Foyle's War - Historical Accuracy

Historical Accuracy

The series is notable for its claim to attention to historical detail and the drama is frequently moved along by historical events of World War II. Creator Anthony Horowitz considered that to honour the veterans of the war it was important to get the details correct. As the series progressed, Horowitz became more interested in the 'murder mystery' format than the portrayal of history and exploration of the Home Front. However, the Imperial War Museum is credited in an advisory capacity in some episodes.

There are a few anachronisms and inaccuracies in the series. The extended harbour arm in Hastings, built in 1976, has been shown several times throughout the series. Foyle's rank of Detective Chief Superintendent was not introduced by London's Metropolitan Police until 1949. In the episode "Bad Blood", which takes place in 1942, the drug streptomycin was used to cure Sam's anthrax infection, but streptomycin was not isolated until October 1943. Wartime field trials of anthrax were conducted only on Gruinard Island off Scotland's north west coast near Ullapool and not on the south coast as depicted. The episode "Casualties of War" portrayed a naval captain wearing only a moustache with no beard. Though not unheard of, this would have violated admiralty regulations, which allow a moustache only with a beard.

During Invasion, which took place in March 1942, members of the U.S. First Infantry Division were based in Hastings. However, elements of the "Big Red One" did not arrive until August, briefly staying in Dorset until their deployment for Operation Torch in North Africa. Moreover, Joe, the Italian-American soldier who woos Sam Stewart throughout Series 4, erroneously refers to his basic training period at Fort Benning, which is actually located in Georgia, not Virginia, as the script indicated.

In one episode the lights in a house are said to have fused and remedied by replacing the "ring main fuse". In reality ring mains were not introduced until the new electricity regulations in 1947 (which introduced the 13 amp plug) and the lighting would in any case never be connected to a ring main but to a separate lighting circuit.

In later episodes, some men's suits are shown with reverse trouser pleats, whereas British suiting would have been made with inverted pleats. Reverse pleats prevailed in America in the 1940s, but did not became a British fashion until the revival of full-cut styles in the 1990s.

The scrupulous approach to authenticity apparent in the visual design of the series is less evident in the script, which often includes words and phrases not used in wartime Britain. One example is "all-singing, all-dancing", which, though it had been used in publicity for the 1929 musical Broadway Melody, was not in general conversational use until the 1970s. Some others are often comparatively recent imports from American usage, such as "train station" (compared with "railway station"), "filling out" a form (rather than "filling in") and someone who is in charge of an organisation describing himself as "heading it up".

Some episodes show a Bush DAC90 radio in Foyle's office. This iconic bakelite model was introduced in 1946. In one episode Milner tells Foyle that his regiment is sailing for the Middle East the next day, but not even the commander of the convoy would know where his orders would take him, and any breach in security like Milner's would open the offender to very grave criminal charges.

In "Eagle Day" (Series 1, episode four) set in the summer of 1940, Pilot Officer Andrew Foyle is flying a Spitfire to assist calibration of RDF (radar). The aircraft shown is a cannon-armed, four-bladed Spitfire Mk IX, which would not have been in RAF service until at least 1942.

In "The White Feather", a character is seen signing her last will and testament, but nobody witnessed the signature physically on the document although Charles Dance as Guy Spencer was present. It is, and has been for generations, English law that a will be witnessed by two independent people who see the testator/testatrix actually sign the will and that the witnesses add their names, addresses and occupations. Without such witnesses the will is invalid.

In an early episode Andrew said that he was eight when his mother Rosalind died. In a later episode, Series 3, Christopher is visiting the gravesite of his wife and Andrew's mother. The dates read June 1902 - February 1932. The year was 1941 therefore Andrew should be only 17 or 18 and too young to have finished Oxford and RAF flight training.

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