Many readers here and at ESPN.com have recommended various TV series to me, notably The Office and The Wire, so I’m going to return the favor by recommending a series that you’ve probably never seen. It’s a British series called Foyle’s War, and it might just be my favorite TV series ever.
Foyle’s War
I’ve watched my share of American crime dramas – God knows we have a few of them – and the one trait they all have in common is the gotcha. Each hour is broken up into six or seven segments (separated by commercial breaks of unendurable length), and each segment ends with some sort of “Gotcha!” moment – a big twist, a sudden discovery, or just some deus ex machina event of critical evidence just falling into the investigators’ laps. If you love that style of show, Foyle’s War will seem slow in comparison. The stories, while complex, are writ small, with the title character, Deputy Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle, unraveling mysteries by uncovering minor details and using them to guide his next interrogation. It’s so subtle that it could probably never work as an American series, even if a writer could successfully transplant its setting to our shores.
The superb plotting is enhanced by the incredible performances of Michael Kitchen as DCS Foyle. The writers have gifted him with an economy of words, and he maximizes their impact through small gestures and facial expressions, as well as a classically English way of delivering a cutting remark to ensure that it breaks the skin. Never has a television character uttered the words “Is that so?” to such devastating effect.
In addition to purchasing the first season on DVD via the link above, you can get the first five seasons (four DVD sets) via Netflix. There’s also a great Foyle’s War fansite (with its own updates blog) if you’re looking for more detailed info on the series.
Season 1 now at the top of the Netflix queue. Thanks Keith!
Wow, this is creepy. I just started watching Foyle’s War a month or so ago on my girlfriend’s recommendation and yes, you’re right, it is brilliant. There is just something about the pacing of the episodes, the tone of the dialogue, the random guest star from other great shows (Dave Tennant and Sophia Myles from Doctor Who and Stephen Moore from the BBC Radio production of the Hitchhiker’s Guide). I love the show and wish, like with any other great British show, there were more episodes.
Of course, it continues the trend where I worry that you (or I) am subconsciously stealing your (my) life.
Those weren’t the guest stars I recognized. The first episode features the actor who plays Cornelius Fudge in the Harry Potter movies, while Amanda Root, who played Anne Elliott as a wide-eyed naïf in the 1996 Persuasion film, appears in the second season.
Thanks for the recommendation Keith.
The show I’m starting to get into right now is HBO’s “In Treatment.” It runs a half hour. If you are interested in psychology, specifically counseling, I recommend checking it out.
I’ve only watched four episodes, but what I can gather so far is that each episode consists of (an acted) counseling session that consumes the 30 minutes. For people who’ve never been to counseling, it offers a fairly realistic portrayal of the relationship between therapist and patient.
My only gripe thus far is the amount of dialogue about subconscious or unconscious thoughts. IMO, the typical counselor doesn’t A) discuss such matters so freely with patients and B) subscribe to such thinking to the degree the show would have you believe. So, a tad contrived in that respect.
I counsel athletes so I’ve enjoyed watching acted counseling sessions to see how closely it portrays the real thing. I’d give it a “B” for realism.
I’d love to hear others thoughts, as well.
Sounds good. I will check it out. I have needed a new show to get into.
Keith,
I know I’ve heard you mention it before, perhaps in a chat, but I can’t seem to find it on here. Do the Jeeves & Wooster DVD’s hold up to Wodehouse’s own work? I’m running out stories to read and I’m nt quite ready to be done with them yet.
Thanks
My own take on the Jeeves and Wooster DVDs, after watching the first season:
Overall, they are absolutely worth watching; Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry are superb, and I find it difficult to imagine anyone doing a better job with either character. The episodes are very much in the spirit of the Wodehouse originals, though they tend to mash together elements of several different stories and/or make significant cuts; it’s not really a negative, as it all still makes sense, but as someone who has been through the stories 2 or 3 times, it’s hard to ignore.
On a side note, if you go to http://librivox.org/newcatalog/ and search for Wodehouse in the author field, there are several of his works available as free audiobooks; the recordings are done by volunteers, but tend to be pretty good quality (it’s a great site, dedicated to providing free audiobooks of works in the public domain).
Side note 2: I’ve just noticed that the creator of Foyle’s War, Anthony Horowitz, is also the author of a very popular set of kids’ spy/adventure books in the UK. I remember my little brother getting hooked on them when we were there on vacation a couple years back.
Hi Keith, I hope the particular version of “The Office” you were referring to above was the British one (rather then the American one) — it’s really brilliant! David Brent is also amazingly funny in “Extras” (Season 2 especially).
Any idea if this is/will be on BBC America, or should I just do what I did with “Life on Mars” and find an alternative way to watch it? Netflix seems to be the way to go.
Keith – as long as we’re talking British shows here, let me add my favorite one in: Spooks, which is known as MI-5 in this country. It’s their internal security service, kind of like our NSA, though without the Patriot Act overtones. The first 5 years are available on DVD, and though not every episode is good, most are well above average, with some great.
Oh, and if/when Life On Mars becomes available on DVD, check that out as well – it’s a great twist on the cop show formula, as the main character is hit by a car in 2006 and wakes up in 1973, not knowing if he’s dead, dreaming or insane. Sadly, it was only around for 16 episodes.
Foyle’s War was an ITV show, not a BBC show, so I don’t believe it was ever shown on BBC America. PBS showed the first three seasons, but I don’t think they ever showed the fourth.
We’ve seen season two of MI-5 – the one that ends with Tom suspected of treason – and we’ll at least snag the first few episodes of season 3 when BBC America shows them, this summer I presume.
I didn’t mention this earlier, as it came out on DVD today, and I hoped to not add to the list of people on Netflix who wanted it, but since they screwed me and I didn’t get it, here you are: A miniseries called “State Of Play” just came out on DVD, and is supposed to be fantastic. Has a great cast (David Morrissey, John Simm, Kelly MacDonald, Bill Nighy, James MacAvoy), and the director (David Yates) got the directing gig on Harry Potter #5 on the strength of this.
Great call on Foyle’s War. The brilliance of the series is the idea that wars, especially World War II, can easily be delineated into good vs. evil. While that was true in fighting the Nazis, it didn’t necessarily mean that everyone in Britain was selflessly sacrificing for the war effort. More often than not, Foyle’s investigations reveal petty jealousies, greed, and envy amongst the people living under fear of invasion.
While Great Britain in 1940-1941 deservedly had its finest hour, Foyle’s War shows that some people may have taken advantage of the situation of fear and chaos for their own selfish ends.