Few things beat Anna Maxwell Martin in a period drama and if you want to see the evidence, you’ll find it in The Bletchley Circle. The timeless series, which first aired on ITV over a decade ago, stars Anna as a former WWII codebreaker who turns her hand to solving murders – and, thanks to our friends at UKTV, the unmissable series is available to watch tonight.
The drama takes us to 1952, where Anna’s Susan Gray and her three former colleagues have resumed their normal lives after a career at the top-secret Bletchley Park communications centre. But the foursome soon find themselves pulled into code-cracking of a different kind when a series of murders raises suspicions among them.
Before you join Anna and her fellow codebreakers for a bit of crime-solving, here’s what you should know about The Bletchley Circle before turning in, including the full plot, cast and where to watch it.
What is The Bletchley Circle about?
Set in 1952, the three-part drama follows four women - Susan Gray (Anna Maxwell Martin), Millie (Rachael Stirling), Lucy (Sophie Rundle), and Jean (Julie Graham) - who worked at the top-secret Bletchley Park communications centre during the Second World War. We meet them when the war is over and the women have returned to their ordinary lives.
But when Susan hears about a series of murders that have occurred in the London area and she thinks she notices patterns that connect them, she taps back into her codebreaking past. First though, with the police choosing to take no notice of her theory, she must recruit Millie, Lucy and Jean to help her.
The first series aired on ITV in 2012, with a second four-part instalment following in 2014. Set a year on from the first series, the women were reunited for their second case when former Bletchley Park colleague, Alice Merren (Hattie Morahan) was accused of murder. The evidence was stacked against her, but the women had faith in Alice’s innocence.
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While a third series wasn’t commissioned, a spin-off, The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco, aired in 2018. The eight-part series saw Jean and Millie depart London for San Francisco to investigate the murder of a close friend, with the help of Iris (Crystal Balint) and Hailey (Chanelle Peloso).
Speaking to ITV about the show’s popularity, star Anna Maxwell Martin explained: “People enjoyed seeing four intelligent women on the television. I had a Canadian couple come up to me in a park who said they really enjoyed watching it back at home. It seems to have a wide appeal.
Who’s in the cast of The Bletchley Circle?
The cast of The Bletchley Circle includes:
- Anna Maxwell Martin (Code 404) as Susan Gray
- Rachael Stirling (Hollington Drive) as Camilla ‘Millie’ Harcourt
- Sophie Rundle (After the Flood) as Lucy
- Julie Graham (This City is Ours) as Jean McBrian
- Mark Dexter (Coalition) as Timothy Gray
- Ed Birch (Life in Squares) as Harry
- Michael Gould (I Am Maria) as Deputy Commissioner Wainwright
- Simon Sherlock (Soldier Soldier) as DCI Compton
- Simon Williams (Upstairs, Downstairs) as Cavendish
- Steven Robertson (Shetland) as Malcolm Crawley
- Hattie Morahan (The Gilded Age) as Alice Merren (series 2)
Is The Bletchley Circle any good?
Yes – it’s brilliant, in fact. Period drama meets murder mystery is already a winning combination, but when you add the likes of Anna Maxwell Martin and Sophie Rundle to the cast, it really does turn it into something truly special. It’s a smart series featuring tough, intelligent women, each of whom brings something different to the drama and make it about as watchable as period dramas get.
How can I watch The Bletchley Circle?
The Bletchley Circle series one and two are available to watch now on U.
What other Anna Maxwell Martin dramas can I watch now?
Fans of a good mystery will enjoy Ludwig. The series introduces us to John “Ludwig” Taylor, a puzzle setter who found himself impersonating his missing police detective brother James in order to find him. Anna Maxwell Martin’s performance as James's wife is as brilliant as you’d expect. You can stream the first series now on BBC iPlayer. For another brilliant period drama, we’d recommend A Spy Among Friends. The Cold War drama tells the true story of Nicholas Elliott (Damian Lewis) who worked for MI6 in the 1960s and discovered that his close friend and colleague Kim Philby had been working as an undercover agent for the KBG. Anna plays Lily Thomas, who gives Elliott the interrogation of his life. You can watch A Spy Among Friends on ITVX.
