Foyle's War (series 1)

Foyle's War (series 1)
No. of episodes 4
Season chronology

Series 1 of the ITV programme Foyle's War was first broadcast in 2002; comprising four episodes, it is set in Spring/Summer 1940.

Episodes

"The German Woman"

Writer: Anthony Horowitz Director: Jeremy Silberston Airdate: 27 October 2002 Net duration: 99 minutes Set: May 1940 Viewers: 8.94 million
Guests: Robert Hardy, Rosamund Pike, Benedict Sandiford, Edward Fox, David Horovitch, Joanna Kanska, Andrew Powell, Paul Putner, Tom Chadbon, Neil Conrich, Sam Troughton, James McAvoy, Philip Whitchurch
The series begins in May 1940, a time when local German aliens are being interned, the bombing of England has commenced, and anti-German feelings are running high. Meanwhile, Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle's request for a service transfer is again disallowed and he returns to local police work in Hastings, on the south-east coast of England. Since he does not have a driving licence, he is assigned a driver by the name of Sam Stewart—who, to his surprise, turns out to be a young woman from the Mechanised Transport Corps. Investigating the vicious murder by near-decapitation of the local magistrate's wife, who is, in fact, a Sudeten German, Foyle finds corruption (specifically a scheme to keep eligible men from being drafted into military service) and other forms of collusion taking place.[1][2] Much of the case centres on a local pub, and the case ends with an arrest of a cryptographer at the Admiralty who had developed a relationship with the dead woman. During this time Foyle also often visits Paul Milner, a former policeman whose lower left leg was amputated while serving in the army, and finally encourages him to become his assistant.

Cast and Characters

William is played by Cassian Horowitz, the son of series creator Anthony Horowitz. Milner is revealed to be a survivor of the BEF's expedition to Northern Norway and the Battles of Trondheim and Narvik.

Background and Production

The episode is set very shortly after the German invasion of Norway and Denmark; Also, Squerryes Court, Westerham, Kent is used as the grand home of estate owner Henry Beaumont (Robert Hardy) and his family.[3]

"The White Feather"

Writer: Anthony Horowitz Director: Jeremy Silberston Airdate: 3 November 2002 Net duration: 97 minutes Set: May/June 1940 Viewers: 7.90 million
Guests: Charles Dance, Maggie Steed, Paul Brooke, Bernard Kay, Patrick Godfrey, Ian Hogg, Tobias Menzies
Set against the backdrop of the Allies' defeat and retreat from Dunkirk, future invasion and defeat seem imminent for England. Milner, while visiting London, meets Guy Spencer, a charismatic fascist sympathizer, politician, and conman, and is invited inside to observe a meeting. Outside however, a passer-by who voices distaste at the meeting is badly beaten. Meanwhile, investigations into a minor sabotage case leads Foyle to a local hotel, The White Feather. At home, Milner is frustrated by his wife who struggles to cope with his amputation, leaving him conflicted between his duties and his personal responsibilities. Later, Spencer leads a private meeting of the pro-nationalist "Friday Club" at the same hotel at which the hotel manageress is shot dead. Foyle and Milner investigate, and chase up numerous leads including the fisherman boyfriend of the saboteur, a missing letter from the Foreign Office, an army intelligence agent, and a shop-owner whose gun (the murder weapon) was taken from his hotel room. In the end, the husband is revealed as the murderer, since he longed to be free of his wife's domination.

Cast and Characters

Maggie Steed plays Margaret Ellis. This episode shows Milner starting back at work as a detective sergeant. He has recently acquired his artificial leg and still requires two crutches to aid him. His wife, Jane, expresses a great dislike for his prosthetic. Stewart tells Foyle that her father is a vicar; he appears in the episode "Eagle Day". Stewart is very pleased to be invited by Foyle to tea at the Crescent and eats more than her share of the food ordered, including the last lemon curd. Her interest and healthy appetite in food appears in other episodes. Foyle receives a letter from his son Andrew (a voice-over by the uncredited Julian Ovenden), who writes about his training and eating haggis (to hint at his location). "Woolton" is the name Robert Wolf assumes when staying at the White Feather. However, that is the name used in the credits for the character and his nephew Isaac, even though Isaac never used the pseudonym.

Background and Production

This episode is set in the days leading up to the Battle of Dunkirk. The characters discuss the fall of Brussels and the German advance. The characters attend church for a 'National day of prayer' as the situation worsens. The episode ends with the Allied evacuation of Dunkirk. One of the plot devices rests on a letter stolen from the Foreign Office; it purports to be from Lord Halifax, well known for his desire for appeasement. The story also involves a (fictional) political organisation, "The Friday Club", which one of the characters likens to the (historical) British Union of Fascists. The arrest of the BUF leader Sir Oswald Mosley is also mentioned; this occurred in May 1940, when the BUF was banned. The fascists were known for their Anti-Semitism and their political allegiance to Nazi Germany. The book which Spencer lends to Milner, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, is a notorious anti-Semitic text.

"A Lesson in Murder"

Writer: Anthony Horowitz Director: David Thacker Airdate: 10 November 2002 Net duration: 97 minutes Set: June 1940 Viewers: 9.07 million
Guests: Allan Corduner, Oliver Ford Davies, Danny Dyer, Sophia Myles, David Tennant, Cheryl Campbell, John Shrapnel
A conscientious objector, David Beale, loses his tribunal appeal and is later found dead in his cell. At the house of Lawrence Gascoigne, the judge who sentenced him, Joe Cooper, an observant 11-year-old boy, who was evacuated from London is struggling to cope with his new surroundings, is killed by a hand-grenade booby-trap in the summerhouse. Foyle's investigation reveals a relationship between the judge's daughter, Susan, and a local worker, Peter Buckingham. He also becomes suspicious of the actual purpose of the mysterious factory at which Buckingham works.[1][2] Later, while guarding the house, Milner is caught in an apparently compromising position with Susan and is asked to leave. Shortly thereafter, the judge is found shot dead inside a room with locked windows, and Foyle's investigations centre on the gun used, and finally on his wife, Emily, who was appalled by her husband's treatment of Joe.

Cast and Characters

Milner is seen limping and uses one walking stick; it appears he is becoming accustomed to his false leg. However, his wife, Jane, continues to be upset by it. She leaves him, saying she is going to stay with her sister Kate in Wales. The episode reveals Foyle's long-standing friendship with Carlo Lucciano, the restaurant owner, which dates back to when Foyle was married. Foyle mentions that his son Andrew is undergoing pilot training with the RAF in Scotland. Tony Lucciano asks Stewart to be "his girl" and write to him while he is serving. She appears reluctant but finally agrees. There is no reference to Tony after this episode. The boy Joe (Greg Prentice) and his father Eric (Ian Puleston-Davies) are identified by the surname "Pearson" during the episode, but are credited as "Cooper".

Background and Production

The plot centres on an 11-year-old boy who was evacuated from London. In the months leading up to the war, 1.5 million people were moved: 827,000 children of school age; 524,000 mothers and young children (under five); 13,000 pregnant women; 7,000 disabled persons; and over 103,000 teachers and other "helpers". However, as a coastal town, Hastings was preparing for invasion, and in June 1940, vulnerable civilians were evacuated from southern and eastern coastal areas of Britain.[4] At the end of the episode, it is heard that Italy has declared war on Britain and France, which occurred on 10 June 1940.

"Eagle Day"

Writer: Anthony Horowitz Director: Jeremy Silberston Airdate: 17 November 2002 Net duration: 98 minutes Set: August 1940 Viewers: 10.04 million
Guests: Hugh Lloyd, Anthony Calf, Stephen Moore, Naomi Frederick, Roger Allam, Anton Lesser.
With air-raids becoming more common, Graham Davies, a local lorry driver is found murdered inside a bombed out house, a gold locket in his hand. Meanwhile, Foyle's son Andrew returns from RAF training and is posted to a local radar station as a test pilot for their systems, but his time there is troubled. Against this, Stewart's father, Reverend Iain Stewart, tries to take her back home from the apparently dangerous influences of life as a female in uniform.[1][2] After visiting the Whittington Gallery in London, Foyle wonders whether artworks shipped to Wales by the driver are all that they seem, and is helped when Iain identifies a valuable French statue by chance. Andrew's queries and arrest bring the two cases to a head as Foyle's investigations reveal the reason - the sexual assault, pregnancy, and suicide of Lucy Smith - a WAAF - and ensuing cover up (under the guise of Official Secrets Act), and revenge by Harold Smith, her father.

Cast and Characters

Andrew Foyle is assigned duty flying low altitude missions in a brand-new Supermarine Spitfire, to help calibrate the new British technology of RDF (radar) and finds himself embroiled in the cover-up of a suicide scandal. During the investigation, it is revealed that Andrew became a nominal member of the British Communist Party in 1938, while attending Oxford, in reaction to the events of the Spanish Civil War. Milner now walks without the use of a cane, but still has a noticeable limp. It is revealed that Foyle's wife died "eight years ago", making her death sometime around 1932. He also comments about volunteering for service in the first war, becoming a private, serving in France for three years, being promoted, and avoids a question from his son on whether he had killed there as well.

Background and Production

Eagle Day, or Adlertag in German, refers to 13 August 1940, the first day of Unternehmen Adlerangriff ("Operation Eagle Attack"), when the Germans attacked radar stations in Britain. In this episode, it is represented when a bomb hits the radar station while Foyle was walking outside it.

International broadcast

The series was broadcast in the United States on PBS on Masterpiece Theatre on 2, 9, 16 and 23 February 2003 as Foyle's War I,[5] and on Netflix as of April 2014.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Foyle's War". Retrieved 2008-08-03.
  2. 1 2 3 Foyle's War Series 1 (DVD). ITV.
  3. ↑ Kent Film Office. "Kent Film Office The German Woman Film Focus".
  4. ↑ An Unpatriotic History of the Second World War (page 96) https://libcom.org/files/Unpatriotic%20History%20of%20the%20Seco%20-%20Heartfield,%20James.pdf
  5. ↑ "Foyle's War Series I". PBS. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
  6. ↑ Thomas, Chet (April 2, 2014). "More British TV Shows on Netflix: 'Foyle's War'". Netflix TV Shows Review.
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