Foyle's War

I rarely write about my addiction to BBC murder mysteries. I freely admit the failing, but I am not particularly interested in trumpeting it far and wide. It is a quiet addiction. I am making an exception for 'Foyle's War' because there is a bit more to it. The thing that sets it apart isn’t the detective stories, which are as average formulaic as those in any other British period mystery and sometimes hard pressed to seem even plausible. It excels in it's historical time setting--World War II in the south of England. It has the astonishing level of historical detail and atmosphere that the show’s creator, Anthony Horowitz, and his team have brought to the show’s milieu — the town of Hastings (I have some historical connection to the Battle of Hastings, so I am fond of the setting), on the south coast of England, during World War II. Not to mention that the script is smart and brisk and beezy in all the ways you would hope for. I have just finished the 5th season, which is when the war is wrapping up. The character's in the series are what make it. Michael Kitchen’s quietly compelling performance as Christopher Foyle, the extremely buttoned-down but testy police inspector whose passions for justice and tolerance animate the stories, and the easy chemistry among him and his two foils, Anthony Howell as Sergeant Milner and especially Honeysuckle Weeks as the steadfast driver Samantha Stewart. The three of them allow us to see the problems that war presents. Half the population is off fighting the war--the half that are left at home are a mixed bunch, and stressed by their situation. The bombings are frequent, unpredictable, and people are burnt, maimed, killed, and left homeless by them. Women who have never worked are now in the workforce in droves. No one is sure how they feel about that. And then to top it off, despite the fact there is a war going one, people insist on behaving badly--some of them it is just business as usual, some are taking advantage of the situation the war presents, and some are unaware that the behavior they used to know as bad is now treason. It is a great medium for thinking about the emotional aspects of WWII, all the while enjoying the drama.