i've been completely taken with foyle's war and now that i'm approaching the end of the series to date, can anyone recommend some other historical crime mystery programs on par with foyle's war?
shareThough it isn't an historical crime mystery program, I've been enjoying The House of Eliott, with episodes often directed by Foyle's War's Jeremy Silberston and with music by Jim Parker, who wrote those great themes for FW. One of THoE's stars is Stella Gonet, who played the lady Foyle comforted in the episode "They Fought in the Fields."
Folks on the Michael Kitchen discussion list (Google "quietlyenigmatic.ca" to find it) have also spoken highly of Murdoch Mysteries (a Canadian series), Sherlock, Inspector Morse (Kitchen played a dark role in one), The Inspector Lynley Mysteries (Honeysuckle Weeks played a dark role in one), Downton Abbey, and Call the Midwife.
ttfn,
cnb
thanks for the suggestions, cnb. i'll look into house of eliott. i've been on a anglophile kick lately in part because amazon prime has a fair amount available as does hulu.
i loved sherlock. very enjoyable, very contemporary and pulpish at the same time. as with the rest of the universe, i went down the downton rabbit hole and enjoyed it immensely. i recently started london hospital on the recommendation of one downton fan.
on the british mystery /thriller front, i've enjoyed the more creepy contemporary programs like wire in the blood (wow!)but i haven't found something to fill either the gap left without new foyle's war or witb to watch.
i tried midsomer murders' pilot the other day and couldn't stay with it which is a shame because it was penned by foyle creator horowitz.
thanks for suggesting inspector morse - i've been meaning to look at it for awhile now. i don't know lynley or call the midwife. will look into those as well!
i find that one of the great things foyle's war has going for it is a keen sense of the era, generally well defined plotlines and very, very well crafted characters. i'd go so far as to say that the show works better than one would expect it should for a whodunnit procedural that structurally almost always stays with the classic but abused formula of confronting the killer / killer confesses / the day is saved. that's a real testament to the abovementioned elements working so well.
I've tried Inspector Morse, but couldn't get into it. My wife and I like the successor series, Inspector Lewis, much better. It's available for free streaming if you have Amazon Prime.
shareThe first season of Midsomer was kind of rocky. They settled down in the second and were great until John Nettles left a few years ago. He ultimately did 13 seasons (or series). Many of the episodes were penned by Horowitz.
shareYou might enjoy "Island At War". It's more of a serial but it does have it's intrigue. It's set in WWII on the Channel Islands off the coast of England, and they've been overtaken by the Nazis. We watch it on streaming Netflix.
Enjoy!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0401019/combined
Yes, "Island At War" is a nice series. Great at showing the day to day realities of life during wartime.
Love's turned to lust and blood's turned to dust in my heart.
I'm a big fan of A Touch of Frost.
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Once upon a time, we had a love affair with fire.
http://athinkersblog.com/
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Have you seen the series All Creatures Great and Small? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075472/
It is not a crime drama, but a veterinary drama, based on the memoirs of James Herriot.
"James Herriot is a vet in Yorkshire, England, during the 1940's. He is assigned to the practice of Siegfried Farnon, who (together with his mischievous brother Tristan) already have a successful business. James undergoes a variety of adventures during his work, which are just as often caused by the characters of the county (including the Farnon brothers) as the animals in his care."
It's charming like Foyle's War. And funny.
I am enjoying "The Hour" a BBC drama now in it's second series that focus on the late 1950's and an investigative TV news/current affairs programme - obviously based on Panorama which is still running.
It is getting some criticism surprisingly from the BBC house magazine Radio Time's TV reviewer but I find it a fascinating insight into the issues that were around when I was a child that did not feature in school history lessons and I have not closely studied but greatly impacts on the social and political attitudes today - much a similar reason to why I enjoy Foyles War. And I find it beautifully done very stylish with artefacts and costumes that are familiar and in some cases still around!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00wkgxw
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1778108/
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Don't forget the early 90's British series, Prime Suspect, starring Helen Mirren. Great stuff!
shareI would recommand Crime Traveller. Another brillian show created by Anthony Horowitz. Pity it only lasted one season, yet really fantastic!
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