I was afraid Circles of Deceit would be terribly cliche. After all, most undercover cop shows are the same cat-and-mouse suspense dramas designed to elicit cheap thrills from situations where the protagonist is repeatedly almost caught. It’s fun enough to watch, but it gets old fast. As it turns out, that isn’t Circles at all.
The early nineties drama is actually fairly original. It deals with situations not covered often in television (i.e. in one episode, the protagonist infiltrates the I.R.A.), and the show deftly sidesteps cliches. Of course, one cliche that simply can’t be escaped is the brooding, grieving protagonist John Neil (Dennis Waterman), who lost his family in a bombing at a circus.
The show borders on macabre at times, such as during the depiction of the aforementioned circus bombing. Crying clowns and flaming circus tents certainly aren’t comforting images, and the clips are edited together to feel like it could be the beginning of some horrible Nightmare on Elm Street-meets-It crossover. And that’s only the first five minutes.
The show also stars Derek Jacobi (Cadfael, The King’s Speech) as Neil’s mustachioed boss, who seems sympathetic enough until you start to get the inkling that he might just want Neil dead, if only for convenience.
This set from Acorn Media hit shelves on the 17th, and features four feature-length episodes on two discs. It’s not the best cop show I’ve seen (I’m looking at you, Single-Handed), but it holds its own against British crime classics like Prime Suspect and Touching Evil. If you like those shows, you’ll definitely love this one.
Get it if you like: Prime Suspect, The Wire, Dark Blue
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