This British mystery show follows four women who knew each other during their time together at Bletchley, a secret organization that decoded hidden messages of the Germans for the British government. The four ladies were remarkable at picking up patterns and codes that helped them win the World War.
Years after the war, they now live normal lives with “normal” jobs and have gone their separate ways. No one around them, not even their family, knows about their stint at Bletchley.
One of the women, Susan, notices a pattern in the series of killings that have been boggling the police force. A number of women have gone missing and after a few days, their bodies are found. Since Susan’s mind is trained to spot patterns and codes, she finds that the killer, possibly unaware of the fact, is moving in a pattern that would allow Susan to predict where the next victim might be found. Knowing this, she goes to the police, hoping to help the task force but the information she gave appears to be wrong. Unconvinced that she made a mistake, she contacts her former Bletchley mates so they can find the killer before he strikes again.
The show only has 2 seasons (series) with 3 – 4 episodes per season. Season 1 has 3 episodes that solve 1 mystery. While Season 2 has 4 episodes with 2 separate arcs that are concluded after 2 episodes each. I wish there were more episodes but unfortunately, it was cancelled after Season 2, in 2014.
It’s very well done and it brings to mind the movie, “The Imitation Game,” where they came up with the machine that eventually helps the British decode messages from the German army thus helping the Allies predict the German army’s movements. It’s interesting to see how ingenious they were given their lack of technology. Imagine if it were during our time, we would simply need a super computer with a high capacity and it would do all the work for us (except for some serious coding, of course).
Good news (to me), however, since I found out that a spin-off has been released a couple of weeks ago. YAY! It’s called The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco. Apparently a couple of the original cast would reprise their role in this new series but the setting would be in San Francisco. At first, I thought it would be an American version but I’m glad it isn’t just an adaptation. Looking forward to watching it.
NinthMelody rating: 10/10