''Foyle's War'' is a British

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

drama television series set during and shortly after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, created by ''

Midsomer Murders ''Midsomer Murders'' is a British Mystery fiction, mystery television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the ''Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series created by Caroline Graham (writer), Caroline Graham. ...

'' screenwriter and author

Anthony Horowitz Anthony John Horowitz (born 5 April 1955) is an English novelist and screenwriter specialising in mystery and suspense. His works for children and young adult readers include the '' Alex Rider'' series featuring a 14-year-old British boy who spi ...

and commissioned by ITV after the long-running series ''

Inspector Morse Endeavour Morse, GM, is the namesake character of the series of "Morse" detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, a Detective Chief Inspector in the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England. On television he was portrayed by John ...

'' ended in 2000. It began broadcasting on ITV in October 2002. ITV director of programmes Simon Shaps cancelled ''Foyle's War'' in 2007, but

Peter Fincham Peter Arthur Fincham (born 26 July 1956) is a British television producer and executive. From 2008 until 2016, he was the director of television for the ITV network. He was also formerly the controller of BBC One, the primary television chann ...

(Shaps's replacement) revived the programme after good ratings for 2008's fifth series. The final episode was broadcast on 18 January 2015, after eight series.

Description

Detective

Chief Superintendent Chief superintendent is a senior rank in police forces, especially in those organised on the United Kingdom, British model. Rank insignia of chief superintendent File:Sa-police-chief-superintendent.png, South Australia Police File:RCMP Chief S ...

Christopher Foyle (

Michael Kitchen Michael Roy Kitchen (born 31 October 1948) is an English actor and television producer, best known for his starring role as Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle in the ITV drama '' Foyle's War'', which comprised eight series betwe ...

), a widower, is quiet, methodical, sagacious, scrupulously honest and frequently underestimated by his foes. Many of his cases concern

profiteering Profiteering is a pejorative term for the act of making a profit by methods considered unethical. Overview Business owners may be accused of profiteering when they raise prices during an emergency ( especially a war). The term is also applied to ...

, the

black market A black market is a Secrecy, clandestine Market (economics), market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality, or is not compliant with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services who ...

and murder, and he is often called on to catch criminals who are taking advantage of the confusion created by the war. Although Foyle often comes up against high-ranking officials in the British military or intelligence services who would prefer that he minds his own business, he seeks justice tenaciously. Throughout the series, he is assisted by his driver, Samantha "Sam" Stewart (

Honeysuckle Weeks Honeysuckle Susan Weeks (born 1 August 1979) is a British actress best known for her role as Samantha Stewart (later Wainwright) in the ITV wartime drama series '' Foyle's War''. Early life Weeks was born in Cardiff, Wales, to Robin and Susan ...

), and Detective Sergeant Paul Milner ( Anthony Howell). The first six series are set during the

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

, Sussex, England. In series seven, Foyle works after retirement for

MI5 MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), officially the Security Service, is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Gov ...

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

espionage. The stories are largely self-contained. There are some running plot strands, primarily involving the career of Foyle's son Andrew Foyle (

Julian Ovenden Julian Mark Ovenden (born 29 November 1976) is an English actor and singer. He has starred on Broadway and West End stages, in television series in both the United Kingdom and United States, in films, and performed internationally as a concert ...

) – a

fighter pilot A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a Military aviation, military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, Air-to-ground weaponry, air-to-ground combat and sometimes Electronic-warfare aircraft, electronic warfare while in the cockpit of ...

in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

– or Foyle's relationships with minor characters. Each episode runs for 90 to 100 minutes, filling a two-hour time slot on ITV when commercials are included.

Production

In a newspaper article and an interview accompanying the series one DVD set, Horowitz explained that he was seeking a name which evoked the early 1940s. He thought of

Foyles Foyles, a trading name of Waterstones Booksellers Limited (formerly W & G Foyle Ltd.), is a bookseller with a chain of seven stores in England. It is best known for its flagship store in Charing Cross Road, London. Foyles was once listed in ...

bookshop in London's

Charing Cross Road Charing Cross Road is a street in central London running immediately north of St Martin-in-the-Fields to St Giles Circus (the intersection with Oxford Street), which then merges into Tottenham Court Road. It leads from the north in the direc ...

, once known for its archaic business practices and its owner, Christina Foyle; Christopher was the nearest male name to Christina. After Christina Foyle's death, control of Foyles passed in 1999 to her nephew Christopher. Christopher Foyle made a cameo appearance in the episode "Bad Blood", although his scene was cut from PBS airings in the US. The series is also notable for its attention to historical detail, and the drama is frequently moved along by historical events of the Second World War. Horowitz considered that to honour the veterans of the war it was important to get the details correct."Production Notes", Series Four DVD extras. As the series progressed, he became more interested in the "murder mystery" format than the portrayal of history and exploration of the

Home Front Home front is an English language term with analogues in other languages. It is commonly used to describe the civilian populace of the nation at war as an active support system for their military. Civilians are traditionally uninvolved in com ...

."Production Notes", Series Five DVD extras. Nevertheless, the

Imperial War Museum The Imperial War Museum (IWM), currently branded "Imperial War Museums", is a British national museum. It is headquartered in London, with five branches in England. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, it was intended to record the civ ...

is credited in an advisory capacity in some episodes. St Just, in Croft Road, Hastings, was used as the location for Foyle's home.

Cancellation and revival

After five series, ''Foyle's War'' was cancelled abruptly by ITV director of programmes Simon Shaps. This forced Horowitz to discard scripts set during most of 1943 and 1944, resulting in time jumps of nine months to a year between episodes; previous series had gaps of a month at most. In April 2008, the presumed final episode, "All Clear" (during which the end of the war is announced) was broadcast. On 9 April 2008, however, ITV announced that it was negotiating with Horowitz and Greenlit Productions to revive the series and continue Foyle's adventures beyond

VE Day Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945; it marked the official surrender of all German military operations ...

; some media observers saw high viewing figures for the penultimate episode (a 28-percent

audience share Audience measurement calculates how many people are in an audience, usually in relation to radio listenership and television viewership, but also in relation to newspaper and magazine readership and, increasingly, web traffic. The term is sometim ...

) on 13 April as strengthening the case for continuing. When the audience figures for the final episode were released (28 percent and an average of 7.3 million viewers), ITV confirmed that it had entered "early discussions" with Horowitz and Greenlit. The negotiations led to ''Foyle's War'' recommissioning for an additional three series. Series six began filming in February 2009 and premiered on UK television on 11 April 2010. Series seven was filmed in Ireland and London from late August to December 2012, and was broadcast in the UK in March and April 2013. Series eight, three two-hour episodes, aired in the UK in January 2015.

Foyle's Last Case

Even after this second cancellation, Horowitz continued to hold out hope for some sort of revival, spin-off around Honeysuckle Weeks's character, or even just some Christmas specials. An example of the later concept was even developed by Horowitz as Foyle's Last Case, an exclusive two-part Christmas short story for The Daily Mail newspaper, published there on the 22 and 23 December 2018.

Episodes

Episode numbers in parentheses are a running count used in the following table, "Main Characters".

Characters and cast

Main

as Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle (Series 1–8) *

as MTC ( Mechanised Transport Corps) Driver Samantha Stewart (Series 1–8) * Anthony Howell as Detective Sergeant, later Detective Inspector, Paul Milner (Series 1–6)

Recurring

as Andrew Foyle (Series 1–5) *

Mali Harries Mali Rhys Harries (born 6 July 1976) is a Welsh television actress and presenter who has been in the television industry since 1989. She has appeared in several well-established TV series in Welsh and English, including ''Hinterland'', ''The Ind ...

as Jane Milner (Series 1–2, 4) * Michael Simkins as Hugh Reid (Series 1) *

Geoffrey Freshwater Geoffrey Freshwater is an English actor. His television appearances include ''The Government Inspector'' and the recurring character of Sgt Eric Rivers in 5 episodes of ''Foyle's War''. He was also a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, appea ...

as Sergeant Eric Rivers (Series 2–3) *

Ellie Haddington Ellie Haddington (born 17 February 1955 in Aberdeen) is a Scottish actress with a career in both TV and film. Early life and education Haddington was born in Aberdeen. She trained as an actor at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School from 1975 to ...

as Hilda Pierce (Series 2–3, 5, 7–8) * Jay Simpson as Sgt Ian Brooke (Series 4–5) * Max Brown as Adam Wainwright (Series 6) *

Daniel Weyman Daniel Max Weyman (born 1977) is an English actor notable for his main roles in '' Just Inès'' (2010), ''Foyle's War'' (2013), and ''Silent Witness'' (2016), and more recently known for his role as The Stranger / Gandalf in '' The Lord of the ...

as Adam Wainwright (Series 7–8) *

Tim McMullan Timothy W. V. McMullan (born 1963) is a British actor, notable for his stage, television and film work. He is best known for playing Atticus Pünd in the BBC mystery dramas ''Magpie Murders'' and ''Moonflower Murders (TV series), Moonflower Murd ...

as Arthur Valentine (Series 7–8) *

Rupert Vansittart Rupert Nicholas Vansittart (born 10 February 1958) is an English actor. He has appeared in a variety of roles in film, television, stage and radio, often playing comic characters. He is best known for his role as Lord Ashfordly in the ITV drama ...

as Sir Alec Meyerson (Series 7–8) *

Hermione Gulliford Hermione Valentine Gulliford is an English actress, born in Somerset. She trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, graduating in 1994. She has worked in the theatre, appearing in ''The Merchant of Venice'', ''Othello'', and ''A Midsumme ...

as Elizabeth Addis (Series 8)

Guest appearances

James McAvoy James McAvoy (; born 21 April 1979) is a Scottish actor and director. He made his acting debut as a teen in '' The Near Room'' (1995) and appeared mostly on television until 2003, when his film career began. His notable television work inclu ...

as Ray Pritchard (Series 1) *

Rosamund Pike Rosamund Mary Ellen Pike (born 1979) is an English actress and producer. Known for psychological thrillers and dramas, she is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Rosamund Pike, numerous accolades, including a Primetime Em ...

as Sarah Beaumont (Series 1) *

Paul Brooke Paul Brooke (born 22 November 1944) is a retired English actor. He made his film debut in 1972 in the Hammer film '' Straight on till Morning'', followed by performances in '' For Your Eyes Only'' (1981), ''Return of the Jedi'' (1983), ''Scanda ...

as Arthur Ellis (Series 1) *

Tobias Menzies Tobias Simpson Menzies (born 7 March 1974) is an English actor. He is known for playing Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in the third and fourth seasons of the series ''The Crown'', for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding S ...

as Stanley Ellis (Series 1) *

Charles Dance Walter Charles Dance (born 10 October 1946) is an English actor. He is known for playing intimidating, authoritarian characters and villains. Dance started his career on stage with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) before appearing in film an ...

as Guy Spencer (Series 1) *

Danny Dyer Danial John Dyer (born 24 July 1977) is an English actor and presenter. Dyer's breakthrough role was as Moff in ''Human Traffic'' (1999), with other notable roles Billy the Limpet in ''Mean Machine (film), Mean Machine'' (2001) and as Tommy J ...

as Tony Lucciano (Series 1) *

David Tennant David John Tennant (; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He is best known for portraying the Tenth Doctor, tenth and Fourteenth Doctor, fourteenth incarnations of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Docto ...

as Theo Howard (Series 1) *

Janine Duvitski Janine Duvitski (born Christine Janine Drzewicki; 28 June 1952) is a British actress, known for her roles in the BBC television sitcom series '' Waiting for God'', ''One Foot in the Grave'' and ''Benidorm''. Duvitski first came to national atte ...

as Eve Redmond (Series 2) *

Emily Blunt Emily Olivia Laura Blunt (born 23 February 1983) is a British actress. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Emily Blunt, several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition t ...

as Lucy Markham (Series 2) *

Laurence Fox Laurence Paul Fox (born 26 May 1978) is an English actor and right-wing political activist. A member of the British entertainment industry's Fox family, he graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and debuted in the film '' The Hole'' ...

as Simon Walker (Series 2) * Bill Paterson as Patrick Jamieson (Series 3) *

Sandra Voe Sandra Voe (born 6 October 1936) is a Scottish actress of film, television, and theatre. Career Television and films Voe began her on screen career in 1966, appearing in an episode of ''Dr. Finlay's Casebook''. She has also appeared in '' ...

as Mrs Roecastle (Series 3) *

Peter Capaldi Peter Dougan Capaldi (; born 14 April 1958) is a Scottish actor, director, singer and guitarist. He portrayed the Twelfth Doctor, twelfth incarnation of the Doctor in the science fiction series ''Doctor Who'' (2013–2017) and Malcolm Tucker i ...

as Raymond Carter (Series 3) * Philip Jackson as Alan Carter (Series 4) *

Gerard Kearns Gerard Kearns (born 4 October 1984) is an English actor. He is best known for playing Ian Gallagher in the British version of the comedy-drama series ''Shameless (British TV series), Shameless''. Career Kearns starred in the film ''The Mark ...

as Frank Morgan (Series 4) *

Eleanor Bron Eleanor Bron (born 14 March 1938) is an English stage, film and television actress, and an author. Her film roles include Ahme in the Beatles musical ''Help!'' (1965), the Doctor in '' Alfie'' (1966), Margaret Spencer in '' Bedazzled'' (1967) an ...

as Elsa Constantin (Series 6) * Andrew Scott as James Devereaux (Series 6) *

Kate Duchêne Kate Duchêne (, born Catherine Anne Purves Duchêne; 5 January 1959) is an English actress best known for her role as the teacher Miss Hardbroom in the adaptation of the children's books ''The Worst Witch''. Career Duchêne started to act at t ...

as Helen Fraser (Series 7) *

Jonathan Hyde Jonathan Stephen Geoffrey King (born 21 May 1948), known professionally as Jonathan Hyde, is an Australian actor. Hyde is perhaps best known for roles as Herbert Arthur Runcible Cadbury in the comedy film '' Richie Rich'' (1994), Samuel Parrish ...

as Colonel Galt (Series 7) *

Tamzin Outhwaite Tamzin Maria Outhwaite (; born 5 November 1970) is an English actress, presenter and narrator. From 1998-2002, and again from 2018-2019, she played the role of Mel Owen in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. She has also starred in a number of ...

as Brenda Stevens (Series 7) * Nick Hendrix as Robert Lucas (Series 8) *

Matilda Ziegler Matilda Ziegler (born 23 July 1964) is an English actress, best known for her roles as Donna Ludlow in ''EastEnders'', Irma Gobb in '' Mr. Bean'', and Pearl Pratt in '' Lark Rise to Candleford''. Television and film career Ziegler's first sc ...

as Lady Ava Woolfe (Series 8)

International broadcast

* Africa - The series began broadcasting in 2009 on the pay service DStv (broadcast from South Africa) on the

Universal Channel Universal TV, formerly Universal Channel, is an international pay television network specializing in movies and television series in the Thriller (genre), thriller, Drama (genre), drama, comedy, Horror (genre), horror, Crime (genre), crime and in ...

. * Australia - Aired on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

, with repeats on

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

* Canada - Broadcast in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

TV Ontario TVO (stylized in all lowercase as tvo), formerly known as TVOntario, is a Canadian publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It operates flagship station ...

and in

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

Knowledge Network Knowledge Network, also branded as British Columbia's Knowledge Network and K:, is a Canadian publicly funded educational cable television network serving the province of British Columbia. It is owned by the Knowledge Network Corporation, a Crow ...

* Finland - Broadcast on YLE1; series seven and eight broadcast in 2015-2016 * Sweden - Broadcast on TV8.se, SVT and TV4 * US - Aired on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. Series 1-8 are available for streaming on Acorn TV and occasionally on Netflix (the latest run in 2014–2017) via paid subscription. Acorn Media contracted Cre-a-TV to repackage ''Foyle's War'' in two-part episodes to run in PBS's time slots. The episodes were fed by satellite to the public television system by former PBS affiliate

KCET KCET (channel 28) is a secondary PBS member television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the Public Media Group of Southern California alongside the market's primary PBS member, Huntington Beach–licensed KOC ...

in Los Angeles (now an independent station), and public TV stations began rebroadcasting the series in the fall of 2011. Each episode was aired in two parts, each in a one-hour time slot (usually separated by a week), and each part ran for about 50 minutes.

Awards

''Foyle's War'' was nominated in the Best Production Design category for the 2003 BAFTA Television Awards, and won a Lew Grade Award for Best Entertainment Programme that year. The series was nominated for the 2004 BAFTA Best Drama Series award. That year, Honeysuckle Weeks was nominated for the 10th National Television Awards' Most Popular Newcomer award.

Media

DVD releases

In the UK, the first four series of ''Foyle's War'' were released as two two-disc DVDs per series, with two episodes each and episode titles instead of series numbers. In March 2007, UK and US distributor Acorn Media began re-releasing series 1–3 as four-disc DVDs for the UK (as they had in the US) and labelling them with series numbers. A complete box set of the series is available.

Blu-ray releases

All but the last two series have been released on Blu-ray in Australia (all discs are region-free). While it may appear the "complete collection" box set includes seven seasons, there are only the first six series included. This is due to Icon entertainment releasing parts 1 & 2 of series four as seasons 4 & 5 respectively. Hence after the fourth season the Australian season numbering is one greater than the series that is included in the release.

Other media releases

Hastings Borough Council and Rod Green have produced books to accompany the popular series and these go behind the scenes, as well as celebrate aspects of the series. Notable authors on the town during this period and who are acknowledged in these books as offering further information are Nathan Dylan Goodwin, Victoria Seymour and Mary Haskell Porter. * ''Foyle's Hastings'', Hastings Borough Council, 2006 (No ISBN available) * ''Foyle's Hastings'', Hastings Borough Council, 2006 (updated version), * ''The Real History Behind Foyle's War'', Green, R., (2nd Ed.), 2010,

Notes

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2002 British television series debuts 2015 British television series endings 2000s British crime television series 2010s British crime television series 2000s British drama television series 2010s British drama television series British detective television series British television series revived after cancellation British English-language television shows Hastings ITV mystery shows MI5 in fiction Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television series produced at Pinewood Studios Television shows shot in Liverpool Television series created by Anthony Horowitz World War II television drama series Television shows set in East Sussex Television shows shot in Sussex