Foyle’s War (My rating: 5+)

One of the best

This is one of my top three favorites – along with New Tricks and Morse.* It blends deep characterization, dense plots and perfectly pitched acting into a detective mystery that substitutes dives into the complex realities of war for the mere procedural. With Michael Kitchen – who plays Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle – the series bring you into the heart of what it meant to be living in England during World War II. I generally do not appreciate the plot drifting into the personal lives of the characters. But the plots of Foyle’s War beautifully meld the realities of the Blitz, going off to war (and returning from it), death, rationing, fear of invasion, sacrifice and cowardice with crimes of greed and passion. We Americans have never experienced such war on our doorsteps, it was grim but also profoundly human.

Kitchen’s portrayal of DCS Foyle – as a calm, intelligent and deeply good person – is simply marvelous. Always polite, he listens carefully and speaks little while always meaning what he does say. I have long admired Foyle’s ability to stay silent if talking would be superfluous.

Anthony Horowitz created Foyle’s War on ITV in 2002 and is the other reason the series was so good. (Horowitz wrote many of the Midsomer Murders and the recent PBS Magpie series.) Silly ITV cancelled the show in 2007 and then brought it back in 2008, allowing it to continue to 2015. Each show starts with showing the month and year it takes place and tracks the war forward through the end and into the Cold War. Along the way, Foyle encounters MI-5, American racism, corrupt officials and Brits who fought for the Nazis.

Honeysuckle Weeks – as Samantha Stewart, Foyle’s driver from the Mechanised Transport Corps (MTC) – and Anthony Howell – as DS Paul Milner, returned wounded from the UK’s expeditionary force in Norway – are also a pleasure to watch, as are the many character actors that capture the full range of English quirkiness.

You can catch the first five seasons of Foyle’s War on PBS, the last three seem to be available only via Acorn TV. The series is as comfortable a way as I can imagine to watch crime solving during a time of war. Unreservedly a 5+.

* Of course, the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes series stands above them all.