British Period Crime Drama · ITV · 2002–2015 · Complete Series
Michael Kitchen stars as Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle, a quietly principled policeman solving murders in Hastings while the Second World War rages across the Channel. Created by Anthony Horowitz, the series follows the home front year by year from May 1940, then moves into the uneasy post-war world of 1946 and 1947, across 28 feature-length episodes broadcast on ITV from 2002 to 2015. The episodes are grouped into eight series in the UK, while some US listings divide them into nine seasons. Foyle's War streams on Acorn TV in the US. See how it compares in British TV Hub's guide to where to watch British TV in the US.
Where to watch in the US
Acorn TV
Complete series · 28 episodes · Subscription required
Watch via Acorn TV on Prime Video →Streaming availability in the US can change. Check the linked service for the current season and episode selection. Checked October 2026.
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Set in May 1940, the opener finds Foyle frustrated at being kept on home duties while the war effort calls, until the death of an influential man's German-born wife lands on his desk. It introduces his partnership with driver Sam Stewart and the show's thoughtful, morally serious tone.
Series 1–6 follow the home front in Hastings from 1940 to the end of the war in 1945. Series 7 and 8 move to London in 1946 and 1947, with Foyle drawn into the world of MI5 and the early Cold War.
The series premiere introduces Foyle, Sam and Milner as a shocking death exposes the tensions around wartime internment. A confident first chapter that shows exactly what the show does best.
With invasion fears running high, a Nazi sympathiser is killed during a pro-Fascist gathering at a country hotel. A gripping look at the divided loyalties of 1940 Britain.
Sam goes undercover to investigate stolen rationed petrol, while Foyle's son Andrew finds himself under suspicion of murder. Personal stakes make this one of the more emotional early stories.
A murder on a Hastings farm puts Foyle among the Land Army girls working the land. A rich portrait of rural wartime life wrapped around a satisfying mystery.
American troops arrive to build an airfield near Hastings, and resentment between locals and newcomers soon turns dangerous. A sharp study of a community changed by its allies.
As Hastings prepares to celebrate VE Day, Foyle joins the committee organising the festivities, but the war's shadows linger. A fitting, reflective close to the wartime years.
Returning from America in 1946, Foyle is intercepted by MI5 and pulled into the secretive world of post-war intelligence. A bold reinvention that opens the show's final chapter.
A widowed, softly spoken detective chief superintendent whose quiet manner hides a steely sense of justice. Foyle insists that the law still matters in wartime, even when powerful people would rather it didn't.
Sam is Foyle's cheerful, resourceful driver from the Mechanised Transport Corps, who quickly becomes an indispensable part of his investigations. Her warmth balances Foyle's reserve throughout all eight series.
Anthony Howell plays Detective Sergeant Paul Milner, Foyle's colleague through Series 1–6, a wounded veteran rebuilding his life. Julian Ovenden plays Foyle's son Andrew, an RAF pilot, in Series 1–5.
Kitchen does more with a pause or a raised eyebrow than many actors do with a speech. His restrained performance gives the series its calm, intelligent centre.
Each mystery is built around a real aspect of wartime Britain, from internment and rationing to evacuees, the Land Army and American GIs. Viewers come away knowing far more about the period than when they started.
Horowitz created the series and wrote many of its episodes, layering moral questions into fair-play puzzles. He went on to write the Susan Ryeland novels, the source of PBS Masterpiece's Marble Hall Murders.
The first six series are set in the Sussex seaside town of Hastings, with a house on Croft Road serving as Foyle's home. When the story moves to London for Series 7 and 8, filming took place in London and Ireland.
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On Acorn TV, which you can also add as a channel on Prime Video.
There are 28 feature-length episodes, broadcast on ITV from 2002 to 2015. They are grouped into eight series in the UK, while some US listings divide the same episodes into nine seasons.
No new episodes have been announced. The final episode aired on January 18, 2015. ITV originally cancelled the series after its fifth series, but later revived it, and Foyle returned for additional post-war stories.
Yes. The series moves forward through the war year by year, from May 1940 to early 1947, and the characters' lives change along the way.
The murder cases are fictional, but each one is set against real aspects of life on the home front, such as rationing, internment, the Land Army and the arrival of American troops.
The wartime series is set in Hastings, and a house on Croft Road in the town served as Foyle's home. The post-war series moved the action to London and were filmed in London and Ireland.
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