Foyle's War

I recently finished watching the first season of Foyle's War, a British detective series that takes places on the south coast of England during World War II. Michael Kitchen stars as Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle, an experienced police officer, who continues to solve murders and fight crime while the war goes on.

Most of the episodes are reminiscent of Agatha Christie mysteries. The writer takes the time to cultivate the setting and characters to produce a healthy crop of suspects people of interest and motives for our detective to investigate after the crime is committed. It's a pleasant change from the Law & Order formula where the crime usually occurs before the episode even begins.

Besides Detective Foyle, the show features three regular characters: Samantha Stewart, a military driver assigned to Foyle (he can't drive); Sergeant Milner, a police officer, who returned to duty after losing a leg fighting in the war; and Andrew Foyle, his son, who is serving in the Royal Air Force.

What makes the show different from your standard whodunit is the war. It complicates every case, adding social and political tension to already personally charged situations. The writer is also able to incorporate historical events into the stories. In the case of the first season, set in 1940, this includes the detainment of Germans in England, coastal air raids, the Battle of Dunkirk and the British pro-Nazi/anti-war movement.

My only complaint about the show is that there are only four episodes per season. While it's true that each episode is 100-minutes long (which is the equivalent of 2.5 American episodes), there just aren't enough of them. The good news is that there are two more seasons already on DVD and a fourth season and fifth season on their way to PBS later this year.