Fifteen years ago, Anthony Horowitz thought about writing a detective series named The Blitz Detective. He wanted to name its main character George Ransom and film it in a Second World War set in London. He soon found out, however, that it would be expensive to shoot the series in London and moved base. Also during his research for the series, he came across the name of Christopher Foyle in a book shop and changed his character name to Christopher Foyle.
The new series of Foyle’s War is shown on ITV this month and has been running thrice as long as the war itself. Recently, there have been an enormous number of fans from all over the world and no bad reviews as of yet. Though the series was supposed to target audiences in the senior age group, there has been a substantial number of young audience members. Anthony wonders why the series has been so successful and how it could run for so long despite being cancelled by ITV once in 2008. ITV revived the series immediately after cancelling it.
He credits the longevity of the series to Michael Kitchen’s performance. He talks about Michael being an extraordinary actor and being the only name that suited the character of Christopher Foyle. Michael could express four or five lines worth of Anthony’s text in just one look. He is such a potent actor. Anthony also gives all praise to Honeysuckle Weeks who does the role of Christopher Foyle’s driver and his confidante, Sam.
Though the series started in the setting of World War II, the war ended, and the set changed completely with new actors. Even the role of Christopher Foyle changed from being a detective to a secret agent. Now there is a new enemy in Stalin’s Russia. The Cold War is evident in the streets and the atmosphere is dull, The Telegraph reports.
Though a bit delayed, the series eventually found audiences in the United States. As a result, Anthony found himself on a US chat show and having breakfast with the Mayor of New York.
He also credits the success of the stories that he has managed to find to the Imperial War Museum of Industrialist’s trails in Nuremberg. His stories also included scandal in Churchill’s secret army and a secret plot to limit the emigration of Jews to Israel. He firmly believes that the audience has the right to know these stories and that he is able to live up to their expectations.
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