The Short Answer
- The Bletchley Circle — four former wartime codebreakers secretly reunite to catch a killer in 1950s London. (BritBox)
- Home Fires — the women of a Cheshire village hold their community together on the WWII home front. (PBS Masterpiece)
- World on Fire — ordinary families in Manchester and across Europe are swept up in the Second World War. (PBS Masterpiece)
- Inspector George Gently — a principled old-school detective polices a changing North East England in the 1960s. (Acorn TV)
- Endeavour — a young Morse learns his trade under a steady, old-fashioned inspector in 1960s Oxford. (PBS Masterpiece)
- Ridley — a retired detective returns as a police consultant in rural northern England. (PBS Masterpiece)
- Miss Scarlet — a determined young woman takes over her late father's detective agency in 1880s London. (PBS Masterpiece)
- Cadfael — a medieval monk and former crusader solves murders around Shrewsbury Abbey. (BritBox)
Streaming availability checked October 2026 and may change — check BritBox, Acorn TV, PBS Passport, or Prime Video for current availability.
The Bletchley Circle
The Bletchley Circle
Four women who worked as codebreakers at Bletchley Park during the war reunite in 1950s London, using the skills they are not allowed to talk about to track down a killer. Like the later series of Foyle's War, it explores how people who served in secret struggled to find their place once the fighting was over.
Home Fires
Home Fires
Set in a Cheshire village during the Second World War, Home Fires follows the members of the local Women's Institute as rationing, evacuees and loss reshape their lives. It has no detective at its centre, but fans of Foyle's War will recognise its close attention to what the war meant for the people left at home.
World on Fire
World on Fire
Peter Bowker's drama follows ordinary civilians caught up in the early years of the Second World War, moving between Manchester, Warsaw, Paris and Berlin. It covers the same period as the early series of Foyle's War, with the same interest in how everyday lives were changed by events far away.
Inspector George Gently
Inspector George Gently
Martin Shaw plays an old-school detective policing the North East of England in the 1960s, determined to do things properly at a time when corruption was common. His calm integrity and refusal to cut corners make him a natural successor to Christopher Foyle.
Endeavour
Endeavour
Shaun Evans plays the young Endeavour Morse, learning the job in 1960s Oxford under Roger Allam's Fred Thursday, a steady and old-fashioned inspector. Thursday's quiet decency and the show's careful, feature-length mysteries will appeal to anyone who admired Foyle.
Ridley
Ridley
Adrian Dunbar plays a retired detective inspector who returns as a consultant to help his former protégée crack difficult murder cases in the north of England. Like Foyle, Ridley is a thoughtful, softly spoken detective whose experience and compassion matter more than force.
Miss Scarlet
Miss Scarlet
Kate Phillips plays Eliza Scarlet, a young woman who takes over her late father's detective agency in Victorian London and has to fight to be taken seriously. It is lighter than Foyle's War but shares its careful period detail, and a seventh and final season has been confirmed.
Cadfael
Cadfael
Derek Jacobi plays Brother Cadfael, a former soldier turned monk who solves crimes around Shrewsbury in the 12th century, in adaptations of Ellis Peters' novels. Set during a civil war, it shares Foyle's War's steady, humane detective and its sense of justice being done in troubled times.
