Foyle's War - Invasion

Invasion, the first episode of the fourth series of Foyle's War, is broadcast on ITV1 in the UK on 15th January 2006.

ITV1's premiered the first four two hour crime dramas premiered in October 2002. The second series of four ran from November 2003. The third series of three was screened from October 2004.

Michael Kitchen plays Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle, a detective based in Hastings on the English south coast during the second world war. He says that some studio staff call him Kitchen Foyle.

How does Christopher Foyle compare with Inspector Morse? Foyle is quiet and understated compared to the moody Morse. Whereas Morse drank beer at every opportunity, Foyle takes only an occasional fine malt whisky.

His assistant is Paul Milner. And he has Honeysuckle Weeks playing the chirpy Sam Stewart to drive him around in his 1936 Wolseley, a rather ordinary car in 1940's Britain. Foyle can't drive.

Foyle's War was created by screenwriter Anthony Horowitz, whose previous work includes Murder In Mind, Midsomer Murders and Agatha Christie's Poirot.

"I was attached to quite a few projects when Foyle first came to me, in its early drafts, as 'The War Detective,'" says Michael Kitchen, who went on to work closely with writer Anthony Horowitz crafting the character. "Even then it was very high quality, always attractive, always going to be a strong contender, and no great surprise when it was greenlit."

Foyle is a widower since his wife's death from typhoid five years earlier and is somewhat introspective. The loss, however, has brought him closer to his son, Andrew played byJulian Ovenden.

"Hopefully the relationship with his son reveals a warmer side to Foyle," says Kitchen. "Hopefully, too, a lot of unspoken stuff between them gives the whole family story a depth which will be looked at in later episodes."

Anthony Howell prepared for his role as wounded ex-soldier Paul Milner, visiting libraries, museums, and hospitals to learn all he could about the experience of a soldier injured in combat.

Honeysuckle Weeks plays police driver Samantha Stewart. "Sam was described to me at the outset as someone who was born in Cardiff (in Wales) and brought up in the South Downs (southern England)," Weeks explains. "In real life, I know the South Downs like the back of my hand because I grew up there and I was also born in Cardiff."