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    Nostalgia Central
    Home»Television»Comedy
    Comedy TV Shows - 1980s 2 Mins Read

    Ever Decreasing Circles

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    1 9 8 4 – 1 9 8 7 (UK)
    26 x 30 minute episodes
    1 9 8 9 (UK)
    1 x 80 minute Christmas special

    Martin Bryce (Richard Briers) works for Mole Valley Valves and has done so for years.

    A former REME regiment member and driver of a light blue dormobile, he likes things done properly.

    He is also an anally retentive, interfering know-all and ceaseless, do-gooding, tradition-loving organiser who tries the patience of all his neighbours and acquaintances.

    Tenacious in his never-say-die attitudes, a compulsive arranger of committees and relentless volunteer and supporter of every cause going, Martin undoubtedly means well, but is the type of insufferable bore who has four different kinds of spade in his garage and who changes the water in his car battery every three days.

    His wife, Ann (Penelope Wilton) despairs of him and yet stands by him stoically – even though their new next-door neighbour Paul Ryman (Peter Egan) – the suave proprietor of a beauty salon – probably has so much more to offer her . . . and offers it frequently.

    In time-honoured but inexplicable sitcom fashion, Ann suffers without ever throttling Martin, emigrating or trying to have him committed.

    Paul is a handsome and super-smooth bachelor who, just by doing nothing, makes Martin look and feel inferior.

    everdecreasingcircles4They all live in a cosy suburban close (called ‘The Close’) in Horsham, a little patch of greenery tucked away in a quiet corner of England, with Martin’s well-meaning but childlike friends Howard (Stanley Lebor) and his wife Hilda (Geraldine Newman) – who usually wear identical clothes – taking part in most of his endeavours.

    It was obvious to all that a truer scenario would have pitched Paul and Ann as husband and wife, trying to put up with their obsessive neighbour Martin. But, despite an obvious closeness, Paul and Ann’s friendship never ripened in this way, and while she should have run off with him and been done with Bryce forever, she remained the faithful wife.

    Ever Decreasing Circles reunited actor Richard Briers with the writers of his huge hit The Good Life.

    Pitiful the lead character may have been, but viewing audiences somehow identified with him, and the series proved very popular.

    Martin Bryce
    Richard Briers 
    Ann Bryce

    Penelope Wilton
    Paul Ryman

    Peter Egan 
    Howard

    Stanley Lebor 
    Hilda

    Geraldine Newman 

    Video

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    Television frontman Tom Verlaine dies at 73

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    Mr Blobby costume sells for more than £62,000 on eBay

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    Put some beefiness into your mid-week menu with these recipe ideas published in a Birds Eye advertisement from the Radio Times on 30 September 1965.

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    They were awful. An overpowering savoury flavour that lingered in your mouth for hours. Heaven knows what unmentionable parts of a bull went into making them 😳

    More sad news 😪

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    US rock legend David Crosby dies aged 81

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    This is what they promised us when I was a kid. What happened? 

All I have is 700 channels of rubbish on the TV in High Def, TikTok, Facebook and a phone I can take photographs with . . .

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    I thought we would have moving pavements by now when I was a kid 😂

    Totally agree!!!

    The new Tesla, 4.6 next century.

    We got transvestite story hour instead

    We appear to be going backwards

    There's actually a very good David Graeber essay on this very topic: thebaffler.com/salvos/of-flying-cars-and-the-declining-rate-of-profit

    The Jetsons strike again.

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    Renowned Australian singer Renee Geyer is dead at 69 following complications from hip surgery. Such a fabulous voice. RIP😢

https://nostalgiacentral.com/music/artists-l-to-z/artists-r/renee-geyer/

    Renowned Australian singer Renee Geyer is dead at 69 following complications from hip surgery. Such a fabulous voice. RIP😢

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    That is so sad to hear 😥 rest in peace 🙏 🕊 xx

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