# ever decreasing circles ![[ever-decreasingcircles(titlecard).jpg|300]] opening titles of ever decreasing circles genre: british sitcom created by: john esmonde bob larbey based on: hiccups (stage play) directed by: sydney lotterby (13 episodes) harold snoad (14 episodes) starring: richard briers penelope wilton peter egan stanley lebor geraldine newman opening theme: prelude no. 15 from twenty-four preludes op. 34 composer: dmitri shostakovich country of origin: united kingdom original language: english no. of series: 4 no. of episodes: 27 production running time: 30 minutes original release network: bbc1 release: 29 january 1984 - 24 december 1989 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 ir previous popular sitcom the good life it was made toward 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" martin is married to the domesticated and patient ann (penelope wilton) and has a settled orderly lifestyle until ey encounters ir 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." ey attempts to join in with the activities of martin and ir friends but ir fresh thinking causes martin to see ir 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 ir to get upset at paul's minor changes to routine such as sitting at a different table in the local pub. paul runs ir own business a hair salon and later a health studio. martin by contrast has a humdrum white-collar job at mole valley valves a company named after an area of surrey 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 ir obsessiveness whilst having plenty of quirks of ir own (such as often wearing "ir 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 ey wrongly believes that they have run off together. martin leaves home leaving ann a note wishing ir happiness and stating that ey will always love ir. graham rinaldi notes that "briers' performance is poignant and genuinely moving as ey wrestles with the character's inner turmoil." martin's relationship with paul is double-edged. paul is always friendly to martin who veers between thinly disguised hatred and grudging admiration. paul also solves a marital crisis in one episode when martin is tricked by a colleague into believing ey had had a drunken one-night stand while away on business and admitting to ann ir infidelity. paul cons the colleague into an admission of the trick in front of ann restoring ir faith in martin during a snooker tournament where martin is delighted to find that paul is useless (the tournament coincides with howard's anger at being seen as "a loser" causing ir to defeat martin in the final.) a parallel is drawn with an incident from martin's childhood in which ir own "gang" was taken over by a new boy the show also featured guest appearances by peter blake ronnie stevens victoria burgoyne ray winstone pamela salem and suzan crowley after four series ever decreasing circles ended on christmas eve 1989 with an 80-minute finale entitled "moving on" ("new horizons" on the dvd release) in which martin's employer mole valley valves merges with another company (lee valley valves) and moves to oswestry. ann discovers they is pregnant and despite martin initially resenting the unborn child for forcing ir to move away from the close the story ends with the couple bidding farewell to ir neighbours. the final scene sees martin standing in ir 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 the series originated in john esmonde and bob larbey's 1980 stage play hiccups which featured versions of the characters as they would later appear in the television series. martin was played by sam kelly 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" reappraising the series andy dawson in the daily mirror notes that "ever decreasing circles strayed far from the well-worn path that other britcoms trudged along in the 1970s and 1980s. there was a very real darkness at the heart of it with martin existing in what was almost certainly a state of permanent mental anguish." show although the show is set in surrey the external location scenes were filmed in billingshurst west sussex character: actor martin bryce: richard briers ann bryce: penelope wilton paul ryman: peter egan howard hughes: stanley lebor hilda hughes: geraldine newman mrs beardsmore: gabrielle daye laurence: timothy bateson mrs ripper: ann davies tommy cooper: ronnie stevens rex tynan: peter blake:## 1989 christmas special just over two years after the end of the fourth series in 1989 the programme returned with a one-off 80-minute christmas special. the show titled "moving on" was broadcast on christmas eve the complete series of ever decreasing circles was released on dvd in 2007. few brought (/into) it // republic of bob