''Circles of Deceit'' is a British television

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

series, produced by Yorkshire Television, first broadcast on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

on 16 October 1993. The series stars Dennis Waterman as John Neil, a former serving officer in the

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terro ...

, who works as a private investigator for the

secret service A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...

. A total of four episodes were broadcast, including a single feature-length self-titled pilot in 1993, and a series of three episodes, filmed in 1995, and broadcast between 1995 and 1996. Although broadcast as the final episode of the series, ''Sleeping Dogs'' is set chronologically after the events of the self-titled pilot (which was re-titled ''The Wolves are Howling'' for disambiguation reasons on repeat broadcasts and home video release). Aside from Neil, the only other character to appear in all four films was the Controller. In the pilot, this role was assumed by Derek Jacobi (under the pseudonym of Randal). For the series, Jacobi was replaced by

Susan Jameson Susan I. M. Jameson (born 13 August 1941) is an English actress. She is best known for two roles: portraying Esther Lane in the BBC crime drama series ''New Tricks'' between 2003 and 2013, and voicing Mrs Wibbsey opposite Tom Baker in a series ...

. The only other recurring character throughout the series was Andy, a wheelchair-using researcher and collator, played by Dave Hill. A VHS video of the self-titled pilot was released in the United States in 1994. The complete series was later released on Region 1 DVD in the United States by

Acorn Media RLJE International Ltd, d/b/a Acorn DVD, a British company that publishes and distributes DVDs, as well as selling home-video products and streaming videos with a particular focus on British television. History Launched in 1997, Acorn Media U. ...

on 17 May 2011. On 23 April 2018, nearly twenty-five years after the broadcast of the self-titled pilot, the complete series was released on Region 2 DVD in the United Kingdom by Strawberry Media.

Cast

* Dennis Waterman as John Neil * Derek Jacobi as Controller aka 'Randal' (1.1) *

as Controller (2.1 — 2.3) * Dave Hill as Andy (2.1 — 2.3) ''The Wolves are Howling'' * Peter Vaughan as Liam McAuley * Clare Higgins as Eilish * Ian McElhinney as Father Fergal * Tony Doyle as Graham * Colum Convey as Dessie Gill * Gerard Crossan as Colum McAuley *

Andrew Connolly Andrew Connolly (born 30 November 1965) is an Irish stage and screen actor and director. Biography Connolly was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1965 and was raised in the Finglas and Ringsend areas. At sixteen years old he left school for a seven- ...

as Dermot McAuley ''Sleeping Dogs'' * Leo McKern as Alexander Petrov * Frances Barber as Annie Shepherd * Paul Freeman as Armitage * Nicholas Jones as Schroeder * Bill Armstrong as Bill Roper * Lalor Roddy as Mark Grady *

Ian Fitzgibbon Ian Fitzgibbon (born 1962 in Dublin) is an Irish film and television actor/director. He is perhaps best known for directing ''Spin the Bottle'', ''A Film with Me in It'' and the Comedy Central UK show Threesome, and for the role of Fr. Jessup in ...

as Tony Lynch * James Aubrey as George Grant ''Dark Secret'' * Corin Redgrave as Harry Summers *

Kate Buffery Katharine Rose Buffery (born 23 July 1957) is an English actress. She is known for her numerous roles on British television, including the ITV drama series ''Wish Me Luck'' (1988–1990), BBC miniseries ''Close Relations'' (1998), Channel 5 le ...

as Kate Moore *

Pippa Guard Philippa Ann Guard (born 13 October 1952) is a British actress. Biography Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Guard briefly attended the University of Montreal in Canada, first studying English and drama and then nursing, before returning to Britai ...

as Elizabeth Ferrer * Melanie Hill as Angie Norman *

Holly Aird Imogen Holly Aird (born 18 May 1969) is an English television actress known for playing forensic pathologist Frankie Wharton in the BBC1 drama series '' Waking the Dead'', having previously starred in productions such as ''Soldier Soldier'' a ...

as Sarah Ellis *

Sean McGinley Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; angli ...

as Jim Caine *

Adjoa Andoh Adjoa Andoh Hon. FRSL (born 14 January 1963) is a British actress. On stage, she has played lead roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, the Royal Court Theatre and the Almeida Theatre. On television, she appeared in two ...

as Daniela * Joe Montana as Travis * Peter Birch as Stefan ''Kalon'' * Simon Cadell as Brendan Rylands * Saskia Wickham as Liz Baker * John Hannah as Jason Sturden * Struan Rodger as Alec Dwyer * Sean Gilder as Tarleton * John Hartley as Francis * Constantine Gregory as Paric *

Jack Klaff Jack Klaff is a South African-born actor, writer and academic. He has held professorships at Princeton University and Starlab. Amongst his early screen roles were in Star Wars (film), Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) as Red Four and For ...

as Osuna * Tony Armatrading as Lawrence

Episodes

Pilot (1993)

Series (1995—1996)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Circle of Deceit 1993 television films 1993 films 1993 British television series debuts 1996 British television series endings 1990s British drama television series ITV television dramas 1990s British crime television series Television series by ITV Studios Television series by Yorkshire Television English-language television shows