Ever Decreasing Circles
Encyclopedia
Ever Decreasing Circles is a British situation comedy
which ran on BBC1
for four series from 1984 to 1989.
It was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey
, and reunited them with Richard Briers
, the star of their previous hit show, The Good Life. It was much less brash than most situation comedies, and was more like a comedy-drama
in places. This move into darker areas of comedy was continued with Briers's later series If You See God, Tell Him
.
He is married to Ann (Penelope Wilton
), and has a settled, orderly lifestyle, until he encounters their new next-door neighbour, ex-British
Army
officer and Cambridge Blue, Paul Ryman (Peter Egan
). Paul is everything Martin is not – adventurous, laissez-faire
, flippant, witty, handsome and charming; in the words of Martin, a "couldn't care less, come on life..... amuse me, merchant". He attempts to join in with the activities of Martin and his friends, but his fresh thinking causes Martin to see him as a rival, who might want to "take over" Martin's self-appointed role as organiser. Martin's obsession with order and stability also leads him to get upset at Paul's minor changes to routine, such as sitting at a different table in the local pub. A running joke throughout the four series is Martin's insistence that the telephone receiver be placed a particular way on the cradle (this being an old-style telephone, where the receiver could go either way). Paul runs his own business, a hair salon, and later, a health studio.
An undercurrent through the series was the unresolved sexual tension
and flirting
between Paul and Ann, but nothing ever happened between them, despite many opportunities and given Paul's moral standards, which are shown on several occasions. Despite Martin's foibles, he clearly adores Ann, and although Ann is often infuriated by him, she obviously loves him, allowing the couple the ability to ride out even their most difficult disagreements.
It is suggested that the rather unlikely marriage between the Bryces came about because Martin went to great lengths to help Ann through a difficult period in her earlier life, and that she still feels indebted to him for this. Martin, in his quieter moments, is well aware of the danger of Ann running away with Paul. Indeed, in one episode, he wrongly believes that she has done so, and leaves home, leaving Ann a note admitting defeat, wishing her happiness, and stating that he will always love her. Martin's relationship with Paul is double-edged. Paul is always friendly to Martin, who veers between treating him with thinly disguised hatred, and grudging acknowledgement of Paul's virtues. Paul is also loyal to Martin as a gesture towards the more amicable and blameless Ann, solving a marital crisis in one episode when Martin is tricked by a work colleague into believing he'd had a drunken one-night stand while away on business, and admitting to Ann his infidelity. Paul's undercover work with the colleague prompted an admission of the trick in front of Ann, restoring her faith in Martin.
Central to the show is Martin's jealousy of Paul. Although he rarely admits it, Martin would clearly like to be more like him in many respects, particularly the ease with which he is able to make friends and get jobs done with a minimum of fuss. Paul is shown to be significantly better than Martin at many things, most notably cricket
, where Paul joins the local team and promptly smashes all the records that Martin proudly holds. A notable event comes when the two have to play in a snooker
tournament, where Martin is delighted to find that Paul is useless (the tragedy being that the tournament coincides with Howard's anger at being seen as "a loser", and demolishing Martin in the final). A parallel is drawn to a story of him as a child, where Martin's own "gang", was ruined by the arrival of a new boy in the school, implying that he is scared that Paul's arrival will see a similar process of losing his friends and his status to the new arrival (this story is recounted by Martin himself in Series 1 and Mrs Beardsmore in Series 2).
Although it in many ways retained the dynamics and atmosphere of earlier "sofa sitcoms" like Terry and June
, the tone was, owing to the studies of Martin's obsessiveness and the unrequited romance between Ann and Paul, darker than most of what had gone before. Ann's frustration at being trapped in a dull routine and looking for ways out had resonances of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
. Unlike Perrin, however, Ann lived out her escape fantasies only in very minor ways, such as spontaneously taking a trip to Boulogne-sur-Mer
, to Martin's horror ("Nothing French has happened to you, has it?" screams an appalled Martin over the phone).
Other regular characters included Howard and Hilda (Stanley Lebor
and Geraldine Newman
), another married couple who generally add lighter humour to the plots. They are long-standing friends and neighbours of Martin's who share some of his obsessiveness while having plenty of quirks of their own (such as always wearing "his and hers" matching outfits) but are also attracted by Paul's personality. Although Howard and Hilda are often seen as being rather timid, they do have strong moral values, and can be very forthright in chastising other characters (usually Martin or Paul) when they believe them to have done something wrong. Various storylines saw them siding with both Martin and Paul on different issues, though usually being forced at the end of the day to side with Martin out of sheer loyalty if nothing else.
The show also featured guest appearances by Peter Blake
, Ronnie Stevens
, Victoria Burgoyne
and Ray Winstone
.
After four series, Ever Decreasing Circles ended on Christmas Eve 1989 with an 80 minute finale entitled "Moving On" (sometimes referred to by the name "New Horizons", as the DVD release titles it) in which Martin's employer, Mole Valley Valves, merges with another company (Lee Valley Valves) and moves to Oswestry
. Ann discovers she is pregnant, and despite Martin initially resenting the unborn child for forcing him to move away from The Close, the story ends on a high note with the couple bidding a fond farewell to their neighbours. The final scene sees Martin standing in his empty hallway, going over to the telephone (the only thing left from the Bryces' ownership), and turning the receiver around, suggesting that Martin's obsessiveness will live on.
's Britain's Best Sitcom
poll in 2003. At its peak it attracted television audiences of around 12 million people.
's Prelude No.15 from his Twenty four Preludes, op. 34, played by Ronnie Lane. The key is in the contrasting rhythms: a regular, tarantella
-like rhythm plays in the background while over it, a more insistent, slightly frantic minor theme chatters away obsessively.
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
which ran on BBC1
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
for four series from 1984 to 1989.
It was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey
Esmonde and Larbey
John Gilbert Esmonde and Bob Larbey were a British television comedy scriptwriting duo from the 1960s to the 1990s, creating popular situation comedies such as Please Sir! and The Good Life.-Larbey's life:Larbey was born in Clapham, South London in 1934 and made his writing debut for...
, and reunited them with Richard Briers
Richard Briers
Richard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a...
, the star of their previous hit show, The Good Life. It was much less brash than most situation comedies, and was more like a comedy-drama
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
in places. This move into darker areas of comedy was continued with Briers's later series If You See God, Tell Him
If You See God, Tell Him
If You See God, Tell Him is a black comedy television series starring Richard Briers, Adrian Edmondson, and Imelda Staunton. Written by Andrew Marshall and David Renwick, it was first broadcast on BBC1 in 1993...
.
Characters and plot
Briers played Martin Bryce, an obsessive middle-aged man who is at the centre of his local suburban community.He is married to Ann (Penelope Wilton
Penelope Wilton
Penelope Alice Wilton, OBE is an English actress.-Life and career:Penelope Alice Wilton was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, to a former actress mother and a businessman father. She is a niece of actors Bill Travers and Linden Travers and a cousin of the actor Richard Morant...
), and has a settled, orderly lifestyle, until he encounters their new next-door neighbour, ex-British
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
Army
Army
An army An army An army (from Latin arma "arms, weapons" via Old French armée, "armed" (feminine), in the broadest sense, is the land-based military of a nation or state. It may also include other branches of the military such as the air force via means of aviation corps...
officer and Cambridge Blue, Paul Ryman (Peter Egan
Peter Egan
Peter Egan is a British actor known for playing smooth neighbour Paul Ryman in 1980s sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles. He is married to retired actress Myra Frances.-Early life:...
). Paul is everything Martin is not – adventurous, laissez-faire
Laissez-faire
In economics, laissez-faire describes an environment in which transactions between private parties are free from state intervention, including restrictive regulations, taxes, tariffs and enforced monopolies....
, flippant, witty, handsome and charming; in the words of Martin, a "couldn't care less, come on life..... amuse me, merchant". He attempts to join in with the activities of Martin and his friends, but his fresh thinking causes Martin to see him as a rival, who might want to "take over" Martin's self-appointed role as organiser. Martin's obsession with order and stability also leads him to get upset at Paul's minor changes to routine, such as sitting at a different table in the local pub. A running joke throughout the four series is Martin's insistence that the telephone receiver be placed a particular way on the cradle (this being an old-style telephone, where the receiver could go either way). Paul runs his own business, a hair salon, and later, a health studio.
An undercurrent through the series was the unresolved sexual tension
Sexual tension
Sexual tension is a social phenomenon that occurs when two people interact and one or both feel sexual desire, but the consummation is postponed or never happens....
and flirting
Flirting
Flirting is a playful, romantic, or sexual overture by one person to another subtly indicating an interest in a deeper relationship with the other person, and can involve verbal communication as well as body language...
between Paul and Ann, but nothing ever happened between them, despite many opportunities and given Paul's moral standards, which are shown on several occasions. Despite Martin's foibles, he clearly adores Ann, and although Ann is often infuriated by him, she obviously loves him, allowing the couple the ability to ride out even their most difficult disagreements.
It is suggested that the rather unlikely marriage between the Bryces came about because Martin went to great lengths to help Ann through a difficult period in her earlier life, and that she still feels indebted to him for this. Martin, in his quieter moments, is well aware of the danger of Ann running away with Paul. Indeed, in one episode, he wrongly believes that she has done so, and leaves home, leaving Ann a note admitting defeat, wishing her happiness, and stating that he will always love her. Martin's relationship with Paul is double-edged. Paul is always friendly to Martin, who veers between treating him with thinly disguised hatred, and grudging acknowledgement of Paul's virtues. Paul is also loyal to Martin as a gesture towards the more amicable and blameless Ann, solving a marital crisis in one episode when Martin is tricked by a work colleague into believing he'd had a drunken one-night stand while away on business, and admitting to Ann his infidelity. Paul's undercover work with the colleague prompted an admission of the trick in front of Ann, restoring her faith in Martin.
Central to the show is Martin's jealousy of Paul. Although he rarely admits it, Martin would clearly like to be more like him in many respects, particularly the ease with which he is able to make friends and get jobs done with a minimum of fuss. Paul is shown to be significantly better than Martin at many things, most notably cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
, where Paul joins the local team and promptly smashes all the records that Martin proudly holds. A notable event comes when the two have to play in a snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
tournament, where Martin is delighted to find that Paul is useless (the tragedy being that the tournament coincides with Howard's anger at being seen as "a loser", and demolishing Martin in the final). A parallel is drawn to a story of him as a child, where Martin's own "gang", was ruined by the arrival of a new boy in the school, implying that he is scared that Paul's arrival will see a similar process of losing his friends and his status to the new arrival (this story is recounted by Martin himself in Series 1 and Mrs Beardsmore in Series 2).
Although it in many ways retained the dynamics and atmosphere of earlier "sofa sitcoms" like Terry and June
Terry and June
Terry and June is a British sitcom that was broadcast on BBC1 from 1979 to 1987. The programme is largely a continuation of Happy Ever After, and stars Terry Scott and June Whitfield as a middle-class suburban couple, Terry and June Medford...
, the tone was, owing to the studies of Martin's obsessiveness and the unrequited romance between Ann and Paul, darker than most of what had gone before. Ann's frustration at being trapped in a dull routine and looking for ways out had resonances of The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin
The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is a series of novels which developed into a British sitcom starring Leonard Rossiter in the title role...
. Unlike Perrin, however, Ann lived out her escape fantasies only in very minor ways, such as spontaneously taking a trip to Boulogne-sur-Mer
Boulogne-sur-Mer
-Road:* Metropolitan bus services are operated by the TCRB* Coach services to Calais and Dunkerque* A16 motorway-Rail:* The main railway station is Gare de Boulogne-Ville and located in the south of the city....
, to Martin's horror ("Nothing French has happened to you, has it?" screams an appalled Martin over the phone).
Other regular characters included Howard and Hilda (Stanley Lebor
Stanley Lebor
Stanley Harvey Lebor is an English actor, best known for his role as Howard in the 1980s BBC TV series, Ever Decreasing Circles and the Mongon Doctor in Flash Gordon...
and Geraldine Newman
Geraldine Newman
Geraldine Newman is an English film and television actress who has acted in more than 30 television programmes and films.Her most notable television performance was on the sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles.-Biography:...
), another married couple who generally add lighter humour to the plots. They are long-standing friends and neighbours of Martin's who share some of his obsessiveness while having plenty of quirks of their own (such as always wearing "his and hers" matching outfits) but are also attracted by Paul's personality. Although Howard and Hilda are often seen as being rather timid, they do have strong moral values, and can be very forthright in chastising other characters (usually Martin or Paul) when they believe them to have done something wrong. Various storylines saw them siding with both Martin and Paul on different issues, though usually being forced at the end of the day to side with Martin out of sheer loyalty if nothing else.
The show also featured guest appearances by Peter Blake
Peter Blake
Peter Blake may refer to:*Peter Blake , British pop artist*Peter Blake , New Zealand yachtsman*Peter Blake Scottish-born actor...
, Ronnie Stevens
Ronnie Stevens
Ronnie Stevens may refer to:* Ronnie Stevens , British actor* Veronica Stevens, American female wrestler, sometimes known as "Ronnie" Stevens...
, Victoria Burgoyne
Victoria Burgoyne
Victoria Burgoyne is an English actress.She is known for being a guest actress in the infamously uncompleted Doctor Who serial Shada, the making of which was abandoned as the result of a BBC strike...
and Ray Winstone
Ray Winstone
Raymond Andrew "Ray" Winstone is an English film and television actor. He is mostly known for his "tough guy" roles, beginning with that of Carlin in the 1979 film Scum and as Will Scarlet in the cult television adventure series Robin of Sherwood. He has also become well known as a voice over...
.
After four series, Ever Decreasing Circles ended on Christmas Eve 1989 with an 80 minute finale entitled "Moving On" (sometimes referred to by the name "New Horizons", as the DVD release titles it) in which Martin's employer, Mole Valley Valves, merges with another company (Lee Valley Valves) and moves to Oswestry
Oswestry
Oswestry is a town and civil parish in Shropshire, England, close to the Welsh border. It is at the junction of the A5, A483, and A495 roads....
. Ann discovers she is pregnant, and despite Martin initially resenting the unborn child for forcing him to move away from The Close, the story ends on a high note with the couple bidding a fond farewell to their neighbours. The final scene sees Martin standing in his empty hallway, going over to the telephone (the only thing left from the Bryces' ownership), and turning the receiver around, suggesting that Martin's obsessiveness will live on.
Popularity
The show was voted number 52 in the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Britain's Best Sitcom
Britain's Best Sitcom
Britain's Best Sitcom was a poll conducted in 2004 by the BBC, to identify the United Kingdom's best situation comedy. Viewers were asked to vote for their favourite by phone, text message and on the web. The top ten went forward to a final round of voting...
poll in 2003. At its peak it attracted television audiences of around 12 million people.
Cast
| Character | Actor |
|---|---|
| Martin Bryce | Richard Briers Richard Briers Richard David Briers, CBE is an English actor whose career has encompassed theatre, television, film and radio.He first came to prominence as George Starling in Marriage Lines in the 1960s, but it was in the following decade when he played Tom Good in the BBC sitcom The Good Life that he became a... |
| Ann Bryce | Penelope Wilton Penelope Wilton Penelope Alice Wilton, OBE is an English actress.-Life and career:Penelope Alice Wilton was born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, to a former actress mother and a businessman father. She is a niece of actors Bill Travers and Linden Travers and a cousin of the actor Richard Morant... |
| Paul Ryman | Peter Egan Peter Egan Peter Egan is a British actor known for playing smooth neighbour Paul Ryman in 1980s sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles. He is married to retired actress Myra Frances.-Early life:... |
| Howard Hughes | Stanley Lebor Stanley Lebor Stanley Harvey Lebor is an English actor, best known for his role as Howard in the 1980s BBC TV series, Ever Decreasing Circles and the Mongon Doctor in Flash Gordon... |
| Hilda Hughes | Geraldine Newman Geraldine Newman Geraldine Newman is an English film and television actress who has acted in more than 30 television programmes and films.Her most notable television performance was on the sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles.-Biography:... |
Music
The title music was not written specifically for the series, but was instead a witty piano piece, ShostakovichDmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
's Prelude No.15 from his Twenty four Preludes, op. 34, played by Ronnie Lane. The key is in the contrasting rhythms: a regular, tarantella
Tarantella
The term tarantella groups a number of different southern Italian couple folk dances characterized by a fast upbeat tempo, usually in 6/8 time , accompanied by tambourines. It is among the most recognized of traditional Italian music. The specific dance name varies with every region, for instance...
-like rhythm plays in the background while over it, a more insistent, slightly frantic minor theme chatters away obsessively.
DVD release
The complete series of Ever Decreasing Circles is available on Region 2 DVD from Cinema Club.External links
- Ever Decreasing Circles at Phill.co.uk
- Title Sequence