Ever Decreasing Circles is a British sitcom which ran on BBC1 between 29 January 1984 and 24 December 1989, consisting of four series and one feature-length special. It was written by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey, and it reunited them with Richard Briers, who had starred in their previous sitcom The Good Life.
It was made towards the end of a run of British comedies focussing on the aspirational middle class, with The Guardian describing it as having "a quiet, unacknowledged and deep-running despair to it that in retrospect seems quite daring".
Synopsis
Richard Briers plays Martin Bryce, an obsessive, middle-aged man at the centre of his local suburban community in Mole Valley, Surrey. This relatively unsympathetic character was the antithesis of Tom Good. Briers said that it was his favourite sitcom role. The show's signature running gag (which appeared in almost every episode) was Martin walking past the telephone in his hallway and turning the receiver around.
Martin is married to the domesticated and patient 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". Paul can not only call upon the services of an endless number of "mates" from numerous walks of life who are more than willing to do him a favour, but also claims to be on friendship terms with a number of celebrities (Sean Connery, Tony Meo, John Dankworth etc). This further isolates Martin, whose friend base is quite limited, to the extent that it becomes an obsession. Paul 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. Paul runs his own business, a hair salon, (which Martin always refers to as a 'barbers'), and later, a health studio. Martin, by contrast, has a humdrum white-collar job at Mole Valley Valves, a local company.
The other regular characters were Howard and Hilda Hughes (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 whilst having plenty of quirks of their own (such as often 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 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.
An undercurrent running throughout the series is the unresolved sexual tension and flirting between Paul and Ann. Martin sometimes seems oblivious to the attraction between Ann and Paul but in one episode, he wrongly believes that they have run off together.
The series title supposedly originated in a meeting to brainstorm possible titles, when after other titles had been rejected somebody commented that "we're going round in ever decreasing circles". At its peak, it attracted television audiences of around 12 million.
Ricky Gervais has cited the series as one of his key influences, and following Briers' death said he would waive the repeat fees on The Office if Ever Decreasing Circles was repeated on BBC One. His TV series After Life features both Penelope Wilton and Peter Egan as Anne and Paul but unrelated to this show.
Filming locations
Although the show is set in Surrey, the external location scenes were filmed in Billingshurst, West Sussex.