Foyle's War (series 5)

Foyle's War (series 5)
No. of episodes	3

Series 5 of the ITV programme Foyle's War was first aired in 2008; comprising three episodes, it is set in the period from April 1944 to May 1945. Series Five was broadcast in the United States on PBS stations on Masterpiece Mystery! as Foyle's War V on 7 and 14 June 2009,^[1] and on Netflix as of April 2014.^[2]

"Plan of Attack"

Writer: Anthony Horowitz	Director: Tristram Powell	Airdate: 6 January 2008 (UK)	Net duration: 93 minutes	Set: April 1944	Viewers: 7.37 million
Guests: Fiona Glascott, Martin Hutson, Julian Wadham, Robert Whitelock, Nicholas Day, Elizabeth McKechnie, Malcolm Sinclair, Philip Fox, Vince Leigh, Clifford Rose, Michael Jayston
Milner and DCS Meredith (Foyle's replacement) have arrested a racketeer, but this has to take a back seat when a highly strung mapmaker is found hanged in local woods, after confiding in a local Catholic priest (a German, but well known as anti-Nazi). It looks like suicide, but Milner is not so sure. Threatened by the racketeer, Milner becomes the subject of an attempted assassination, which instead leaves Meredith dead. Foyle is reluctantly called back from retirement to solve both the cases, which he successfully does, and he decides to stay in police work until the end of the war.

Character and plot development

At the start of the episode Foyle is in retirement after his resignation a year earlier at the end of Casualties of War. Sam has ceased to be a police driver on being sacked by Foyle's replacement Meredith and is now working as a librarian in the Air Ministry's cartography facility at Beverley Lodge, having been recommended for the job by her seniors at the Mechanised Transport Corps (where, as seen in "The Funk Hole", she never fit in). She is also helping Foyle write a book on the Hastings Constabulary by acting as his typist (though it is implied that Foyle is quite - indeed, more - capable of typing the manuscript himself). Milner is finding Meredith difficult to work with and therefore considering leaving the police. However, by the end of the episode, the original team of three is reunited.

Historical context

The cartography activity at fictitious Beverly Lodge (filmed at Langley Park, Slough, Berkshire) is based on the activities of the secret mapmaking activities at Hughenden Manor during World War II,^[3] which wasn't known until two years before the shooting of this episode. The series' author, Anthony Horowitz, based much of the story on the experiences of Victor Gregory, who was one of the mapmakers at Hughenden, and who was engaged as a consultant during the shooting of the episode.^[4]

Another theme within the episode is efforts by the English church to preach forgiveness of the enemy, to establish relations with the German church (such as the German Confessing Church), to grant Germany a conditional rather than unconditional surrender to prevent the unnecessary killing of innocents by indiscriminate bombing of German cities, and to oppose that bombing in itself. The efforts of Dietrich Bonhoeffer towards such aims are mentioned, the fictional Francis Wood (holding the fictional bishopric of Cirencester) leads the movement (in place of the real-life George Bell, Bishop of Chichester), and the character of Samantha's vicar uncle Aubrey Stewart (Brian Poyser) recurs from the episode "The French Drop".

The general setting is also significant, with mentions of increased troop movements down to the south coast and that "the end of the war is in sight". This indicates the April 1944 setting, two months before D Day.

"Broken Souls"

Writer: Michael Chaplin	Director: Simon Langton	Airdate: 13 April 2008 (UK)	Net duration: 91 minutes	Set: October 1944	Viewers: 7.74 million
Guests: Nicholas Woodeson, Graham Crowden, Duncan Bell, Phyllida Law, Natasha Little, Joseph Mawle, Roger Sloman
Foyle meets Josef Novak for a chess game. Novak is a Polish-Jewish psychiatrist at a nearby military mental health institution where Dr Worth is found murdered. Foyle is called in and must delegate to Sam the finding of a missing East End boy (formerly a child-evacuee in the Hastings area). Meanwhile, Alfred "Fred" Dawson, a crippled former POW, arrives back at his farm to find his wife, Rose, and child being helped in the farm work by Johann, a German POW. Suspecting Rose of having an affair with Johann and resenting Johann's easy manner with Fred and Rose's son, Fred argues with his wife, and attacks and threatens Johann, who is later found dead after escaping from the POW camp.

"All Clear"

Writer: Anthony Horowitz	Director: Tristram Powell	Airdate: 20 April 2008 (UK)	Net duration: 93 minutes	Set: May 1945	Viewers: 7.92 million
Guests: Mark Bazeley, John Ramm, Jay Benedict, Frances Grey, Martin Savage, Jay Simpson, Paul Thornley, Ellie Haddington, Frank Mills, Joe Montana
With VE Day upon them, Foyle is asked to represent the police on the council's celebration committee. There he meets up with old friend, Major John Kieffer, who is representing the American forces. When a committee member is killed, however, the celebrations take a back seat, as Foyle sets out to uncover the murderer. Along the way he must delve into secrets that the Allied forces wish to keep hidden.

Character and plot development

Foyle's son returns in this episode, as do the American Captain John Kieffer (from "Invasion") and the recurring character Hilda Pierce, played by Ellie Haddington (from the episodes "War Games" and "The French Drop").

One inconsistency is that Andrew says he won't continue as a pilot because "sinusitis has affected my vision", but sinusitis, while a reason for temporary grounding because of the pain caused by unpressurized cockpits, extremely rarely affects vision permanently.

Historical context

A major plotline is the Slapton Sands disaster and the subsequent cover-up. Others include the ongoing preparations for the celebration of VE Day in Hastings (including profiteering on the sale of Union Jacks) and the difficulties experienced by returning servicemen adapting to civilian life.

Notes and references

1. "Foyle's War Series V". PBS.
2. Thomas, Chet (2 April 2014). "More British TV Shows on Netflix: 'Foyle's War'". Netflix TV Shows Review.
3. "YOUR MH – Secrets of Hughenden Manor". Military History Monthly. July 30, 2012. Retrieved August 14, 2013.
4. According to interviews with Horowitz and Gregory in the Behind the Scenes documentary on the "Plan of Attack" DVD. Seen 2013-08-14.

External links

• Series 5 on IMDb