The Bletchley Circle

Great period drama....quite extraordinary how these women went from code breakers in WWII saving thousands of lives to the hum-drum of home life after the war. I can only imagine how difficult the transition must have been. Anna Maxwell Martin, who plays Susan, does such a great job. I had no idea how fantastic she was--very believable and her passion is deeply portrayed here. This show is enigmatic---quite refreshing. Great actors and very interesting..I couldn't stop watching--I found this by accident and was truly impressed with the production quality. If you like this...watch "Call the Midwives"--another great British show.

This was a sparkling, well thought out, murder mystery. It dealt with the part of World War II that we seldom get to see on the screen. These four women had developed their minds to nearly super-human levels, only to let them rust in the decades following the war. This drama is set in that curious after-time. It's a time when hands that had once killed and maimed had to be placed in a domestic setting. Both the protagonists and villain were all products of that curious time. They captured the sense of mid- 50's London exquisitely. The piece was well cast, well filmed and well acted. I hope that we get to see more of the amazing women of Beltchley!

"The Bletchley Circle" from 2012 is about women who worked on cracking German military codes during the World War II. They are described as "Alan's girls," meaning Alan Turing, whose tragic life will be the subject of a film starring Benedict Cumberbatch later this year. After the war, though they were all very smart, they settled in everyday life that sometimes was less than satisfying.

When young women start disappearing and wind up dead in 1952, one of the code-breakers, Susan (Anna Maxwell Martin) becomes interested in the case, sees a pattern emerging, and asks her husband to use a connection to get her in to see the Deputy Commissioner. Unfortunately, her idea -- the location of the currently missing girl's body -- is incorrect.

Discouraged, Susan is sure that she and her old code-breaker friends can find the killer using their code-breaking skills. She gets the old group together: Jean (Julie Graham), Millie (Rachel Stirling), and Lucy (Sophie Rundle) who are resistant at first, then agree. It means using information supplied by other code-breakers. It also means putting themselves in danger.

I thought this was a suspenseful, intriguing, and interesting story, with the '50s atmosphere, clothing, and hairstyles intact, with strong acting from the actresses. Because it's a feminist story, meant to show that post-World War II, England didn't need its women any longer, the men in it are annoyed, angry, suspicious, and in one case, violent. I would say the Deputy Commissioner, despite finding Susan a bit of a nuisance, does follow up on what she says, knowing the job she had during the war and her intelligence; and Susan's husband, though not particularly happy, knows she's a good woman and in the end, has patience with her long hours away from the house.

My only question is, where is season 2? Can't wait.

Four women, Susan (Anna Maxwell Martin) Jean (Julie Graham), Millie (Rachel Stirling), and Lucy (Sophie Rundle), who previously worked at Bletchley, nine years later, pool their unique talents and resources to solve enigmas and save lives.

This is a period piece, mid 50s London, so they have the clothing and hairstyles of the time. They have to maintain the dialog of the time.

This sis a formula detective series with all the standard who-dun-it's and clues. What makes this series unique is that instead of the inspector and his sidekick, we have the for women civilians using their unique code-breaking skills picked up from working in Bletchley Park during the war, to do the same thing.

Even knowing it is only two seasons it is worth the purchase.

A revival attempt is made with The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco (2018).

The British really do period drama well. Often they choose strangely identifiable characters, which are played by highly competent actors. This show was much better than I expected. I really wondered how they were going to tie in code-breakers to a post-war world, and assumed it would be something to do with Russia. What a pleasant surprise to find these extraordinary women on the hunt for a serial killer. The science behind their quest was also extraordinary, and believe me, never suffers from the antiquated or mundane in terms of mind boggling genius in terms of their analytics. It's all very original indeed. The background is authentic 1950s and worth a look just for that. The social commentary was brilliant, though some may find it a little too extracurricular to the suspense of the main plot. The villain is good and evil, and I would have liked to have seen more of that, which is where my extra point disappeared. It would have given the story an extra kick to the suspense, which it needed, because a lot of the suspense was how husbands and other chaps would react to such aggressive role-breaking. It's a tiny criticism. This is truly a wonderful show. If you love excellent period piece BBC crime drama, then you are in for a treat when you discover The Bletchley Circle.