Foyle's War

Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher 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.

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]

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

• Africa - The series began broadcasting in 2009 on the pay service DStv (broadcast from South Africa) on the Universal Channel.[13]
• Australia - Aired on the ABC, with repeats on Seven Network
• Canada - Broadcast in Ontario on TV Ontario and in British Columbia on Knowledge Network
• Finland - Broadcast on YLE1; series seven and eight broadcast in 2015-2016
• Sweden - Broadcast on TV8.se, SVT and TV4
• US - Aired on PBS.[14] 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.

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.[15] The series was nominated for the 2004 BAFTA Best Drama Series award.[16] That year, Honeysuckle Weeks was nominated for the 10th National Television Awards' Most Popular Newcomer award.

• Foyle's War at IMDb
• Foyle's War at epguides.com