6 September 2012 (2012-09-06) – 27 January 2014 (2014-01-27)

The Bletchley Circle is a television mystery drama miniseries, set in 1952–53, about four women who used to work as codebreakers at Bletchley Park. Dissatisfied with the officials' failure to investigate complex crimes, the women join to investigate for themselves.^[1]

The first series of the miniseries, produced for ITV,^[1] was originally shown in the UK in 2012 and premiered in the U.S. in April 2013, on PBS.^[2] A second series was broadcast on ITV in January 2014 and on PBS in April 2014.^[3] Both series were later aired by Australia's ABC TV.^[4]

The programme was not renewed for a third series.^[5]

Plot

Susan Gray, Millie, Lucy, and Jean work together at a secret facility at Bletchley to decipher German military codes for the British military, during World War II. After a brief introduction of the four women at Bletchley during the war, the series begins in 1952, seven years after the war's end, when Susan, Millie, Lucy, and Jean have returned to their ordinary lives. As the story begins, Susan learns about a series of murders that has occurred in the London area and begins to recognize patterns connecting the killings. This inspires her to return to her codebreaking past, and she reaches out first to Millie, and then to Lucy and Jean, after unsuccessfully trying to convince the police to follow up her theory about the crimes.

As they all signed orders of secrecy about their work during the war, the two married women (Susan and Lucy), disguise their activities from their husbands as a book club. Failing to secure police involvement, they move from codebreaking and investigation into the realm of field work, with dangerous consequences on several occasions. Scenes of domestic tranquility are contrasted with scenes of the killer stalking and torturing his victims. While initially skeptical about becoming involved, Millie, Jean, and Lucy are convinced to help Susan once they realize the lives of many women are on the line.

The series contrasts the conventional but very different lives of the four women and the sense of usefulness they felt while codebreaking during the war. In the Series 1 finale, the women are forced to confront the man they suspect to be the killer.

Cast and characters

• Anna Maxwell Martin as Susan Gray

  After her service during the war, Susan Gray begins life as a homemaker and the mother of two young children after marrying Timothy Gray and becoming pregnant. Others in the circle are drawn into the investigation when Susan contacts Millie, after her suspicions first emerge and she is unable to convince the police to investigate the patterns she identifies in a spate of serial killings. Susan's character is troubled by the mundanity of her current life, especially as she remembers the satisfaction she felt doing codebreaking work during the war and her intention to travel the world.

• Rachael Stirling as Millie

  Millie is an independent-minded single woman who vows never to be ordinary. She and Susan lose touch after the war, when Susan decides to pursue a more conventional lifestyle. Millie travels the world and seeks adventure after the war, but eventually returns to London when she runs out of money. Millie makes the decision to bring Lucy and Jean into the investigation in order to help, and quits her job at a diner when she is sexually harassed.

• Sophie Rundle as Lucy

  Lucy is the youngest character in the circle and the most troubled by events surrounding the investigation. Her cousin served in North Africa during the war, and she is married to a violent, indolent man named Harry, who beats her. Lucy has an eidetic memory and specializes in recalling and processing data.

• Julie Graham as Jean

  Jean, the oldest character in the circle, worked as the supervisor of the younger girls at Bletchley. Jean is working as a librarian after the war, and Susan seeks her out to help the team uncover secret information due to her many connections and her knowledge about how to get the right information.

• Mark Dexter as Timothy Gray

  Timothy Gray is a war veteran and the husband of Susan Gray, who is now employed at the Ministry of Transport. He is unaware of Susan's service as a codebreaker during the war; additionally, her character conceals the investigative activities of the circle from him, although this causes some strain on the relationship. He believes his talented wife is simply "very good at crossword puzzles" and did clerical work at the foreign office during the war. Timothy is growing ambitious and pursuing a promotion at the office, and fears that Susan's talking about her theories with the deputy commissioner will jeopardise his advancement, although he is promoted to Supervisor of Vehicle Licensing.

• Ed Birch as Harry

  Harry is Lucy's controlling husband, who beats her harshly on several occasions and constantly tracks her whereabouts. Harry beats Lucy severely when he suspects her of infidelity after she is attacked. Harry's character is suspicious and easily provoked to violence.

• Michael Gould as Deputy Commissioner Wainwright

  Also a war veteran, Commissioner Wainwright served with Timothy Gray during the war and now heads the local Metropolitan Police division. Commissioner Wainwright deduces Susan's secret role during the war and investigates some of her early theories, but he begins to politely resent Susan's interventions when he feels her theories are leading him in the wrong direction. He is eventually convinced of Susan's usefulness and apologises to her.

• Simon Sherlock as DCI Compton

  Inspector Compton is an incompetent police officer who fails to understand the significance of patterns in complex crimes and is dismissive of Susan's theories when assigned to speak with her, after Deputy Commissioner Wainwright becomes sceptical.

• Simon Williams as Cavendish

  Cavendish is a high-ranking operative who helps Susan by providing information from Malcolm Crowley's personnel file, once Susan suspects him as the serial killer. Cavendish is willing to break the rules for Susan, despite his reservations and official oath of secrecy, once he becomes convinced that her theory may be correct, and there may be lives at stake.

• Steven Robertson as Malcolm Crowley

  Malcolm Crowley is a disturbed veteran who worked with Cavendish on psychological warfare techniques during the war. He becomes deeply troubled after an incident involving a bombing and carries a deep obsession for a former colleague of his.

• Hattie Morahan as Alice Merren (series 2)

  Alice, a former Bletchley Park colleague, is awaiting trial for killing John Richards, her old flame and a Bletchley scientist . Jean, believing Alice is covering for someone, begins to reunite the circle to help establish her innocence.

• Faye Marsay as Lizzie Lancaster (series 2)

Episode list

Series 1

Series 2

This series is made up of two 2-part stories totalling four episodes.

Allusions to real events

In the second series, one character refers to sarin gas as having been developed by the Germans during World War II, along with other such chemical weapons, then taken up by the former Allies. The UK did have an incident of a young man killed from experiments with the gas in 1953; in 2004, his inquest was reopened, and the cause of death was altered from death by misadventure to death by "application of a nerve agent in a non-therapeutic experiment".^[6]

The premise of the series is based on the women who worked at Bletchley Park during World War II, who for the most part did not continue in intelligence work, and under the rules of the Official Secrets Act 1939 in the UK never shared the nature of their contributions to crucial aspects of the Allies' victory.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Reception

Upon its U.S. premiere—which occurred in prime time following U.S. episodes of Call the Midwife and Mr Selfridge—Variety called The Bletchley Circle "smart, addictive and situated in a fascinating historical moment".^[2] In a review of the first series, The New York Times said the series finds "a clever, entertaining way to pay tribute to women who in their time were often overlooked and underestimated, and nevertheless found ways to never be ordinary".^[11]

References

Further reading

• "Did the writers get it right?". bletchleyparkresearch.co.uk.  Discussion of the show's historical accuracy

External links

• The Bletchley Circle at the Internet Movie Database
• The Bletchley Circle at PBS