User Reviews

Mrs Grady is a terribly sweet old lady, scatty, forgetful, but a good sort. She heads out shopping, while she does young chancer Rex Tobin seizes his opportunity and breaks in. Forgetful as she is she returns home having forgotten her purse, she catches Rex attempting to break in, and when he tries to flee he tumbles down the stairs, she takes him in and offers to help. The pair begin talking, she explains her dear husband was killed by a mugger. A game of cat and mouse between the pair begins, she aims to get him on the straight and narrow,

I don't dislike this episode, fair to say it's not the best, but it's worth watching purely for how good Siobhan McKenna is in it. She'd given a brilliant performance as the Landlady a few years earlier, undoubtedly talented, she adds something good to a part that could have been quite ordinary.

Two sayings are brought to mind when watching this 'a leopard never changes its spots,' and secondly 'you never can tell,' surprising, 6/10

The theme of this story might be 'Do as I say, don't do as I do'. The often forgetful Mrs. Grady (Siobhan McKenna) returns to her flat to retrieve a purse she left behind, only to encounter a young hoodlum attempting to break into it. In his haste to get away, a tumble down the stairs results in a badly sprained ankle. But instead of using the opportunity to call the police, Mrs. Grady decides to help the young man by treating his injury and helping him see the error of his ways. She makes a mistake however, by relating that she was once the housekeeper for a wealth family who were in the news as robbery victims. As Rex Tobin (Patrick Field) seemingly responds to Mrs. Grady's message about leading a productive life, she becomes distracted long enough for the lad to rummage through her desk and filch a piece of jewelry. Leaving the apartment on a hobbled foot, the police snag him in connection with an early morning swiping incident off a milk truck. The resolution of the story reveals that the brooch that Tobin stole from Mrs. Grady was in turn stolen by her from the Sisson family. One can only guess at Tobin's reluctance to tell the authorities what he knew about the jewelry's provenance. Perhaps it was a case of honor among thieves.

Another memorable half-hour, this episode plays with expectation & once again confounds them. It maintains the right balance of comedy & drama with a twist & ending reminiscent of an Ealing Comedy.

Siobhan McKenna is outstanding, she appears here as an endearing old lady who is the victim of a botched attempted burglary. I thought the episode toyed with viewers especially if they were aware of her previous role in the macabre, 'The Landlady'. There is a scene where she takes the young delinquent's flick-knife off him & one thinks this episode, too, may be heading into similarly murderous territory, particularly after we discover that the old lady's husband died as a result of a vicious mugging. Things are left ambiguous about whether Rex was the person who committed the crime.

Instead, this episode has a much more humorous twist so that we view the sweet, innocent widow as a much more knowing figure. She offers Rex sage advice, but he merely takes advantage of her apparent good nature & scarpers off with some prized jewelry instead.

Perhaps the best part of the twist occurs at the end where Rex is picked up by the police for a casual bit of theft (seen at the beginning), only to find himself in much deeper hot water (the old lady bathed his injured foot), accused of something he hasn't even done. Caught out, he attempts to lie himself out of trouble, much to the ridicule of the officers of the law. It is a fitting case of poetic justice after Rex's abuse of trust.

The final scene with Mrs Grady provides a witty finale.

Tales of the Unexpected: Vicious Circle starts as a dear old lady named Mrs. Grady (Siobhan McKenna) arrives home to discover a teenage thug named Rex Tobin (Patrick Field) trying to break into her flat, he tries to run away but falls down & sprains his ankle. Rather charitably Mrs. Grady offers the hand of friendship & compassion & invites Rex into her home, she bandages his foot & makes him some tea & promises not to call the police if he promises to go straight. Rex agrees but for how long can he resist the temptation to return to crime & just why is Mrs. Grady being so friendly...

This Tales of the Unexpected story was episode 2 from season 4 & originally aired here in the UK during April 1981, the second of two Tales of the Unexpected episodes to be directed by Philip Dudley I really didn't like this one at all. The story by Donald Honig was dramatised by Robin Chapman & one has to say that Vicious Circle is horrible, at it's heart there's a slushy dull moralistic message That I could well do without. Like usual there is a twist at the end which you may or may not see coming, it's not the most obvious twist but at the same time it's not the most surprising. The majority of Vicious Circle is awful banter between Rex & Mrs. Grady as he says whatever she wants to hear to stop her calling the police, dull, dull, dull. The first twenty odd minutes of this feels like it goes on for hours it's that bland, dull & boring. There are much better, better episodes than this so don't waste your time unless your a die hard fan of the series & have to see absolutely every episode.

This one is filmed in a rather bland way, it has the old studio set up where three or four cameras are placed where the 'fourth' wall should be & the actors perform the whole scene straight through as opposed to the single camera shooting that is commonly used today. It looks & feels dated in a very unflattering way. The acting isn't anything great, Siobhan McKenna returns to the series after making an appearance as the sinister Landlord in the season one episode The Landlord (1979) only this time the story is crap.

Vicious Circle is rubbish, I really didn't like it at all & I can't really see many modern audiences getting much out of it. One to avoid as there are much better episodes out there.