Foyle's War

Last updated

Foyle's War
Foyle's War title card.jpg
Genre
Created by Anthony Horowitz
Starring
Opening theme Jim Parker
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series8
No. of episodes28
Production
Executive producerJill Green
Producers
  • Jill Green
  • Simon Passmore (2002–2003)
  • Keith Thompson (2004–2006)
Running time86–100 minutes
Production companiesGreenlit Productions (seasons 1-6)
Eleventh Hour Films (seasons 7-8)
Original release
Network ITV
Release27 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]

Contents

Description

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.

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' 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]

Episodes

SeriesTimeTitleWriter(s)
Series 1
2002
May – August 1940

1 (1) "The German Woman"
2 (2) "The White Feather"
3 (3) "A Lesson in Murder"
4 (4) "Eagle Day"

Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz
Series 2
2003
September – October 1940

1 (5) "Fifty Ships"
2 (6) "Among the Few"
3 (7) "War Games"
4 (8) "The Funk Hole"

Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz & Matthew Hall
Anthony Horowitz & Michael Russell
Anthony Horowitz
Series 3
2004
February – June 1941

1 (9) "The French Drop"
2 (10) "Enemy Fire"
3 (11) "They Fought in the Fields"
4 (12) "A War of Nerves"

Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz
Rob Heyland
Anthony Horowitz
Series 4 Part 1
2006
March – August 19421 (13) "Invasion"
2 (14) "Bad Blood"

Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz

Series 4 Part 2
2007
December 1942 – March 19431 (15) "Bleak Midwinter"
2 (16) "Casualties of War"
Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz
Series 5
2008
April 1944 – May 1945

1 (17) "Plan of Attack"
2 (18) "Broken Souls"
3 (19) "All Clear"

Anthony Horowitz
Michael Chaplin
Anthony Horowitz
Series 6
2010
June – August 1945

1 (20) "The Russian House"
2 (21) "Killing Time"
3 (22) "The Hide"

Anthony Horowitz
David Kane
Anthony Horowitz
Series 7
2013
August – September 1946

1 (23) "The Eternity Ring"
2 (24) "The Cage"
3 (25) "Sunflower"

Anthony Horowitz
David Kane
Anthony Horowitz
Series 8
2015
October 1946 – January 1947

1 (26) "High Castle"
2 (27) "Trespass"
3 (28) "Elise"

Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz
Anthony Horowitz

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

Characters and cast

International broadcast

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. [17] The series was nominated for the 2004 BAFTA Best Drama Series award. [18] That year, Honeysuckle Weeks was nominated for the 10th National Television Awards' Most Popular Newcomer award.[ citation needed ]

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.

DVD series/setsTV seriesEpisodesOriginally airedDVD release
UK (Region 2) US (Region 1) Discs
1 1 4Oct–Nov 20022+2 disc release: 10 February 2003 [19] [20]
Re-released 7 March 2007 [21]
11 March 2003 [22] 4
2 2 4Nov–Dec 20032+2 disc release: 9 February 2004 [23] [24]
Re-released: 12 March 2007 [25]
20 July 2004 [26] 4
3 3 4Oct–Nov 20042+2 disc release: 7 March 2005 [27] [28]
Re-released: 11 June 2007 [29]
1 November 2005 [30] 4
4 4 4Jan 2006 - Apr 20072-disc release: 9 Oct 2006 [31] , 16 April 2007 [32]
Re-released: 11 June 2007 [33]
17 July 2007 [34] 4
5 5 3Jan - Apr 200828 April 2008 [35] 5 August 2008 [36] 3
6 6 3Apr 201026 April 2010 [37] 1 June 2010 [38] 3
7 7 3Mar & Apr 201315 May 2013 [39] 24 September 2013 [40] 3
8 8 3Jan 201519 January 2015 [41] 14 April 2015 [42] 3

Blu-ray releases

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]

Blu-ray seasons/setsTV seriesEpisodesOriginally airedBlu-ray release
Aus (Region B) US (Region A) Discs
1 1 4Oct–Nov 20027 Jul 2010 [46] n/a2
2 2 4Nov–Dec 20037 Jul 2010 [47] n/a2
3 3 4Oct–Nov 20044 Aug 2010 [48] n/a2
4 & 5 4 parts 1 & 2 4Jan 2006 - Apr 20074 Aug 2010 [49] n/a2
6 5 3Jan - Apr 20081 Sep 2010 [50] n/a2
7 6 3Apr 20101 Sep 2010 [51] n/a2
8 7 3Mar & Apr 2013n/a24 Sep 2013 [52] 2
9 8 3Jan 2015n/a14 April 2015 [53] 2

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.

Notes

  1. "Production Notes", Series Four DVD extras.
  2. "Production Notes", Series Five DVD extras.

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