I’ve
completely fallen in love with Foyle’s
War, a BBC mystery series set on the south coast of England during World
War II. Detective Chief Superintendent Foyle
is in charge of the Hastings area police force, ably assisted by his Sergeant, Paul
Milner, and Foyle’s driver, Sam(antha) Stewart.
The war is a constant presence, and many of the mysteries revolve around
some element of it, whether German internees, Yankee soldiers and airmen,
spies, black market goods, or weapons manufacturing or testing.
Everything
about this show is pitch-perfect. Anthony
Horowitz’s screenplays are terrific: taut, complex, and perfectly paced. (Our
daughter remains nonplussed that he also wrote the Alex Rider YA spy novels,
which she didn’t care for.)
The casting
and acting are fantastic. Michael
Kitchen plays the central role with understated brilliance: his Foyle is
unassuming, reserved, and utterly committed to justice. Kitchener’s subtle expressions – a tiny quirk
of the mouth, a slightly lifted eyebrow – reveal far more about his character’s
thoughts and emotions than a broader, larger performance would. The other actors are also wonderful; I particularly
love Honeysuckle Weeks (yes, it’s her real name!) as Sam.
 |
| DCS Foyle (Michael Kitchen), MTC driver Sam Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks), Sgt. Milner (Anthony Howell) |
The
direction, artistic design, and cinematography are equally good. They’ve managed to find not only vehicles
and trains but even planes of the right vintage. Clothing, hair, props, and
even locations are just right for the period – no awkward cell-phone towers or
incongruous police call-boxes.* We 21st-century
Americans tend to forget how hard things were for the British during and after
World War II: rationing and shortages of almost everything from food to petrol
to lightbulbs, constant fear of invasion, bombs dropped not only on London but on
many smaller towns including Hastings, civilian casualties. Watching Foyle’s
War brings the British war experience into sharp focus.
I could go
on and on about why this show is
worth watching, but the bottom line is, I watch it because it’s just so
incredibly good. (Yes, I'm fangirling a bit. *grin* What gave it away?)
We’ve been watching Foyle’s War on Netflix instant streaming.
The episodes are also available on DVD and Amazon Instant Play.
* In fairness, Wikipedia does note several anachronisms in various episodes, but most of them are minor.
Oh, I love Foyle's War, too. We've watched it on PBS for years and also our old library in Ohio had the DVDs for checkout. (It was an amazing library--so many books as well as technology). I like so many of the British detective shows. My only problem is understanding them speak English sometimes...lol!
ReplyDeleteI only discovered it last summer. It's a fantastic show. Did you know that there are several more episodes coming this year? I can't wait!
DeleteI'm also eager to read Anthony Horowitz's authorized Sherlock Holmes sequel, which came out in the last year or so.
And I'm a big fan of British mystery series, too, though there are a lot I haven't watched yet (and a few I won't, for various reasons.)