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Seven years after the demise of their successful satire of suburban
non-conformity, The Good Life (BBC, 1975-78), writers John Esmonde and Bob
Larbey reunited with its star Richard Briers for another suburban comedy.
The character created for Briers, Martin Bryce, is a neighbourhood busybody
and chairman of the residents' association, who has transformed his box room
into an office with essential duplicating machine. He is also an
obsessive-compulsive, who is deeply uncomfortable about change and insists that
the telephone receiver is the 'right way round'. Ever Decreasing Circles is full
of such acute observations of human behaviour. Though happy to interfere in the
lives of his neighbours (in particular Howard and Hilda Hughes, a devoted couple
with a penchant for matching sweaters), Martin takes for granted his long
suffering wife, Ann, leaving her in a state of perpetual exasperation.
Martin's world is turned upside down by the arrival of next door neighbour
Paul, his complete antithesis. A hairdresser and a suave ladies man, Paul has a
long list of friends to call on to solve problems, and ingratiates himself into
the community with little effort. Martin's inferiority complex kicks in and he
becomes obsessed with his own little game of one-upmanship.
Frustrated with the emotional inhibitions of her insufferable bore of a
husband, Ann strikes up a flirtatious relationship with Paul, leaving the
audience wondering if they will embark on an affair. The writers had intended
the pair to elope at the end of the first series, but instead Ann remains as
faithful, if vexed wife.
After a repeat of the first series, more than nine million viewers tuned into
the second. The sitcom's success owed much to Briers' characterisation, by turns
infuriating and endearing. When Martin briefly leaves Ann at the end of the
fourth series, Briers' performance is poignant and genuinely moving as he
wrestles with the character's inner turmoil.
With 'alternative' comedy now almost the mainstream, suburban sitcoms were
increasingly unfashionable by the end of the 1980s, and the writers brought the
story to a close with an 80-minute special (tx. 24/12/1989), with Martin and
Ann's marriage finally finding some openness. Martin is hit by a number of
bombshells: his firm, Mole Valley Valves, is relocating and Anne is expecting
their first child. Martin's final act as the pair leave for a new life in
Oswestry is to place the telephone receiver around the right way.
Graham Rinaldi
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1. The new neighbour (4:52)
