27 October 2002 (2002-10-27) – 18 January 2015 (2015-01-18)
Foyle's War is a British detective drama television series set during and shortly after the Second World War, created by Midsomer Murders screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz and commissioned by ITV after the long-running series Inspector Morse 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 (Shaps' replacement) revived the programme after good ratings for 2008's fifth series.[1][2] The final episode was broadcast on 18 January 2015, after eight series.[3]
Description
Detective Chief SuperintendentChristopher Foyle (Michael Kitchen), a widower, is quiet, methodical, sagacious, scrupulously honest and frequently underestimated by his foes. Many of his cases concern profiteering, the black market 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 mind his own business, he seeks justice tenaciously. Throughout the series, he is assisted by his driver, Samantha "Sam" Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks), and Detective Sergeant Paul Milner (Anthony Howell).
The first six series are set during the Second World War in Hastings, Sussex, England, and in series seven, Foyle works after retirement for MI5 on Cold War 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) – a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force – 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 bookshop in London's Charing Cross Road, 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.[4][5]
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.[notes 1] As the series progressed, he became more interested in the "murder mystery" format than the portrayal of history and exploration of the Home Front.[notes 2] Nevertheless, the Imperial War Museum is credited in an advisory capacity in some episodes.
St Just, in Croft Road, Hastings, was used as the location for Foyle's home.[6]
Cancellation and revival
After five series, Foyle's War was cancelled abruptly by ITV director of programmes Simon Shaps.[7] 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;[1] some media observers saw high viewing figures for the penultimate episode (a 28-percent audience share) on 13 April as strengthening the case for continuing.[8] 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.[2] The negotiations led to Foyle's War's recommissioning for an additional three series.[9] Series six began filming in February 2009 and premiered on UK television on 11 April 2010.[9][10] 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.[11] Series eight, three two-hour episodes, aired in the UK in January 2015.[12]
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.[13]
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 22nd and 23 December 2018.[14]
Finland - Broadcast on YLE1; series seven and eight broadcast in 2015-2016
Sweden - Broadcast on TV8.se, SVT and TV4
US - Aired on PBS.[16] 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' time slots. The episodes were fed by satellite to the public-television system by former PBS affiliate KCET 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 about 50 minutes.
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.
All but the last two series have been released on Blu-ray in Australia (all discs are region-free).[43] While it may appear the "complete collection"[44] 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.[45]
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)
^Lynette. "Scenes Cut From the US Screening on PBS, Foyle's War Bad Blood". nothing-fancy.com. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015. The next cut was a seemingly extraneous little exchange which does nothing to advance the plot, but which affords a cameo appearance to a real-life man named "Christopher Foyle", chairman of Foyles Bookshop in London and Anthony Horowitz' inspiration for the name of his fictional DCS.
