Jobs for the girls?

A three-part drama set in 1952; The Bletchley Circle follows four female ex Second World War Bletchley Park German military decoders, now back in their usual lives. Susan (Anna Maxwell Martin), Millie (Rachael Stirling) Jean (Julie Graham) and Lucy (Sophie Rundle) have become stagnant and mundane in their post war endeavours, until a dark and sinister serial killer begins terrorizing the area.  Women have been abducted, tortured and murdered; the police are getting nowhere and are typically clueless, but can this clever collective crack the case, by thinking outside the box and working out the pattern of the killer?

Anna Maxwell Martin is wonderful at the leader of the pack, showing that she is a very versatile actress; a world away from her role in Jimmy McGovern’s Accused earlier in the week. The Bletchley Circle is a lot of warm nostalgia and of course it is a slightly farfetched ideal as a story, as is always the case with period sleuth narrative drama. The female quartet work very well together, the clever script  is written by Guy Burt.

There are some moments of gritty reality, which are far from cosy, directed wonderfully by Andy de Emmony with plenty of post – war detail,  lit well for a classic movie style, a promising first part.

This drama is the perfect start to the autumnal schedule, roll on part two and three.