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Foyle’s War Television Mystery Series

When Inspector Morse stopped production, Foyle’s War was to be its ITV short-term replacement. However, since it was such a huge success, more seasons were made. (Lucky for us!)

The series takes place in England during WWII. Foyle (played by Michael Kitchen) is a British police detective during the early 1940s who does not want to work as a civilian detective. He is forced to remain a non-military detective. His assignment is to work the crimes not deemed of a military nature, and he excels at this job he doesn’t particularly want.

Foyle does not drive, making it necessary for him to have an assigned driver – enter Honeysuckle Weeks (as Sam – as in Samantha.) Anthony Howell plays Foyle’s sergeant – a man wounded in the war >>> both emotionally & physically. The acting is terrific!~

Foyle’s War series takes place in quaint British villages – however, the devastation of WWII is apparent. Large stately mansions have been converted into hospitals for the troops, cobblestone streets wind through bombed-out sections of villages, it is not all cozy, quaint, and picturesque.

Michael Kitchen displays his pensive & expressive facial mannerisms, which is normal fare for him. Honeysuckle Weeks is too adorable for words. The productions are far superior to most US detective shows, the ambiance, settings, wardrobe, hair styles (especially Sam’s) are exactly what I would expect of the time and location of the series.

Anthony Horowitz both created and wrote scripts for the Foyle’s War series. Horowitz is responsible for writing other British series: Bravo to him!

The only negative I have about the show is when WWII ends. Why mess with perfection? I know I am in the decided minority on this, though. Even though Christopher Foyle didn’t want to investigate civilian crimes during WWII, I wanted him to so!

For more movie and television show recommendations, visit the TV and Movies page on my site.

As of this post, Foyle’s War is available on Acorn.

Comments

  1. This is a great series! Michael Kitchen does more acting with the twitch of an eyelid than many other stars manage with their whole bodies! I love your description of Sam–she actually IS “too adorable for words.” This shows play more like well-done movies, than episodes in a tv series. Great stuff.

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    • My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed this series. I loved it until its end. Though I majored in history, and studied WWII quite a bit, I am so thankful to have seen it through the realistic storylines, costuming and the actors themselves. How terrifying it must have been to believe that the world might end any minute! I am so profoundly grateful that a tiny island saved the world from a dictator.

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  2. As a Brit may I just say how glad I am that you enjoyed this series.

    The settings, costumes and attitudes remind me of my late family who had a tough war but survived with scars and dignity – as did so many.

    Thank you.

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  3. I have watched this series at least twice over. The acting, plots and writing are excellent. Would highly recommend this to anyone who loves mysteries and history.

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      • For about four years, I have been watching this series as a bedtime lullaby. I found it a very obscure foreign Channel and I’m terrified it will get taken down at any time! I start out watching, at some point inevitably fall asleep oh, and then the next night, take it from wherever I left off. I rarely see a whole episode This Way but I of course have watched the series when it first aired and its entirety. Yeah. Whenever I get to the end of the final episode, Elise, I just go back to the German woman, series 1 episode 1, and then simply carry on~ just like they did on the homefront during this incredible period In history. So how many times have I watched it all the way through? I’m thinking I might be up to 12 or 13 at this point. And I never get tired of watching it, ever. Although I have my favorite episode( the one where the home front story of the land girls intertwines with a double murder mystery and starts off with a rollicking air raid, where we are brought into the story inside of a German luftwaffe dornier just before it is shot down), actually I should say favorite episodes, plural, I watch every single one and never skip any. To say I have had a lifelong crush on Michael kitchen would be a bit of an understatement, as the older he gets the sexier he gets. He is a lucky man, because apparently I am far from the only woman who feels this way!

        Thank you for your article, I’m so glad I spotted it and look forward to reading the rest of the comments. Bring back Foyle’s War! I’ve actually recently read that Anthony Horowitz is 100% up for doing perhaps a Christmas episode where certain things get tied together and we see some of the old favorite characters we didn’t see in the post-war episodes. Frankly, I’m hoping for a lifelong happy ending, walking into the sunset holding hands, for Foyle and the character Barbara Hicks from the land girls episode previously referred to, entitled, They Fought in the Fields. And again, I don’t think I am the only one who would be dizzy with excitement anticipating such an episode and perhaps such an ending. Because Foyle’s War hasn’t really ended, has it? I mean, we don’t know whether Sam had a boy or a girl!

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  4. Thank you, Danna. Agree with all your comments, including ending the series when the war ended and not meandering into the cold war. And, speaking of Anthony Horowitz, his The Magpie Murders is a classic take on Christie, a mystery within a mystery.

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  5. Your quite right in liking Foyle’s War. The series is, initially, set in the area around Hastings on the South Coast, and the first few were excellent. However, as you note, the war ends and things become much darker in tone as Foyle becomes immured in the murky world of spies. Ignore these last few episodes and enjoy the rest.

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    • See now. Opinions vary. For myself, I can’t get enough of the understated elegance of Michael Kitchen’s performance. Put him together with a morally ambiguous situation and the quirky Ms. Weeks and I’m on-board for the duration. Cheers.

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  6. I can’t recommend this series highly enough. The acting, the writing, the direction, everything is simply top of the line quality.

    I’ve watched the entire series twice, and intend to watch it all the way through again. One of the greatest television accomplishments ever.

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  7. I so agree with this review – this series is just brilliant! I have watched every episode on Acorn and then was saddened there wasn’t any more. Just great acting and script!

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  8. My husband and I loved this show. You’re right, the acting was wonderful. It was one of those series you hate to see end.

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  9. I agree – I thought the episodes during the war were the best. In the last season (after the war), I didn’t think it was as well-written and didn’t care for Foyle in a more “spy” role. But still, I enjoyed the series overall and I’ll probably watch the war episodes again soon.

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  10. Danna, please forgive a minor correction but the younger Foyle is played by Julian OVenden, who as ell as acting is a fine singer.

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  13. Loved the series. Acting was outstanding. Note, Anthony Howell plays his sergeant. Julien Orenden plays his son.

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  14. Foyle’s War is Excellent! The acting. Direction & Writing is Superior to any American show. During & after war, the stories are Superb!
    Rick Levin

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  15. I watched the entire Foyle’s War series and can recommend it without reservation. Quality acting, writing and representation of the time period. Really miss it.

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  16. I’ve binged Foyle’s War twice now. LOL And both times I was heartbroken when it was over. That old curmudgeon was so easy to love. I don’t like when a series goes so far ahead of the timeline it was intended for either. It’s too obvious, I think. Call The Midwife did that and I can’t get into these last couple of seasons. I highly recommend Foyle’s War.

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  17. I can’t say enough about this favorite series.
    My dad introduced it to our family. My husband and I have watched it many times over the years. The writing, the actors, locations are first class. Thank you for this entertaining series. 5 ***** +.

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  18. My wife and I have watched every episode of FW at least three times and think it is one of the best-acted series ever. Michael Kitchen is superb… as another commenter wrote, he says more with one eyebrow than most actors in their entire careers.

    That said, we always wince when they incorporate an American character into the plot. Americans are uniformly portrayed as idiots or corrupt or worse. It’s pretty clear what the writers and producer of Foyle’s War thinks of us Yanks, so that is a bit of a deficit to an otherwise outstanding series.

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    • One must accept stupid/corrupt characters in a crime drama. That a few were Americans doesn’t offend me, a yank, in the least. None of the negative depictions seemed unbelievable or gratuitous.

      And there were plenty of ‘good’ Americans. Captain/Major John Kieffer was a complex character well-played by Jay Benedict, who passed-away earlier this year.

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      • Kieffer was, indeed, a sympathetic character, but remember that he drove a former Brit military guy to suicide. Not exactly charming in the end. Yes, dramas like these have characters to despise, certainly. But I can’t come up with more than a couple of Americans in FW who came off as nice people.

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        • Kieffer suffered horrible PTSD, made worse by his not being allowed to tell anyone — including Foyle. He was a good man broken by war. He didn’t intend to kill the guy…

          We also have to remember that many Brits resented us for a variety of good reasons, even while appreciating the help with Hitler. We were late, we were loud, we were rude… So If there was anti-American bias in the writing, perhaps we can think of it as a ‘device’ to evoke these mixed feelings.

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      • Oh goodness. I didn’t know that about Jay Benedict. I’m so sorry to hear that. I loved that they gave Foyle at least a temporary American counterpart and friend, and had them bond over fishing.

        Some of these so-called American characters we’re not played by Americans obviously or even Canadians, LOL. In some of the portrayals, the British accent slips through as in the character of the major in the episode, killing time. But then again in that same episode, lead character, Gabe, finesses his Southern American accent with absolute perfection. I agree that some of the American characters were not only killers,, like the major, they were straight up jerks, like the military men in the episode sunflower, one of the Cold War episodes. I’ve also noticed that some of the writing had Americans using British expressions which they certainly would not have done but I watch the series so many times and confess to being picky about that sort of thing no matter what. When you watch something so many times you’re bound to pick up small mistakes, but some are absolutely Charming, as when in two different episodes, Kitchen, “steps on” the lines of the other person in the scene, but they keep right on going as all professionals will. And kitchen is certainly that, an absolute Pro.

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  20. If you like history and love a non bloody mystery, you should like Foyle’s War. The mystery usually has something to do with the a war event. The solving takes you to some mental work. Describes many of hardships and pain people endured. Watched more than once. Enjoy.

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  21. Danna and other fans – there is also a book called “The Real History of Foyle’s War” by Rob Green. Not a ‘behind the scenes’ book – although every page is illustrated with photos from the series (As well as some historical photos) – it discusses the real places and time when the series was set. The *real* history of ‘Foyle’s War’.
    It gives a great background for the show.

    Also a piece of trivia: Anthony Horowitz is a well-known writer of children’s books. Best known for his series of teenage spy novels featuring ‘Alex Rider’, which were also the basis for a movie.

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  22. I’ve watched every episode, as I have the box set I have watched all of them over and over again. Fantastic series. Its a shame they didn’t follow him to America, would loved to have seen Foyle get his man for the murder committed whilst over here on government business, bloody yank.

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  23. I love this series and watch it over and over again. In fact I even bought the dvd set just in case it is eliminated. I love Sam and her fresh very English personality and look. There are no words in praise of Michael Kitchen.

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  24. An all-time favorite. Michael Kitchen absolutely perfect. I do agree the wartime episodes better. I bought the series.

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  25. Ever since I got Acorn TV I rarely watch American broadcast tv. Foyle’s War along with Doc Martin and Midsomer Murders have become my binge watching guilty pleasures. I’m just bummed that Foyle’s War didn’t have more episodes.

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    • I agree with just about every comment made. It was a superb series, and the only regret I had was that my late father didn’t live to see it. He would have loved it. I agree the wartime stories were better, but the acting abilities of Michael Kitchen and Honeysuckle Weeks helped to keep the momentum going in the post war programmes.
      I don’t know how many times I have watched the series, but I hope to see it again.

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  26. Hello, all. My wife and I really enjoyed watching the whole series of Foyles War. Being a Ww2 re-enacter, and having studied a lot about the clothing and manners of the people of the 1940s, I wished there were more programs on the tv like this. I think Mr kitchen plays a brilliant part and also Sam and Sergeant Milner are brilliant too.

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      • Hi again Stacey and I were very upset when home fires finished abruptly it was another WW2 gem world on fire was great and also the Halcyon was another brilliant series I’ve recently been watching Colditz on You Tube just wished there were more WW2 dramas on the tv

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        • Hi again been watching the whole series of Foyles War from the first series will continue to watch this brilliant television series.I love the Gentleman’s attire.I’m a vintage clothes fan and enjoy wearing Oxford bags Brouges and the shirts of the 1940s I also have a handlebar moustache and also put Brylcream on my hair so again many thanks for this brilliant blog.Steve

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  27. I absolutely loved Foyles War. I was really sorry when the war was over. Even. So. I think they could have built on to it cold warwise. I wanted him to investigate too. I guess mr. Kitchens didn’t want to. When he really became too old then his son could have gone on

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  28. One of my all-time favorite TV shows. Horowitz did an excellent job blending in history with the mystery. It was also nice to see a lot of things “come to life” that I had already read about in books.

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  29. Well, now I may have to get Acorn! We recently got BritBox and LOVE IT. Oh my goodness, so many classic mysteries, even some new ones I’ve never seen, and old British comedies like Keeping Up Appearances. I read your post about Campion when I saw it was listed on the BB schedule, and we’ve watched that, too. So good. I don’t even care to watch the new shows now, they just don’t compare at all. Except Death in Paradise, that’s my favorite TV cozy. But back to Foyle, I remember watching it faithfully when our PBS station aired it, but it’s worth watching again! Michael Kitchen is good in everything he does.

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  30. I would highly recommend this series to any cozy lover, especially a British Cozy lover. M. Kitchen is a wonderful actor and his expressions, intonations and the way he carries himself all work to make him a great character. I love that he speaks softly. He reminds me of Anthony Hopkins as far as acting. Similar styles, I imagine.

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  31. Loved this show. My wife and I just finished watching the entire series. My only regret is, they did not have another 5 seasons to watch. Everything about this show was far superior to anything Hollywood could put out.

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  32. Wish ITV would make a couple more specials, with Foyle somehow back in Hastings. Didn’t much like the Cold War add ons… they were too much about giving Sam a meaningful role. But ITV won’t make any more episodes because, basically, it takes a shed-load of money to recreate the 40s and 50s. Can understand it but it’s a shame… Michael Kitchen just doesn’t age!

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