Foyle's War series 8

Foyle's War
Season 8
No. of episodes	3
Series chronology

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

Episodes

"High Castle"

Writer: Anthony Horowitz	Director: Stuart Orme	Airdate: 4 January 2015 (UK)	Net duration: 88 minutes	Set: October 1946	Viewers: 6.16 million
Guests: John Mahoney, Nigel Lindsay, Jaime Winstone, Vincenzo Nicoli, Hermione Gulliford, Joseph Drake, Amanda Lawrence
As the Nuremberg trials begin wrapping up, a prominent translator, professor William Knowles from University College London is found murdered in Hyde Park. Foyle is brought in to investigate when the address of Clayton Del Mar, a prominent American oil tycoon, is found on the body. As with other episodes, it is clear to Foyle that political, business, and intelligence machinations are at play. Knowles' connection to a German businessman on trial in Nuremberg, Hermann Linz, deepens when Linz is found murdered in his high-security cell. Foyle tours Linz's workplace in Monowitz concentration camp as part of his investigation, finding clues to Global American Oil and the illegal export in 1940 of tetraethyllead (disguised in barrels of High Castle whiskey) from the UK via Tenerife to Germany for use by the Luftwaffe. The Soviets, now fearful of post-war American interference in the oil politics of Iran, assassinate Del Mar to prevent him influencing the current negotiations.

Cast and characters

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.

Background and production

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.

"Trespass"

Writer: Anthony Horowitz	Director: Stuart Orme	Airdate: 11 Jan 2015 (UK)	Net duration: 87 minutes	Set: Nov 1946	Viewers: 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 Horowitz	Director: Andy Hay	Airdate: 18 Jan 2015 (UK)	Net duration: 89 minutes	Set: Jan 1947	Viewers: 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.

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

International broadcast

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

External links

• Series 8 on IMDb