The Bletchley Circle Season 2

DVD Wholesale Quick Overview:

Like Season 1, The Bletchley Circle has the five main characters – all women who worked at Bletchley Park as code breakers during World War II trying to find contentment back in civilian life sans the importance and excitement of making such a vital contribution to winning the war against Hitler. Imagine all that these women did and how significant their lives must have seemed only to be relegated to being a “housewife” or teacher, or sales clerk afterwards? To make matters worse, they were obligated to sign and comply with The Official Secrets Act of 1939, which prevented these ladies from even telling their own husbands and/or family members what they did and how they contributed toward saving the world from a deranged human monster.

The stories center around a mystery typically involving a murder or murders and the women using their extraordinary skills to detect patterns and garner clues that even professional police inspectors did not have the ability or insight to do.

I can’t say that I’ve seen a finer and more entertaining show – especially one so centered around true events (and I’m comparing this with shows such as Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, Mad Men, Mr. Selfridge’s, and Call The Midwives). The actors are superb, and the Directors, set styling and scenes are top notch.

This time around there are 4 excellent episodes (instead of three in the 1st season) with two episodes focusing on two different stories – both equally compelling mysteries involving murders and featuring the fascinating way each woman brings her special skill to help solve the crime.

We lose the considerable talents of Anna Maxwell Martin as Susan Gray in the fifth episode as she and her husband, Timothy (played by Mark Dexter) and their children relocate to Australia for his work. I imagine in real life that Susan just had too many other role opportunities to turn down in order to do the entire 4 episodes. But our loss is compensated by the introduction of another woman who worked at Bletchley with the women, Hattie Morahan as Alice Merren. Alice is actually embroiled in the 1st episode of this series as a suspect in a murder which we learn she did not commit, but she refuses to prove her innocence (except to the other women) as she is protecting someone dear to her.

As I said in my review of Bletchley Circle Season 1, this show is intriguing and entertaining on so many levels since it’s based on real historical events and it shows women characters in strong inspiring roles who are attractive FOR their characters and yet easy to relate to.

Before this show, I’ve never taken time to write or petition for a show to be continued but I actually did that in hopes that some smart producer and distributor would be wise enough to produce a 3rd season. I’d love to see a third season as there is such a shortage of really, really good programming.

One additional note of interest: Kate Middleton, a.k.a. Duchess of Cambridge, and wife of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge visited Bletchley Park in June in Buckinghamshire, where her paternal grandmother Valerie Glassborow was a “Duty Officer” during World War II. Hopefully, that will garner more attention to this excellent series and maybe that 3rd season so many of us fans are wishing for!

– Jacy

Sorry this series ended so soon. A third and fourth season would have been delightful. This series was well acted and the staging was spot on! It definitely had a early “50”s look and feel to it. THE WRITING IS EXCEPTIONAL AND THE ACTING EVEN BETTER!!

If you have series 1, be sure to buy this as it only gets better. If you don’t have series 1 or have not seen it, then buy it before you order series 2 as the story lines build from story-to-story

– Bill Jackson

As mysteries, these episodes were pretty conventional: the plots were about a conspiracy, a murder, human trafficking… What adds dimension to this show is portraying the position of women in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Women who contributed their intellectual talent at Bletchley Park during WWII were expected to revert to being housewives or clerks who were not respected by even their husbands.

The show seems to blame the British Official Secrets Act that prohibit people who had secret clearance jobs during WWII, including the women who worked at Bletchley Park, to say where they worked during the war, even to their husbands and fathers. No doubt that Act did not help the important men in their lives to recognize the talent and effort of the women, to change their view of the women. That seemed to indicate that the men and a male-dominated society somehow knew during the war that the women were smart, and recruited them to help win the war, but somehow the women became dumb after the war.

I know from history that this really happened so it’s good of this show to point that out, peripherally. Even today, more than 60 years (2 generations) after WWII, there exists societies that actively suppress women, to ‘do without’ the benefit of their intellectual talents and efforts.

The costumes and makeup in the show certainly make that era seem grim. I am told that after the war in Britain, life indeed was grim. There were shortages of everything including food. I would have given this show 5 stars if it showed more instances of historically correct societal practices, as does another British TV program, Foyle’s War.

– Mehetabelle

DVD Wholesale Main Features:

Format: Multiple Formats, Color, Dolby, NTSC, Widescreen
Language: English
Subtitles: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only.)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number of discs: 2
Studio: Pbs (Direct)
DVD Release Date: April 15, 2014
Run Time: 240 minutes