However,
Bletchley Circle was different from the “women in war” theme I was expecting and enjoy.
It did start out showing four women working at Bletchley –
Susan, an inspired puzzle solver; Lucy, who has a photographic memory; Millie,
gifted at languages and strategy; and Jean, who appeared to be their boss
during the war and seemed to know where to go to get information at all times –
then jumped to seven years after the war.
The women have lost touch and Susan has married (Tim, who does not know
of his wife’s past as a code breaker because she and many others had signed the
Official Secrets Act and can’t tell anyone – it is amazing how these people
respected their pledge) and is raising two children, dealing with post-war
rations. Slightly acquainted with a
woman who was murdered, Susan starts following newspaper reports of her death
which turns into coverage of a serial killer.
Susan notices a pattern which she thinks the police have missed and
insists on bringing her concerns to Scotland Yard. The detective is polite at first but can’t
find anything to back up her theories so sends her home. Frustrated but convinced she is right, Susan
hunts up her old friends and convinces them to help her investigate the
killer. They are reluctant, and in
Millie’s case, a bit hurt that Susan gave up their plan to travel the world to
marry and settle down, but soon they also believe it is their duty to catch the
killer to prevent additional deaths.
However, while the police scoff at them, the killer becomes aware of
their efforts and recognizes in Susan an intricate mind worthy of his
respect. In one chilling scene, after
Susan’s husband, Tim, has suggested she do crossword puzzles rather than worry
about silly old murders, Tim picks up the newspaper and said, “Look, you
managed to get all of this one done quickly!”
Susan looks at the nearly completed crossword on her breakfast table and
realizes the killer was in her home and that she has put her family into grave
danger.
As with Homefront, one of my all-time favorite TV
shows, this series shows the displacement certain women who had made
significant contributions to WWII experienced afterwards, here relegated to
housework
and childrearing (Susan – which would be fine if she weren’t so
bored by it), waitressing (Millie, despite all her language skills), ironing
(Lucy, who also gets beaten by her husband).
Only Jean seems to have established a career, working as a
librarian. Perhaps it is implausible
that the women could have obtained the information that enables them to solve
the mystery (as I said to my sister, a modern version would include a hacker to
get the needed data), but it was very enjoyable despite that. The only flaw was that Susan, the most
interesting and most important character, was hard to understand. I think the rapid-fire way words came out of
her mouth was supposed to show how urgent she considered the issue and to
contrast with her somber demeanor.
However, I wished she had enunciated more clearly! I was pleased to read that more episodes have been commissioned. You can still
watch the series on PBS.com and Bletchley Park is now a museum, which I hope to
visit on my next trip to England.
If
you are interested in this topic, here are a couple books you would enjoy:
Nonfiction
Fiction
