Enemy Fire

I believe that this particular offering gave us a truly biting view of war and its implications. We are thrust into the world of medicine needed to treat the horrors of this time in history (as we continue to do to this day). Our current wars have flooded us with dismemberment, burns, and, yes, death. It is bad enough for the victims as they try to recover from physical injuries, but the stresses on them brought on by ignorant and insensitive people who now treat them as less then whole, must be a terrifying thing. The young man who awaits the arrival of his betrothed lies in the hospital, feeling less a man. This is soundly portrayed in this excellent portrayal. Foyle's must wade through some really evil events as he guides and directs his investigation.

All roads lead to Gordon Drake. A thoroughly disreputable fellow that as Foyle observes, half the village set out to kill him.

An adulterer, a wife beater, a blackmailer and a negligent RAF mechanic.

The story involves a requisitioned mansion which is now being used as a hospital to treat burns victims with pioneering treatment. Sir Michael Waterford who owns the house but has now moved to a cottage in his estate is not happy with this state of affairs. The hospital itself is suffering mishaps that leads a doctor to believe is deliberate sabotage.

Andrew Foyle has a run in with Drake for not fixing his plane properly. Andrew is also showing signs of battle fatigue, something he confides in Samantha about.

Foyle and Milner find themselves investigating the peculiar goings on at the hospital, later with Drake's murder and then Foyle has to go looking for his son who has gone AWOL.

There are a lot of bases that are covered in this episode. It was almost inevitable someone Andrew knows is abound to end up being a burns victim at the hospital.

The murder actually happens well into the episode. Everything else is just the hors d'oeuvres until then.

Loved 'Foyle's War' and was immediately hooked when first getting into it. Love it even more now, on re-watches things that didn't quite make sense at first are clearer and things that were not noticed or appreciated before are and much admired. Everything that came over as brilliant on first viewings still are brilliant on re-watches.

"Enemy Fire" to me is up there with the best 'Foyle's War' episodes. It is a shame agreed that the faulty slider plot element is not particularly well thought out, with inconsistencies and lazy logic as mentioned already, and sticks out like a sore thumb amidst an exceptional episode everywhere else. It is the only thing that is wrong, but sadly is too big a flaw to overlook because the whole story centres around it. Like with many 'Foyle's War' episodes, on re-watch there was much more appreciation had for how well established the character development, tone and themes are and things that didn't quite connect entirely at first made more sense on re-watches.

Have always admired the visual detail that went into 'Foyle's War' and how high quality the production values are, with beautiful costumes, the evocative way the characters are made up, the look of the houses and cars, pretty locations and authentic-looking scenery. The music is in keeping with the mood and doesn't overpower the drama while still making an impact.

Writing is intelligent, sophisticated and thought-provoking, establishing Foyle's personality with so much depth already and providing some tense and heart-tugging moments. The story is complicated, with a lot of strands that requires full attention, but clever and from start to finish intriguing. It paces itself deliberately but with so much going on it's never once dull and the twists and turns that slowly unfold keep coming. All the conflicts, social/ethical themes and how the period is portrayed are handled beautifully and tastefully and there is a real sense that war itself is a central character and has terrible implications.

One thing that wasn't picked up by me but now is and admired hugely is the tackling of what was seen as truths but some really misconceptions and seeing British during the war in a new light. This was a bold move and dealt with a lot of honesty and tact. The background information is so well researched and is every bit as interesting as the mystery itself. The character tensions were also handled very well and added a lot of intrigue.

Michael Kitchen is truly superb as Foyle, subtle, intensely determined, commanding and above all human. One of the most interesting television detectives there's ever been and Kitchen has rarely been better. Honeysuckle Weeks is charming and loyal, with some nice touches of subtle humour as ever, and Anthony Howell is wonderful, the character has always been developed very well and Howell continues to come into his own with each episode. Julian Ovendon likewise.

John Wood, Shaun Dooley and especially John Fillingham stand out of an across-the-board great supporting cast.

Overall, exceptional episode that sees the show on fire despite the glaring plot flaw. 9/10 Bethany Cox

So often you watch a War time film where you see beautifully turned out officers, the dark side with killings etc, but how often do you get to see the tragedy of what befell the Officers who were injured, often ignored by family and loved ones, many medical procedures still in their infancy. Enemy Fire manages to be both an outstandingly good whodunit, a superb character study, and it manages to open up the viewer's eyes to a part of the war that many wouldn't have even thought of. The acting is superb, many fantastic performances, Kitchen amazing as always, but the performance of Julian Ovended as Andrew for me pinches it, he brought to life the real pressures and stresses those brave pilots would have felt. It's always excellent viewing, this one has an added dimension.