Foyle's War (series 8)

Foyle's War (series 8)
No. of episodes 3
Season chronology

Series 8 of the ITV programme Foyle's War, comprising three episodes, aired in January 2015 on ITV.

Episodes

"High Castle"

Writer: Anthony HorowitzDirector: Stuart OrmeAirdate: 4 Jan 2015 (UK)Net duration: 88 minutesSet: Oct 1946Viewers: 6.16 million
Guests: John Mahoney, Nigel Lindsay, Jaime Winstone, Hermione Gulliford, Joseph Drake, Amanda Lawrence
Foyle, now working for British Intelligence, is drawn into the world of corrupt Nazi businessmen when London University professor William Knowles is found brutally murdered in a London park. When it transpires that the professor was actually working at the Nuremberg trials, Foyle realizes that there are powerful people trying to conceal secrets from the war. It looks as if Knowles may have taken a bribe to carry information back to England for suspected Nazi war criminal Hermann Linz. When Linz is found dead, Foyle is under no illusion that foul play is behind the academic's murder. While Foyle investigates the deaths of Knowles and Linz, his unofficial assistant Sam Wainwright decides to step up her role at work and volunteers for a risky undercover job. Foyle, unaware of her pregnancy, agrees.

Background and production

The story takes place shortly after the Nuremberg trials, which ended on 1 October 1946. Foyle tours Monowitz concentration camp as part of his investigation of the murders of Professor Knowles and Hermann Linz. Linz was on trial because his firm, IG Farben, had during WWII hired Monowitz concentration camp inmates from the SS. Clayton Del Mar who with his father owns Global American Oil, portrays a war profiteer who, like Linz, should have been tried during the Nuremberg trials. However, MI5 had a history of looking the other way and of protecting Del Mar because the government desired his influence to help the UK build a presence with the Shah of Iran and ultimately, a countervailing presence to Soviet Union in the Middle East. Adam is forced, on two fronts, to address the issue of women who went to work during wartime and do not want to give up their jobs postwar. One of his constituents does not want to be demoted to accommodate a returning soldier whose job she had filled, competently, in the soldiers' absence. Meanwhile, at home, Sam and Adam struggle over his desire for her to quit her job to become a stay-at-home mother.

"Trespass"

Writer: Anthony HorowitzDirector: Stuart OrmeAirdate: 11 Jan 2015 (UK)Net duration: 87 minutesSet: Nov 1946Viewers: 5.86 million
Guests: Richard Lintern, Alexander Arnold, Alex Jennings, Finbar Lynch, John Heffernan, Matilda Ziegler, Jonathan Tafler
When a young man is assaulted in the grounds of a university, Foyle wonders if the attack is racially motivated as the victim is the wealthy son of a high-profile Jewish businessman. Tensions are also starting to run high in London with a charismatic right-wing leader, but it looks like there may be more to his prison release than meets the eye, and he is in fact being set up to take the spotlight off a dangerous espionage operation. Sam meanwhile is determined to help a young boy she meets in hospital suffering from whooping cough; the NHS is still to come into being and she sees that Adam’s constituents are in need of greater state care after the deprivations of the war.

Background and production

It is said in the episode to be four months since the King David Hotel bombing in Jerusalem, which took place on 22 July 1946. The episode opens with newsreel coverage of the bombing as a prelude to violent actions by both Jewish terrorists and anti-Semitic agitators in London. References are made and graffiti depicted symbolizing Perish Judah ("PJ"), and a "Right Club" type of organization which rallies Londoners to riot in Adam Wainwright's district.

"Elise"

Writer: Anthony HorowitzDirector: Andy HayAirdate: 18 Jan 2015 (UK) Net duration: 89 minutesSet: Jan 1947Viewers: 5.55 million
Guests: Katherine Press, Emma Fielding, Tony Clay, Leo Gregory, Daniel Peacock, Conleth Hill
Foyle must re-examine Hilda Pierce’s (Ellie Haddington) top-secret role during the war within SOE when she is the target of an assassination attempt outside MI5. SOE's French section sent many agents behind enemy lines, and Foyle suspects the shooting may be connected to the hunt for a traitor within SOE called Plato, who could have been behind the deaths of nine British SOE agents in France. Meanwhile, Sam is faced with a dilemma when Adam and Glenvil decide to crack down on the black market in East Peckham, resulting in Adam’s arrest when some illegal cigarettes are planted in their home.

Background and production

According to letters found in Hilda's apartment, the story takes place a few days after 3 January 1947. An example of actual events which influenced this episode is Operation NordPol, a successful German intelligence operation in Holland in 1942 and 1943. Its success was largely due to mistakes by the SOE Dutch Section in London. For 20 months, the London Secret Service radio links with their agents and the resistance movement in Holland were under German control, with a loss of Allied Secret Service and Air Force men. At least 50 agents were parachuted into the Netherlands to be met by a friendly 'welcoming committee' arranged by the German military counter-espionage chief H. J. Giskes. Following a debriefing, they were executed. At least 50 agents were sent to their death in this way. In order to maximize London's confidence and trust, the Germans under Giskes managed escape passages to England for many unwitting captured air crew.[1]

Though previous episodes were broadcast at 8:00 pm on ITV, this final one was transmitted at 9pm.[2]

International broadcast

It will broadcast in the United States as Foyle's War VIII, on PBS' Masterpiece and on Acorn TV.

References

  1. ↑ "London Calling North Pole". Truth. Sydney. 1 November 1953. Retrieved 1 February 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ↑ Eames, Tom (19 January 2015). "Call the Midwife returns with 8.3m, Foyle's War ends with 3.5m". Digital Spy. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
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