Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *
Cast: Rachael Stirling, Julie Graham, Crystal Balint, Chanelle Pelaso, Ben Cotton, Jennifer Spence, Luke Camilleri, Graeme McComb, Wesley Salter, Agape Mngomezulu, Aria Birch, Eric Breker, Primo Allon, Jesse James, Matthew Smalley, Trevor Lerner.
To be true to one’s convictions at the cost of paying perhaps a higher price in terms of friendships lost is arguably one of the bravest acts a person can perform. In war or peace, you will be asked to join a side, to go against the public opinion is a duty that some cannot bear, the spotlight upon them too dazzling, the pressure of expectation and national fervour too great to withstand. Such actions are not cowardly, they are not born of wanting to see division, and such a person deserves to be heard and acknowledged, yet for some the straw they have pulled is one that is unwanted and they bury their feelings to a pint where pain is expected and codes of conduct are presented as their true measure of worth.
The end of the war didn’t mean the end of communication in code, and for those who wanted the company of their own sex, such codes were necessary for safety and for checking that who you were talking to was actually a friend, and not someone out to cause harm.
It seems ridiculous now that such measures were in place amongst the gay community, especially in a city which we now associate with openness and acceptance but as episodes Not Cricket and Iron In War of The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco was justified in pointing out, such acts of underground discussion were essential in preserving life, and as in war, if the code got out or was cracked by those wishing to expose them for their own ends, then life was much at stake.
The unveiling of such times and the rigours in which men and women found ways to be amongst like-minded individuals and for the company that should not be denied anyone was arguably always going to be highlighted within the serial but it still didn’t make the programme any more stimulating or remarkable; a curiosity of a time in which many today would recognise but which would cause little stir, even with the allusion to one of the heroes of World War Two, Alan Turing, being discussed.
The two episodes felt contrived, a dreadful waste, a story to which had to be put out into the open but with little to glorify it. An opportunity missed and one that offered little to the viewer.
Ian D. Hall