Foyle's War | |
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Season 4 | |
No. of episodes | 4 |
Series chronology | |
Series 4 of the ITV programme Foyle's War was first aired in 2006. It is the only series to be divided into two parts, one comprising two episodes screened in 2006, and the other comprising two from 2007. It was the last series of four episodes; later series had only three. It is set in the period from March 1942 to March 1943.
Writer: Anthony Horowitz | Director: Gavin Millar | Airdate: 15 January 2006 | Net duration: 94 minutes | Set: March 1942 | Viewers: 8.23 million |
Guests: Jay Benedict, Zoe Tapper, Philip Jackson, John McArdle, Andrew MacLachlan, Peter Jonfield, Corey Johnson, Jonah Lotan, Keith Barron, Peter Youngblood Hills. | |||||
American engineers begin to arrive in Hastings, resulting in some tension from the locals. For David Barrett, owner of the farm at Hawthorn Cross, it becomes hostility due to a forced land requisition for an aerodrome. For Susan Davies, a local barmaid, the arrival represents an opportunity for adventure and freedom. Some six weeks later, an army friend of Milner's, Will Grayson, returns home on leave but soon dies in a house fire after an apparent accident. Milner is shocked at the loss and begins to investigate the possible causes. Captain Keiffer, commander of the Americans, invites Foyle to speak to his men about England and the English. Davies, now pregnant by an American GI, blackmails her boss Alan Carter into continuing to run a profitable yet illegal still on his property. However, she is soon found strangled to death at a dance held by the American soldiers. Suspicion initially turns to her American boyfriend, then to Barrett, and finally to his nephew who had been engaged to Davies. The arrest of Carter over the illegal still ends the investigation as Foyle realises that it was he who killed Davies to stop her profiting from the toxic alcohol linked to the death of Grayson. | |||||
The episode marks the transfer of Station Sergeant Ian Brooke to Hastings from Deptford in London, and also the arrival of Captain John Keiffer and his 215th Engineer Battalion (Aviation) who plan to establish a US Army Air Force landing field nearby. Foyle is befriended by Keiffer, an engineer from Northbridge, Massachusetts, in a relationship that deepens since the two share a common interest in fly-fishing. Keiffer also mentions the loss of his younger brother on the Reuben James in October 1941. Milner's friend, Will Grayson, is a fellow survivor of the failed Norwegian Campaign and the man who helped rescue and evacuate Milner from Trondheim. Stewart meanwhile receives a Dear Jane letter from Andrew Foyle, who is now stationed at RAF Debden, and as a result she accepts a date with Keiffer's driver, Private Joe Farnetti (which irks the senior Foyle who thinks she is being somewhat unfaithful).
The arrival of American "Doughboy" forces to England, which began on 26 January 1942, [1] marked the start of another dramatic change to the English wartime homefront as resentment against US forces (as expressed in the sayings "late to the last war, late to this one" or "over-sexed, over-paid and over here") began again. [2] Around this time, forced land requisitioning for military use increased sharply, while rationing of basic goods continued. RAF Debden, where the younger Foyle is stationed, parallels the story of transferring resources to American Forces, since it was transferred some six months after this episode (on 12 September 1942) to the Eighth Air Force. Filmed: March–April 2005
Writer: Anthony Horowitz | Director: Jeremy Silberston | Airdate: 22 January 2006 | Net duration: 94 minutes | Set: August 1942 | Viewers: 8.17 million |
Guests: Peter Sandys-Clarke, Ben Meyjes, Philip Franks, Caroline Martin, Tom Harper, Roy Marsden, Jonah Lotan, Kenneth Colley, Gawn Grainger, Hugh Sachs, Tim Delap. | |||||
A secret biological warfare experiment with anthrax at a nearby base becomes dangerous when an infected sheep carcass is lost in transit. Martin Ashford, a Quaker conscientious objector, is accused of murdering Thomas Jenkins, a survivor of the sinking of the Navarino in Convoy PQ 17 and DSM recipient. Ashford's sister, Edith, now a nurse, asks her old school friend Milner for help. Foyle agrees to look into the matter, but his visit to nearby Hyde initially irks his old friend DCS David Fielding. Investigations show that Ashford and Jenkins had had a run-in at a local pub over Ashford's CO status and Jenkins' wife's affair. Foyle also investigates the theft of cattle at nearby Foxhall Farm, a property owned by Brian Jones, Jenkins' father-in-law, where Ashford was a labourer. The murder weapon, a veterinary trocar belonging to Ted Cartwright but seemingly lost at Foxhall Farm, is given to Foyle by Fielding. Meanwhile, Elsie Jenkins and Stewart are both infected with anthrax. Later investigations lead to Henry Styles, another Quaker, who guides Foyle to Captain George Halliday, commander of the secret anthrax research facility, and assistant researcher Mark Wilcox. In the end, it is revealed that Leonard Cartwright also survived the sinking of the Navarino, despite being shot by Jenkins, and killed him to stop his bullying and duplicity. | |||||
Joe Farnetti, Stewart's American boyfriend from California, proposes on the beach to her, but she stalls for more time. Farnetti incorrectly states he did his training at Fort Benning in Virginia (Ft Benning is in Georgia). Edith Ashford, an old school friend of Milner (and sister of the accused) re-friends him and expresses a romantic interest. Foyle and Fielding are shown to be old yet distanced colleagues and ex-WW1 soldiers. Fielding mentions "bad blood" after surviving a chlorine gas attack during the Second Battle of Ypres.
Milner mentions the abolition of rations for private petrol, a law which came into effect on 1 July 1942. Mention is made by Leonard Cartwright of Convoy PQ 17 and of the sinking of the Christopher Newport and Navarino which happened on 4–5 July 1942. Simon Higgins (the blinded scientist on the bed) refers to The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and Foyle is given streptomycin to treat Stewart - although in error as streptomycin was not discovered until 1943. Filmed: April–May 2005
Writer: Anthony Horowitz | Director: Gavin Millar | Airdate: 11 February 2007 | Net duration: 93 minutes | Set: December 1942 | Viewers: 8.18 million |
Guests: Ron Cook, Liz Fraser, Gavin Brocker, Paul Jesson, Caroline Martin, John Nettleton, John Kane, Ann Beach, Kate Ambler, Mali Harries, Sian Brooke | |||||
Foyle busts a restaurateur for offering illegal Christmas foods which are then confiscated as evidence. He then begins to investigate the death of Grace Phillips, a munitions worker who accidentally killed herself on the job. Tensions at her funeral begin to cast suspicion on her scheming lover, Harry Osborne, just as suspicions fall on Milner over the sudden and "convenient" murder of his wife after a public row over their divorce in a hotel. Meanwhile, another worker, Phyllis Law, tries to blackmail Eddie Baker, the factory foreman, over a dubious collection Baker had taken up for Phillips's ageing mother (since Law discovered that Phillips was in fact an orphan). It is also revealed that Phillips and Mrs Milner knew each other as hairdressers before the war. Constable Peters admits his duplicity in manipulating evidence to get back at Milner over his earlier reprimand of him in the Christmas food case. In the end Foyle confronts Osborne in the bank cellar, where it is revealed that Osborne had asked Phillips to steal explosives in order to break into the safe at the bank located next to the hairdresser shop, later using rat-poison to silence her, and that Osborne had also killed Mrs Milner to steal back a condemning letter written by Phillips. | |||||
Milner and Ashford continue their budding relationship, but things are complicated by the sudden return of Milner's wife Jane (Mali Harries) after an absence of more than a year. Stewart and Brooke spend the episode lobbying Foyle for the chance to eat a confiscated turkey before it spoils.
This episode focuses on the problems within a war-time munitions factory, such as health and safety, as well as pay inequality for munitionettes. Jane Milner mentions the 3-year separation cool-down period for a divorce under the Matrimonial Causes Act. It also revisits the theme of black-marketeering. Filmed: February–March 2006
Writer: Anthony Horowitz | Director: Tristram Powell | Airdate: 15 April 2007 | Net duration: 94 minutes | Set: March 1943 | Viewers: 7.89 million |
Guests: Kate Fleetwood, Kevin Doyle, Michael Jayston, Stanley Townsend, Harry Eden, Abigail Cruttenden, Dermot Crowley, Gerard Kearns, Joshua Lewis | |||||
Two local youths, the brothers Terry and Frank Morgan, break into a local wealthy mansion but are co-opted into an apparent pacifist sabotage ring led by supposedly neutral Spaniard Josė de Perez. Meanwhile, Milner is asked to infiltrate and investigate a gambling ring as Foyle is confronted by the new straight-laced Assistant Commissioner Henry Parkins. In addition, Foyle's goddaughter Lydia Nicholson and her traumatised young son James come unexpectedly from London to stay. As Foyle struggles to readjust to sharing his house, things become more difficult when Lydia suddenly goes missing and is later found alive after a suicide attempt. Meanwhile, a local man reports hearing a shot fired near a secret admiralty research centre. Upon investigation, the body of Michael Richards, a teacher with gambling debts, is found half-buried in the woods near the research centre where his wife Evelyn works. The leader of the facility, an old professor acquaintance of Foyle, is initially unable to provide any assistance, but seems surprised when Foyle asserts that Richards was lured there by his wife and killed by her Danish lover Hans Lindemann. However, when Foyle is again prevented from bringing the culprits to justice due to national concerns, he tenders his resignation in protest. | |||||
Stewart notes that The Wizard of Oz is playing at the Palace Theatre. She brings the Brighter Blackout Book (1939) to Foyle's house to amuse young James. Also, when Milner chats with one of Michael Richards' students, they mention the Sexton Blake and Just William books.
The episode again touches upon the theme of immunity from justice despite the war that aims to champion such noble ideals as British law and order. Much of the episode's historical content was inspired by the invention of the bouncing bomb and the Dambusters raid of 1943, as portrayed in the film The Dam Busters . Writer Anthony Horowitz planned his story to "shadow" one aspect of the bomb's development; the episode depicts a group of scientists experimenting with a mechanism to put backspin on the bomb. The test sequence was designed to replicate the actual tests, including a depiction of the official cameraman, which allowed them to add in archive footage. [3] Another historical reference in this episode is the bombing of the Sandhurst Road School, in Catford, South East London, on 20 January 1943, in which 38 children and six teachers were killed, and some 60 other children and adults were injured. [4] Filmed: March–April 2006
The two episodes for part 2 screened in Denmark on 5 and 12 September 2006, some months before their ITV debut.[ citation needed ] Part 1 was broadcast in the United States on PBS on Mystery! on 17 and 24 June 2007, and part 2 on 1 and 8 July 2007, as Foyle's War IV. [5] The series was added to Netflix as of April 2014. [6]
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 revived the programme after good ratings for 2008's fifth series. The final episode was broadcast on 18 January 2015, after eight series.
The 4th Fighter Group was an American element of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force during World War II. The group was known as the Debden Eagles because it was created from the three Eagle Squadrons of the Royal Air Force: No. 71, No. 121 Squadron RAF, and No. 133 Squadron RAF. These squadrons became the 334th, 335th, and 336th Fighter Squadrons of the 4th Fighter Group based at RAF Debden. The group was the first fighter group to fly combat missions over German airspace, the first to escort bombers over Berlin, and the first selected to escort bombers on shuttle bombing runs landing in Russia. The group was credited with shooting down 1,016 German planes.
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Royal Air Force Debden or more simply RAF Debden is a former Royal Air Force station located 3 miles (4.8 km) southeast of Saffron Walden and approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the village of Debden in north Essex, England
Royal Air Force Bovingdon or more simply RAF Bovingdon is a former Royal Air Force station located near the village of Bovingdon, Hertfordshire, England, about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south-west of Hemel Hempstead and 2.5 miles (4.0 km) south-east of Berkhamsted.
Rupert Nicholas Vansittart is an English character 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 Heartbeat and for playing Lord Yohn Royce in the HBO series Game of Thrones (2014–2019).
The Area Bombing Directive was a directive from the wartime British Government's Air Ministry to the Royal Air Force, which ordered RAF Bomber Command to destroy Germany's industrial workforce and the morale of the German population, through bombing German cities and their civilian inhabitants.
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Series 1 of the ITV programme Foyle's War was first broadcast in 2002; comprising four episodes, it is set in Spring/Summer 1940.
Series 2 of the ITV programme Foyle's War was first aired in 2003; comprising four episodes, it is set in autumn 1940. Series 2 was broadcast in the United States on PBS on Mystery!, on 18 and 25 July, and 1 and 8 August 2004, as Foyle's War II, and on Netflix as of April 2014.
Series 3 of the ITV programme Foyle's War was first aired in 2004; comprising four episodes, it is set in early 1941. Series 3 was broadcast in the United States on PBS on Mystery!, on 11, 18, and 25 September, and 2 October 2005 as Foyle's War III, and on Netflix as of April 2014.
Series 5 of the ITV programme Foyle's War was first aired in 2008; comprising three episodes, it is set in the period from April 1944 to May 1945.
Series 6 of the ITV programme Foyle's War was first aired in 2010, beginning Sunday 11 April; comprising three episodes, it is set in the period from June to August 1945.
Yair "Jonah" Lotan is an Israeli actor best known for appearing in Hostages, Foyle's War and 24.
Series 7 of the ITV programme Foyle's War first aired in 2013, beginning Sunday 24 March; comprising three episodes, it is set in the period from August–September 1946.
No. 531 Squadron RAF was one of the ten Turbinlite nightfighter squadrons of the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.
Series 8 of the ITV programme Foyle's War, comprising three episodes, aired in January 2015 on ITV. Though most episodes were broadcast at 8 pm on ITV, the final one was transmitted at 9 pm.