Some months ago I hear (or read or something - I no longer recall) about a British series called Foyle’s War that was generating a good bit of interest. I thought I might keep it in mind for the future, as I don’t often get a chance to see Brit TV and I don’t buy DVDs.
I was surprised when my roomate, who make a good order of magnitude or two more than I, suddenly purchased several DVD sets at once. At this point I’d seen only a part of a single episode on BBC one afternoon.
We’ve now watched the first four sets, and I must say I’m bleedin’ hooked. I know the show is actually shooting its last episodes next month (May) but hot damn am I impressed.
This show is so gripping in grounding us in the awfulness of the war without ever actaully getting into the war. It shows the hardships of the British people during the war without being heavy-handed about it.
It’s also great murder-mysteries and investigations. It constantly surprises me with the thoroughness of the paperwork and beuarocracy back then. We get the funny idea nowadays, I think, that without computers they didn’t have such, but that’s not the case.
I wish my grandmother, who was British and was in the service as a cook, were still alive to watch this with me and share her thoughts about the times.
I’ve definitely enjoyed it overall, although there have been a few missteps. In particular, there was one episode in which Foyle meets a whole bunch of members of a British spy cadre and gets to know them all, etc. That really rang fake to me.
Oh, yes. Honeysuckle Weeks. What a remarkable name. And she’s pretty young yet, only about 26 or 7 or some such. I really hope once this is done she launches a greater career. She did so well at playing prim I think she can branch out into the more adventurous.
Like Billie Piper, I think. Though not necessarily to such an extreme.
Max I do agree about the spy bit. It pushed the plausability by making spying so prevelent in society, but … they’ve got to keep it grounded in the war.
I love Foyle’s War. In Norway we have this tradition of reading crime novels and watching murder mysteries at Easter and the last few years one of the TV channels usually show Foyle’s War and it’s probably one of my all-time favourite Easter shows.
I like the episodes that involve Foyle’s son in particular and how the show illustrates how the war influenced everyday life. Unfortunately this year I missed out on the episodes so I’ll have to find some other way to see them. Haven’t really gotten to the point of buying them on DVD though.
I agree. I started watchingit on PBS and have since been renting the DVDs as I’m out of the country. Michael Kitchen is flawless, and the chemistry works really well for the entire cast. Ms. Weeks has a sister Perdita who is also an actress. I saw her in something and thought it was Honeysuckle, but it was Perdita Weeks name in the credits. Great show. I can’t wait for my next series to arrive.
Mrs. R and I watched the whole series as quick as we could, and now we’ve got withdrawal symptoms. Fortunately, they’re airing another season even as we speak, so it ought to appear on DVD fairly soon.
What I like is the way it pokes into the lesser-known aspects of the war–the relocations of “aliens”, for instance.
Seconded what everyone else has already said. I really like this show, although I think I’m now a season behind. Kitchen is just right as the world-weary but still proper Englishman, mild-mannered with a core of steel. Great supporting cast. The opening credits are very evocative and Brit-noir. The show gets all the little details right, from what I’ve seen, down to the portrait of King George VI behind Foyle’s desk.
I have to say, though, that they’ve gone to the well a bit too often with Foyle being warned off some secret project or whatnot by TPTB, but pressing ahead anyway, and then being vindicated. IRL, there are only so many times he could do that before he’d get involuntary early retirement.
I very much like Foyle’s War as well. We have been renting the discs through Netflix. I can’t imagine such a show being pulled off in the USA. The show is rather long by US standards, each episode is practically a movie.
Occasionally we have a hard time understanding what they say. I’m not sure if it is the accent or just general mumbling.
I love the music in the show. It fits the mood perfectly.
