Huievest
Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.
Tthomaskyte
The brilliance of this series is demonstrated by the fact that when it was shown on the same Sunday evenings as Only Fools and Horses the eminently forgettable programme sandwiched in between "Howard's Way" recorded amazing viewing figures also. The premise of the series which centred on the angst of a pedantic control freak, was hard to pull off but Richard Briers was amazing in the role which was the entire hub of the series. The support cast was also brilliant with an amazing rapport between all the players. I have to say I laughed out loud at the one damning review here which couldn't see the joke in Howard saying to Hilda:"Come on dear, we best go home now or we'll miss the shipping forecast." "Why do we always listen to the shipping forecast Howard?" "Because it leads us nicely into the news dear."If he couldn't see the humour in that he must have had a good deal in common with Briers' character Martin Brice who could never see the humour in anything. That was what made it so funny.
stubbers
I don't quite know how I stumbled across Ever Decreasing Circles again, over twenty years since it was made. But having rediscovered this sitcom, I have watched several episodes and frequently find myself rolling around in laughter at Richard Briers' character Martin Bryce."Ever Decreasing Circles" deals with the relationships between Martin, an an obsessive, neurotic control freak, his lovely wife Ann (Penelope Wilton) and neighbour Paul (Peter Egan). The humour mainly derives from Martin's laboured, heavy-handed attempts to organise everything from bingo games for old ladies through to football matches for 11-year olds. Up in the box-room of his house Brooksmead, Martin has reams and reams of paperwork detailing all the numerous committees and teams that he manages, plus his beloved duplicating machine.In contrast, neighbour Paul has effortless charm, he has friends left, right and centre that he can call on to do favours for him, and he is better at everything than Martin. This leads to a brilliant comedy of frustration, jealousy and bitterness as Martin finds himself thwarted and humiliated by Paul at every turn. Paul never really intends to demean Martin, the frustration normally stems from Martin's own ridiculous attempts to try and get the upper hand.One example, from many: Martin is organising a dance. His most loyal friend Howard comes up with the bright idea of a Vicars & Tarts theme, Martin is impressed and enthusiastic until he finds out the idea actually came from Paul. At every step of the way in the planning, from the catering to the band, something goes wrong with Martin's attempts to organise it, with Paul eventually having to phone up his mates to help resolve each problem.But Martin thinks he has the last laugh. His wife Ann realises he is up to something because he is unnaturally gracious to Paul after the dance. Martin boasts to her that the editor of the local newspaper will mention Martin's name 18 times in the write-up of the dance, whereas Paul's name will only be mentioned once, and misspelt at that. Ann asks why a reporter would agree to do something like that, to which Martin replies with glee: "I blackmailed him!" The reporter's son plays for the football team Martin coaches, and if he doesn't write up the story to Martin's satisfaction then he will drop his son from the team.I didn't really do the above plot justice, you have to see the episode "Vicars & Tarts" to really appreciate how funny it is! There are also some utterly hilarious scenes where Martin kicks his bed in an angry fit of class-envy about how easy it is for some people in life (ie Paul).Despite the middle-of-the-road suburban setting, there are very subtle hints of a more subversive, satirical nature to "Ever Decreasing Circles". Martin is hellbent on keeping "his" Close a pleasant place to live, but the bureaucratic way he tries to enforce his rules, plus his self-proclaimed role as leader of the Close, does seem like a gentle prod at a certain kind of authoritarian attitude. In one episode Martin even wonders aloud if maybe a benign dictatorship is the best way to achieve things. By contrast, Paul represents an upper class, slightly untrustworthy, playboy type.In fact, dour Martin Bryce could almost be Gordon Brown, whereas Tony Blair is more like slippery charmer Paul. One imagines similar bad-neighbourly exchanges occurred in Downing Street several times throughout the 90s!
Tony Fasulo
80's sitcom about a couple Martin Bryce(Richard Briers) and Ann Bryce (Penelope Wilton) living next to Paul ( Peter Egan) Martin hates paul. he thinks he shows off. this show is nowhere near the sitcoms of only fools and horses, porridge or keeping up apperances but it can make you laugh from time to time. briers is just right for the character of martin.and also there is howard and hilda. they are friends of martin ann and paul and they give out a laugh. ever decresing circles is very amusing at times,but not a classic.it ran from 1984-1989. i think that the early series were better than the latter ones but Ever decresing circles is a comedy the whole fami ly can enjoyPS: Martins laugh is so funnyscore 2.5/5
mattjtemp
Very popular on first airing (1984 ish) but now fairly unheard of and rarely repeated on UK terestrial television. Great Sit-com, not a huge classic but very watchable, especially for the ridiculously smooth Peter Egan and wound too tight Richard Briers.
