Foyle's War (series two)
Series Two of the ITV programme Foyle's War was first aired in 2003. It comprised four episodes. It is set in Autumn 1940. Series Two was broadcast in the United States on PBS on Mystery! on July 18, 25, and August 1 and 8, 2004 as Foyle's War II.
"Fifty Ships"
| Writer: Anthony Horowitz, Matthew Hall |
Director: Giles Foster |
Airdate: 16 November 2003 |
Set: September 1940 |
Episode 5 (2:1) |
| Guests: Clive Merrison, Amanda Root, Janine Duvitski, Tom Georgeson, Geoffrey Chater, Nicholas Le Prevost, Henry Goodman, Guy Henry |
| Foyle investigates the apparent suicide of an alcoholic handyman, who has university ties to a visiting American millionaire. Complicating matters, the handyman's son appears connected to a gang of volunteer firefighters secretly stealing from bombed-out houses, and the only eyewitness to the man's death turns out to be a German spy who is condemned to execution. |
Character and plot development
Historical context
The title refers to the Destroyers for Bases Agreement, under which the United States traded fifty U.S. Navy destroyers to the United Kingdom in exchange for land rights in certain British colonies. The agreement was a reversal of the U.S.'s isolationist policy, and a precursor to the much more substantial Lend-Lease program.
"Among the Few"
| Writer: Anthony Horowitz |
Director: Jeremy Silberston |
Airdate: 23 November 2003 |
Set: September, 1940 |
Episode 6 (2:2) |
| Guests: Damian O'Hare, Christina Cole, David Troughton, Sean Baker |
| Foyle uncovers a black market gasoline racket. Two of the girls working at the local depot are seeing Andrew and his best friend from the unit. Sam goes undercover at the depot, but when one of the girls is found murdered, Andrew becomes a suspect. |
"War Games"
| Writer: Anthony Horowitz, Michael Russell |
Director: Giles Foster |
Airdate: 30 November 2003 |
Set: October, 1940 |
Episode 7 (2:3) |
| Guests: Alan Howard, Emily Blunt, Christopher Benjamin, Ian Redford, Tim Preece, Laurence Fox |
| A young secretary falls to her death from the high-rise London headquarters of a food manufacturing company, and a young member of the Home Guard is shot dead during exercises. The unreported burglary of the country house belonging to Sir Reginald Walker, the company's owner, piques Foyle's curiosity. The situation is muddied by the involvement of a barrister friend of Foyle's, Stephen Beck (a native of Germany secretly working for British intelligence), and an old colleague, Jack Devlin. With evidence collected by local children as salvage, Foyle confronts Walker and his son, uncovering trading with the enemy and the Walker's links to Nazism.[1][2] |
Character and plot development
This episode marks the first appearance of the recurring character Hilda Pierce, played by Ellie Haddington (later appearing in the episodes "The French Drop" and "All Clear").
"The Funk Hole"
| Writer: Anthony Horowitz |
Director: Jeremy Silberston |
Airdate: 7 December 2003 |
Set: October, 1940 |
Episode 8 (2:4) |
| Guests: Joanna David, Nicholas Farrell, Jonathan Tafler |
| A robbery of a food warehouse leads the police to question the residents of a local "guest house." At the same time, Foyle is temporarily suspended from duty when he is reported to have made seditious remarks during an air raid in London. |
Character and plot development
Andrew is temporarily invalided home after a crash in his plane. After some misunderstandings, he and Sam begin seeing each other.
Historical context
- In the first year of the war, the British government made dire predictions of the amount of bombing in major cities that would occur, and moved large numbers of people out to the countryside. After a while, they reversed these predictions, but certain people preferred to stay in their temporary lodgings, out of danger, which they could do if they could afford to pay. Such hotels and guest houses became known as "funk holes" because their residents' actions were regarded as cowardice.
- Sam and Andrew attend a 6.00pm screening of Gone with the Wind, which is nearly four hours long, but when they emerge from the cinema, it is still broad daylight. Although daylight saving time was in force at the time, it would still be dark long before the film finished (and pitch black, since the blackout was still in force).
Notes
See also