Foyle's War (series 8)

Adam Wainwright 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, the Wainwrights struggle over his desire for her to quit her job to become a stay-at-home mother. While Foyle investigates the deaths of Knowles and Linz, Sam Wainwright decides to volunteer for a risky undercover job to find a "Friends of Himmler" photograph (taken by Knowles from the university archive) incriminating Del Mars' father and his Nazi sympathies. Foyle, unaware of her pregnancy, agrees. Foyle also seems to strike up a mutual intellectual appreciation with Dr. Elizabeth Addis, a colleague of Knowles at UCL.

The story takes place shortly after the Nuremberg trials, which ended on 1 October 1946. Linz and others like him were on trial because his firm, IG Farben, had during WWII hired Monowitz concentration camp inmates from the SS. Del Mar and his father, who own Global American Oil, represent war profiteers who, like Linz (and Strasser in the previous episode), should also have been tried during the Nuremberg trials. However, MI5 had a history of looking the other way and of protecting influential people like him because, in this case, the government desired his influence to help the UK build a presence with the Shah of Iran and ultimately, a countervailing presence to the Soviet Union in the Middle East.

Adam Wainwright continues serving as a MP, while Sam Wainwright continues helping Foyle with his work. She also takes interest in a local boy suffering from whooping cough. Foyle briefly resigns after being set-up while trying to meet members of an Arab delegation, and it is revealed at the end of the episode that Addis is working for Pierce.

The episode opens with newsreel coverage of the King David Hotel bombing in Jerusalem which took place on 22 July 1946 as a prelude to later tensions over the Palestine issue in London. References are also made to graffiti depicted symbolising Perish Judah ("PJ"), and a Right Club type of organisation which agitates Londoners in Adam Wainwright's electoral district. The show also references the early stages of the formation of the NHS.

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]