Foyle's War - Series 6 [DVD]

A very welcome return for Christopher Foyle. After spending the 1939-45 war policing in Hastings on the South Coast of England, having been persistently denied the chance to do something more directly for the war effort, these three episodes take him to his retirement but with the hope of something more to come.

This could have been a series too far with the apparent finality of VE Day but Anthony Horowitz has found a way of moving the story on and is ably supported by the cast.

Several of his old cases saw him involved with intelligence operatives so maybe he could have a place there in the future. There is room for dramatic tension because he often deplored their aims and methods. He is also off to America to complete some unfinished business, possibly with Henry Goodman's character in Fifty Ships?

This series has the usual top notch performance from Michael Kitchen ably supported by Honeysuckle Weeks and Anthony Howell, although Howell is rather under-used in these three stories.

Sam Stewart has to find a new role now she can no longer work with Foyle. Milner, now a police Inspector, is finding his feet and uncomfortable with his old boss. All three stories see Foyle still involved with new cases, bringing his humanity and knowledge of the nature of man to his investigations.

The Russian House and Killing Time, despite the need to build new roles for Sam and Milner, are up to the usual standard of all of the Foyle stories of the previous series.

But what marks this series out is The Hide, which is superb and outshines for me all of the Foyle stories so far, which is saying a great deal as I can't think of any that are not extremely good.

James Devereaux, a soldier returned from the war, is accused of treason and refuses to defend himself, seemingly intent on being hanged. It's impossible to explain just why it is so good without giving away the plot so all I will say is that Andrew Scott as Devereaux is mesmerising. He gives a wonderfully subtle performance and his scenes with Foyle are breathtakingly moving and very powerful.

If you are worried that this may be a series too far, don't be. If you have never seen Foyle's War but like well-made, well-acted, intelligent detective stories with a feel for time and place and depth of characterisation, give them a go and you won't be disappointed.

If Sherlock Holmes can be brought back from death at the Reichenbach Falls, then Christopher Foyle can certainly be recalled from permanent retirement at the Hastings Police. And fortunately for viewers, ITV has had the good judgment to bring such a scenario to fruition. As far as this viewer is concerned, Foyle, Sam, and Milner--such wonderful characters, they seem like old friends--can go on solving mysteries as long as possible, not only in the period immediately after the war but also into the Cold War, the beginnings of which are intimated in "The Russian House."

As usual, the mysteries are absorbing. I especially enjoyed watching the low-key, snail's-crawl 'car chase' in the first episode; the slowness of the pace heightened the suspense even more than would the customary high-speed television cliche of cars careening through the streets in wrong-way traffic.

In addition to being a superlative detective series, "Foyle's War" continues to act as a mirror of history. It is fascinating to discover some of the War's dirty secrets that had been first hidden and then, conveniently, forgotten, such as the one that serves as the background for "The Russian House." The best thing about the continuation of the series, however, is its concentration on a period of history that is so often neglected--the depiction of what it was like to live in Britain just after the war, with rationing, food shortages, bomb-damage, displaced persons. Especially compelling is its portrayal of the men and women who had given their hearts' blood to service for so many years, dreaming that there was no place like Home, and then upon returning sometimes discovering that Home had no place for them. All the characters of the series have been defined by their wartime personae, as Sam and the young man she meets in London indicate (She has spent most of the war as Inspector Foyle's driver and the young man has spent the war at Bletchley). With the end of the war, they are analogous to actors who had been performing in a very long play after the applause has died down and the curtain has descended. They must go back to reality, but to a new reality.

So here's to Christopher Foyle: may he (and Michael Kitchen) continue to flourish! And thank you, ITV, not only for allowing him to do so, but also for providing us television viewers with such outstanding entertainment.

Just to put peoples' minds at rest. My copy has just arrived from Amazon and it DOES contain the 3 new episodes currently being shown on ITV1