Foyle's War ended on Sunday, after 13 years on ITV. It wasn't exactly the greatest detective (later spy) drama in the history of television. The two-hour length of each episode made for longeurs, and the achingly nicey-nicey liberalness of Stakhanovite creator Anthony Howowitz's plot-lines occasionally got on this right-winger's nerves. For instance, in the penultimate episode, what was thought to be a terrorist plot hatched by Arabs turned out to be a Jewish plot - and the Arab terrorist organisation turned out not to exist at all! But Michael Kitchen's extended display of pitch-perfect underacting captured English reserve to a "t", and would by itself almost have ensured that I watched every episode. Almost. The truth is that what made it unmissable for me was the near-constant presence of Inspector Foyle's driver, Sam Stewart, played by the delighfully-named and stunningly attractive (in an understated and natural "English Rose" sort of way way) Honeysuckle Weeks. But even her loveliness might not - on its own - have kept me glued to the screen. No, what ultimately captivated me was her voice.
I have form in this regard: I know this is going to sound excessively uxorious, but, to my ears, my wife's voice is perfect. I'm not the only one to admire it. When, for reasons we needn't go into, I played back a recording I'd made of her reciting a Wordworth poem to the lady who runs our local poetry group - without identifying the reader - she spontaneously exclaimed "Gosh, what a lovely voice!" Well, it just is. But Honeysuckle Weeks runs Mrs. G a close second. For those of you unfamiliar with the series, here's a tribute:
But let's leave the delightful timbre of Ms. Week's voice aside, and turn to her accent, which did more than the vintage cars or the sets or the period clothes to make one feel that this was all actually taking place in war-time Hastings (later, post-war London). Upper middle-class, clipped, but at the same time ever so slightly slurred at edges - in other words, it was utterly natural-sounding. Because the actress herself is evidently pretty top-drawer, she doesn't give the impression that most of her effort is going into plumming it up (as so many actors and actresses do in period drama these days - because of which, they almost invariably sound plain wrong). But this is pretty much how Hioneysuckle Weeks speaks in real life.
For some odd reason, ITV has tried to kill off Foyle's War twice in the past, but popular demand forced them to revive it. This time, I fear, it really is the end... unless mega-rich former Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, can persuade the broadcaster to relent - apparently, he's another of Honseysuckle/Sam's many, many admirers.
So long, Sam - and good luck with that dreary Labour MP husband of yours: as you were revealed in one episode to be a Conservative supporter, I suggest you ditch the blister and find someone more suitable.
Your tolerance of Lefty tosh does you credit, sir. I didn't mind the first couple of series but as time dragged on the parade of liberal nonsense got too much and I decided it was better for my blood pressure to treat it as I do most TV these days.
ReplyDeleteBy the time it had reached the end of the war, the anti-Americanism had become positively shrill.
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Your tolerance of Lefty tosh does you credit, sir. I didn't mind the first couple of series but as time dragged on the parade of liberal nonsense got too much and I decided it was better for my blood pressure to treat it as I do most TV these days.
ReplyDeleteBy the time it had reached the end of the war, the anti-Americanism had become positively shrill.
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Apologies for the double post. Blogspot went bugger-up at the crucial moment.
ReplyDeleteForgiven - it does that sometimes! The general leftiness increased markedly in the post-war series - pity, because I'd suspected that Horowitz (who wrote for the Torygraph before it turned into a Social Democrat rag) might be a bit of a secret conservative. Evidently not. Not only did the last series feature the standard "of course it's not the Arab terrorists/blacks/communists who committed the crime ignorant bigots would have assumed they had committed", but it also featured one ludicrous episode where a formerly interned fascist Englishman whips up white working class people in Peckham into an anti-immigrant frenzy which culminates in them marching through the streets carrying flaming torches (which they must have got from the local branch of Flaming Torches R Us) and setting fire to immigrants' houses. Yes, the Racist Far Right were a real problem in London in 1946 - as they are, of course, to this very day - at least, in the fevered imagination of Guardian-reading telly folk.
DeleteUgh! Yes, that's just the sort of unrealistic Leftie nonsense I was talking about. ISTR there being some fuss about a BBC series (Bonshakers was it called?) in which a bunch of beheading fanatics turned out to be - yes, you guessed, it devout Christians.
DeleteStill, I suppose they could have been strict Baptists. No accounting what those fanatical buggers get up to.
I also liked Sam Stewart, Scott, and was most surprised to learn, via a Guardian interview with Anthony Horowitz, that he based that character on his parents' housekeeper, a woman known as Fitzy.
ReplyDeleteThe author's parents were reduced to only one servant (down from five) when his father's bankruptcy loomed.
Because of the ' class - war' driven inferences drawn nowadays from any mention of domestic help, I should add that my wife and I employed a live - in (politically correct euphemism alert ) "helper" while our children were living at home.
A live-in servant? You vicious exploiter of the working class!
DeleteAs you doubtless know, Scott, they order things differently in the East.
ReplyDelete