Telemystery: Foyle's War — The Home Front Files

Acorn Media re-released all six seasons of Foyle's War this week, including a new 6-season collection of the entire series to date (right; click for more information).

Set during the years of World War II, Michael Kitchen stars as DCI Christopher Foyle, a police officer in the coastal town of Hastings, which would be on the front line of an invasion from Germany … should one occur. Even though he wants to join his brethren on the Continent, his superiors believe he can do more good for the cause by staying right where he is.

Foyle's War was created and written by Anthony Horowitz and — in our opinion — no finer crime drama has ever been produced. It is, simply stated, consistently outstanding. The episodes, which open with the date on which the storyline is set and progressively move chronologically forward over time, typically include some topical event involving the war coupled with a local crime. We've seen each episode at least twice ourselves, some so good, so brilliantly clever, they merit a third or fourth watching.

In 2007, after the fourth season had aired and the fifth commissioned, ITV canceled the series. Horowitz quickly accelerated the time frame of the final episodes so that the series finale would coincide with the end of the war. But the public outcry on the series' cancellation was so loud — and so long — that ITV relented, and commissioned a sixth season, set during the tumultuous period immediately following VE Day. Fans of the series were thrilled when an seventh season was announced, which is currently filming with an air date to be announced.

Though we've seen the entire series, our resident reviewer — Mr. E. — only began publishing reviews starting with fifth season. (We'll ask him to pen reviews of the earlier seasons when he sees them again … as we're sure he will.)

If you've never seen an episode of the series, we encourage you to start with the first, "The German Woman", which takes place in May 1940 and introduces the characters. We're convinced that after you see it, you'll want to follow these characters over the course of five years, through "All Clear" in May 1945 and beyond.