Ever Decreasing Circles

[TJ]

It's about time we had a discussion of this show on here!

For anyone who isn't familiar with it (I'm assuming that will be a lot of you, as I don't think it's really been repeated since it went out in the mid-late 1980s), this was a sitcom about a battle of wits between two neighbours - Martin (Richard Briers), a meticulous and obsessive man whose idea of a good time is to redo some already well-filed filing and to volunteer himself to help out with every good cause under the sun, and Paul (Peter Egan), a laid-back and sophisticated Cambridge graduate who excels at everything he tries his hand at without even making an effort.

What made the series particularly interesting, aside from the fact that it was brilliantly scripted, was that it flew in the face of long-established convention with regard to the relationship between the characters. On face value, Martin would seem to be a David Brent/Alan Partridge style figure, but in fact the audience are never invited to laugh at him for being 'sad' and in fact are encouraged to sympathise with someone who may be annoying and pedantic but who is essentially a decent and honourable person with the welfare of others at heart. He also has two loyal friends, Howard and Hilda, who idolise him, and despite being the sort of couple who go on holiday to the same place every year and still like to look at their slides on a regular basis, they are not 'sad' and in fact are depicted as being perfectly content with their lot in life. Paul, on the other hand, is nowhere near as likeable - he's vindictive, smug, an underachiever and has no real friends. The difference between this and more modern sitcoms with a superfically similar premise could not be more marked.

Last time I looked, the DVDs of series one and two were going for £6.99 each on Play. If you've got a bit of spare cash and were looking about for something new to try, you really could do a lot worse than invest in those...

[Munday's Chylde]

Well reminded TJ, I've been meaning to add these to my rental queue for sometime (they are one disc sets aren't they?)

They're a joy to watch, I don't know anyone who has seen them who doesn't enjoy them.

They are on satellite every week I know but they were also very briefly repeated on bbc1 either last year or the year before at lunchtime (in the slot which also started repeating Bread and Keeping Up Appearnces) but seemed to vanish again as soon as they started.

You are right in saying you sympathise with Martin, his little world was all but perfect until Paul moved in and started to offer an exciting alternative to his wife and his friends - all he wants is everything back as it was before. Who can't relate to that?

[TOCMFIC]

I know it was technically a sitcom, but my memories of it are of it being more melancholy than pretty much every other sitcom.

I used to watch it religiously. And the theme music is just so atmospheric.

[ApexJazz]

I really dig Ever Decreasing Circles; a rich character study and Briers is endlessly fascinating in the role (it isn't the character that is atrabilious, only the outcome of his life)...I don't hesitate to say that it is much superior to The Good Life.
(didn't know it was available on DVD; thanks for pointing it out....how many series did this hit?)

[easytarget]

I really dig Ever Decreasing Circles; a rich character study and Briers is endlessly fascinating in the role (it isn't the character that is atrabilious, only the outcome of his life)...I don't hesitate to say that it is much superior to The Good Life.
(didn't know it was available on DVD; thanks for pointing it out....how many series did this hit?)

According to these guys http://www.phill.co.uk/comedy/circles/ there were 4 series.
The third one just came out on DVD a month or so ago. It's excellent.

[ApexJazz]

[
According to these guys http://www.phill.co.uk/comedy/circles/ there were 4 series.
The third one just came out on DVD a month or so ago. It's excellent.

ah, thank you for that info, sir

[Jemble Fred]

Used to watch this with the whole family when I were a child-type - thought it was one of the ultimate 'You Must Be The Husband' style 8:30 family sitcoms. Intrigued to learn it's worth checking out again, and I do want to. Just saw it in a shop for £12.99. It's still there. I'm not that fucking intrigued.

[Spackler]

According to these guys http://www.phill.co.uk/comedy/circles/ there were 4 series.
The third one just came out on DVD a month or so ago. It's excellent.

The final series is due out next month - 2 discs, cast interview on Wogan, feature-length final episode....you can keep your "Day Today", thanks very much.

[benthalo]

The fourth disc should also feature the Did You See..? behind the scenes feature of the time. Well, it was mentioned by Network when series one first appeared on the shelves so I do hope it will.

Just got to the end of series 3 over here. Jem, your memories are wrong. It's weird how EDC is remembered as a YMBTH  tea and cakes low-speed farce ( which is certainly how I remember it, from a similar age), when in fact it was nothing of the sort. Go on, it's worth the gamble.

[kidsick5000]

This may be a daft question, but is there any other sitcom that needs to be remembered differently?

EDC seems to have its fair share of dark underlayers.  I used to wonder why Paul had moved into such a nowhere place, but other than that, didnt think a huge amount about the series. My friend on the other hand had it pegged from the word go it seems.

[23 Daves]

Haven't seen it in a long while, but loved it at the time and I'm fairly sure I would now.  Martin's rants at the time were priceless - partly (I'm sad to say) because he was the kind of overlooked everyman most of us can relate to, right down to working damn hard at the office but continually being sidelined for the sparkier folk around him, and trying his hardest for his wife and then being written off as amusingly anal.  You could feel the poor sod's rage!  All he wanted was a bit of respect.

I would buy it, but I haven't got a DVD player sadly, and getting new electrical gear has been very low on my list of priorities for the last year or so for personal reasons.  One for the future, though, perhaps.

[Darrell]

You can get it on video too, I'm certain.

[Munday's Chylde]

This may be a daft question, but is there any other sitcom that needs to be remembered differently?

EDC seems to have its fair share of dark underlayers.  I used to wonder why Paul had moved into such a nowhere place, but other than that, didnt think a huge amount about the series. My friend on the other hand had it pegged from the word go it seems.

Well I seem to remember 'Sorry' having more than one layer to it. I genuinely haven't seen that since it's initial airing though so it may be mind tricks. I wouldn't mind checking it out - isnt that meant to be getting a dvd release too?

[Darrell]

isnt that meant to be getting a dvd release too?

Yes, so be glad I said that instead of Yus My Dear or something...

[Gavin]

Used to watch this with the whole family when I were a child-type - thought it was one of the ultimate 'You Must Be The Husband' style 8:30 family sitcoms. Intrigued to learn it's worth checking out again, and I do want to. Just saw it in a shop for £12.99. It's still there. I'm not that fucking intrigued.

The first two series are £6.99 each at Play.com, although I'm holding out for the boxset.

Surely you of all people would give a relatively obscure Richard Briers sitcom the benefit of the doubt?

[easytarget]

The final series is due out next month - 2 discs, cast interview on Wogan, feature-length final episode....you can keep your "Day Today", thanks very much.

2 discs? Ace.
The other releases are a bit sparse as far as extree special features are concerned.
It also claims to be "digitally restored" so it might look a bit better too.

None of these comments should put anyone off buying series 1-3 (especially not for 7 quid) they're really very good indeed.

[axel]

The first two series are £6.99 each at Play.com, although I'm holding out for the boxset.

The boxset is out soon, although it maybe cheaper to buy each series seperately.

http://playcom.at/cookdandbombd?DURL=http://www.play.com/play247.asp?page=title&r=R2&title=149786

I seem to remember that even as a child the programme had an air of desperation and depression, maybe i shouldn't watch it again!

I keep looking at the Reggie Perrin DVDs (my favourite underrated comedy), but haven't got around to buying yet.

[Emergency Lalla Ward Ten]

'Right, here's a question - what's everyone's *second* favourite jam?'

[Rats]

Oh yes, I remember this, Briars was really good in it, that's all I remember. Was his character modelled on you TJ ;)

[ApexJazz]

I can tell that memories of this show are blurred from the sitcom lesser lights of the time. I assure anyone in doubt that, despite appearances, Ever Decreasing Circles is not one of those boring 80's sitcalms...The scripts don't try to make the character dynamics easy for the audiences (which are even more complex than what TJ delineated), the characters themselves are rich, even allowing the briers character a look  of murderous rage (which Briers delivers terrifyingly), the situations are well crafted yet are brave enough to leave unresolved (no big deal these days, but must have been novel at the time).  
I gotta' come back to Briers who really makes the show. such a remarkable actor: the facial mannerisms, speech patterns, his very physicality is so different from his Shakespeare, the goo life; If You See God, or any of his other roles...well worth giving the dvds a look.  Oh yes, I almost forgot...the show is funny.

[Munday's Chylde]

The box set is out soon - see the upcoming dvd thread.