Foyle's War (series 4)

Foyle's War (series 4)
No. of episodes 4
Season 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.

Episodes (Part 1)

"Invasion"

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, 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 represent 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 to 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 the American boyfriend, and then on Barrett, and then finally his nephew who was engaged to Davies. The arrest of Carter over the illegal still ends the investigation as Foyle realises it was he who killed Davies to stop her profiting from the toxic alcohol linked to the death of Grayson.

Cast and Characters

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 an Army Air Corps landing field nearby. Foyle is befriended by Keiffer, an engineer from Northbridge, Massachusetts, which 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 him from Trondheim. Stewart meanwhile receives a Dear John letter from Andrew Foyle, who is now stationed at RAF Debden, and as a result, allows herself to be dated by Keiffer's driver, Private Joe Farnetti (which irks the senior Foyle who thinks she is being somewhat unfaithful).

Background and Production

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 anti-US forces resentment (such as "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 United States Army Air Forces Eighth Air Force.

"Bad Blood"

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, Kenneth Colley, Gawn Grainger, 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, is accused of murdering Thomas Jenkins, a survivor of Convoy PQ 17 and DSM recipient. Ashford's sister, Edith, now a nurse, asks her old school friend Milner for help. Foyle agrees to do so, 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 his wife's affair. Foyle also investigates the theft of cattle at nearby Foxhall Farm, a property owned by Brian Jones, Jenkin's 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.

Cast and Characters

Joe Farnetti, Stewart's American boyfriend from California, proposes on the beach to her, but she stalls for more time. Farnetti states he did his training at Fort Benning in Virginia. 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.

Background and Production

Milner mentions the abolition of private petrol rationing, 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 the 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 wasn't discovered until 1943.

Episodes (Part 2)

"Bleak Midwinter"

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, Paul Jesson, John Nettleton, John Kane
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 the 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 for Phillips' aging mother (since she discovered she 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 end Foyle confronts Osborne in the bank cellar, where it is revealed that Osborne had Phillips steal explosives in order to break into the safe at the bank next to the hairdressers, later using rat-poison to silence her, and killed Mrs Milner to steal back a condemning letter written by Phillips.

Cast and Characters

Milner and Ashford continue their budding relationship, but things are complicated by the sudden return of Milner's wife Jane after a two-and-a-half year absence. Stewart and Brooke spend the episode lobbying Foyle for the chance to eat a confiscated turkey before it spoils.

Background and Production

This episode focuses on the problems within a war-time munitions factory, such as health and safety, and 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.

"Casualties of War"

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, Harry Eden, Abigail Cruttenden
Two local youths, brothers Terry and Frank Morgan, break into a local wealthy mansion but are co-opted into an apparent pacifist sabotage ring led by Spaniard Jose 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 from London to stay unexpectedly. As he struggles to readjust to sharing his house, things become difficult as Lydia suddenly goes missing, and is later found alive after a suicide attempt. Meanwhile, a local reports hearing a shot fired near a secret admiralty research centre. Upon investigation, the body of Michael Richards, a local teacher with gambling debts, is found half-buried in the woods near where his wife Evelyn works. The leader of the facility, a 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 immediately tenders his resignation in protest.

Cast and Characters

Stewart notes that The Wizard of Oz is playing at the Palace Theatre. She also 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.

Background and Production

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][5]

International broadcast

The two episodes for part 2 screened in Denmark on 5 and 12 September 2006, some months before their ITV debut. Part 1 was broadcast in the United States on PBS on Mystery! on 17 and 24 June 2007,[6] and part 2 on 1 and 8 July 2007,[6] as Foyle's War IV.[6] The series was added to Netflix as of April 2014.[7]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.nww2m.com/2012/01/january-26-1942-american-soldiers-arrive-in-great-britain/
  2. ↑ http://ww2history.com/experts/Juliet_Gardiner/Americans_in_Britain
  3. ↑ Interview with episode director Tristram Powell in: "Foyle's War: Behind the Scenes Documentary" (DVD Extra feature). Greenlit Productions. 2007.
  4. ↑ IMDb Foyle's War, "Casualties of War" (2007) Trivia page
  5. ↑ "We saw the Nazi pilot wave at us - then he bombed our school: Survivors remember in the day the Luftwaffe massacred 38 pupils at a London school", by Amanda Cable, Daily Mail, 4 September 2009.
  6. 1 2 3 "Foyle's War, Series IV". PBS.
  7. ↑ Thomas, Chet (April 2, 2014). "More British TV Shows on Netflix: 'Foyle's War'". Netflix TV Shows Review.
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