The Bletchley Circle

All photos courtesy of PBS.org

On a whim, I flipped on the show The Bletchley Circle, which turned out to be bursting with knitting. In the title sequence of the first episode only, a flash of a knitting pattern can be seen amidst all sorts of other kinds of code.

That first episode opens with the main characters, all women working hard during WWII to break Nazi code. Nearly a decade later, they have moved on with their lives.  One in particular, Susan, a mother of two, continues to see patterns everywhere. She is pictured knitting frantically, referring to instructions.

This bit of characterization really impressed me. The shots of the proficiently knitting hands were a great touch, and the darting camera gave the viewers a sense of Susan's overactive mind. She and her family wear all sorts of great 1950s handknits throughout the series as well--a little nod to this side of her. I like to imagine, however, that, with her analytical brain, she would have written her own patterns and made them almost needlessly complex to occupy herself.

Perhaps if she had, knitting would have been enough, but instead she finds herself becoming obsessed with a string of murders that have the police baffled.

Susan begins to see a pattern emerge, one that the police do not take seriously when she brings it to their attention. She is forced to find another way, so she tracks down her old coworkers and enlists them in a new purpose--taking down the mastermind serial killer responsible.

Word to the wise: this series has content akin to the show Law and Order: Special Victim's Unit. I found it harrowing to watch at times.