# The Bletchley Circle (2012)

> Four former Bletchley codebreakers reunite in 1952 Britain to solve murders the police will not take seriously.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/53041

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 7
- Episode runtime: 45 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, mystery, crime
- Created by: Guy Burt
- Network: ITV1
- Cast: Rachael Stirling, Julie Graham, Sophie Rundle, Anna Maxwell Martin, Nick Blood, Ed Birch, Michael Gould, Mark Dexter
- TMDB rating: 7.9/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2275990/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: intimate, wistful, tense, melancholic, determined

## What critics say

Audiences rate the series positively, valuing its period atmosphere, its female ensemble and its procedural mystery built on the overlooked wartime skills of its heroines.

## Synopsis

The Bletchley Circle (2012-2014) is a British period crime drama series created by Guy Burt for ITV1. Set in 1952 London, it follows four former wartime codebreakers, Susan (Anna Maxwell Martin), Millie (Rachael Stirling), Lucy (Sophie Rundle) and Jean (Julie Graham), who quietly returned to ordinary domestic lives after helping shorten World War II. When Susan notices a hidden code behind an unsolved murder, the police dismiss her suspicions, so she reunites the group to pursue the culprit outside official channels. Detective Ben Gladstone (Nick Blood) is a figure whose path crosses theirs as the case deepens. The engine of each story is the women's ingenuity under constraint: they decode ciphers, follow leads through the postwar city, and confront the sexism and danger of a society that wants them back in their kitchens. The two-season run of seven episodes in mid-length format is built around a continuing investigative thread with recurring characters. The tone is intimate, wistful and tense, with a melancholy portrait of postwar Britain. Fans of Foyle's War, Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries and The Imitation Game will find resonance in its blend of wartime intelligence heritage, period detail and female-led detection.

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