Foyle’s War, My New Addiction
Although Masterpiece has been broadcasting it since 2003, I only began watching Foyle’s War last Sunday night. What a dope I am to have joined the party so late.
Featured on Masterpiece’s Mystery! series, which launched two weeks ago, Foyle’s War was originally commissioned by the ITV network to fill the void left by the departure of Inspector Morse. Christopher Foyle (played by Michael Kitchen) is a near-retirement detective who works for the British government and, much to his disappointment, has been ordered to solve local crimes in the small, sleepy town of Hastings (he keeps petitioning his superiors to release him to the armed forces). The series was supposed to have ended in 2008, but British fans would have none of that. They love Christopher Foyle. And so Anthony Horowitz, the series’s creator, has kept the old chap out of retirement for the sake of his British fan club, much like Arthur Conan Doyle did with Sherlock Holmes back in 1903.
Foyle’s character is sketched extremely well; he is tough, clear-sighted, quiet, formal, and aloof (if he has a flaw, this is it). In his own way, he is sexy, too. I remember seeing Michael Kitchen for the first time in the film Enchanted April, where he plays a much more nervous, much less confident man. Even then, I thought those blue eyes and voice of his were dreamy. I also like his understated acting style, which gives the whole show an air of refinement and restraint; Foyle’s War is a little like watching Law and Order without all the yelling. But what really makes this detective so sexy is his high moral standards; I’m drawn to male characters like Christopher Foyle because, after all, there are so few of them in the world.
Last week’s episode was from Series VI. World War II is now over, and the cold war has begun. The disillusioned British are asking themselves: “What was this war all about?” I’m told this episode was tougher than most in that the murder victim, a single mother named Mandy Dean (Charlotte Riley), is someone for whom we feel tremendous sympathy. Socially ostracized, she has difficulty even finding a place for her and her baby to live—until Foyle’s sidekick, Samantha Stewart (Honeysuckle Weeks) takes her in. Adding to the drama is the fact that Mandy’s lover, Gabe Kelly, is a black GI (Obi Abili). Thus, the episode focuses on a local crime to explore the global issue of racism and its various manifestations in postwar Britain.
Like other shows featured on Masterpiece, Foyle’s War is exacting in its period details (I just love Honeysuckle Week’s jackets and trousers!). But the human drama is what makes this episode do darn good. One of the first scenes in the series has to do with the town council deciding to segregate the town, not only at the behest of the U.S. Army, but because the burghers are racist, too. Naturally, Foyle isn’t digging it. The Empire, as both he and we know, is dead. It makes no sense that matters should continue as they did before, which means that racism can’t be upheld either. It’s a hard lesson for both the Army and the townspeople to learn.
Another memorable scene is the one where Gabe enters an all-white dance hall with two of his black GI friends. Seeing the hostile stares of those in attendance, the two friends leave. But Gabe stays. He walks straight up to Mandy and asks her to dance. As this scene vivifies, much of the racism in wartime Britain was about sexual rivalry and competition. For many white Englishwomen, Black American Yanks were more exotic than their white counterparts. For Mandy, however, Gabe was far more than a romantic or sexual thrill; he was the father of her child, and her hope for a better life.
Judging from this one episode, it seems that Foyle and his colleagues must wage their own personal war amidst the tumult of a larger one. Steadfast and loyal to each other, they strive to uphold the values for which they and their countrymen have fought and died. The moral conundrum, however, is that very few people seem to care about the local crimes they investigate when the country is in such ravages. It’s a fascinating, troubling premise; I think I may be hooked.
