The British Miniseries Obsession
I recently spent a rainy weekend on the couch, watching the first four seasons of Foyle’s War – the ITV series about a British detective working on the home front in World War II. The series has been on and off for several year, famously cancelled in 2007 but brought back to life in 2009, and now apparently slated for its final season to air in early 2015.
Michael Kitchen – the star of the show – has done a marvelous job over the course of this series, which has now extended its plotlines well past 1945 into post-war British life. Kitchen has always been a favorite of mine on the British small screen, starting with his turn as the Prince Charles-inspired character in House of Cards (the original British series, thank you, not the Kevin Spacey US version which has gone seriously downhill in its second season). But then, House of Cards is another obsession. I can watch it endlessly. Same with Brideshead Revisited and Upstairs Downstairs.
More recent additions to the British miniseries canon are a mixed bag – Downton Abbey, for all its charms, is basically just a soap opera, and one that is increasingly corrupted by its need to appeal to an American audience (Shirley MacLaine in a recurring role; George Clooney recently announced as a guest star; the painfully ill-drawn character of Lady Grantham as played by Elizabeth McGovern). On the other hand, Broadchurch and The Bletchley Circle have been welcome additions; the former now shooting its second season and the latter having made it through two seasons before cancellations.
So query why the US cannot seem to develop the same quality in its miniseries programs. Broadchurch is now being adapted for a US version – also starring David Tennant (good call), but where are the original US miniseries that can do what ITV and Masterpiece Theater have done for British television? It’s a question that begs for a good answer, but until we have one in the US at least we will have BBC America.
Foyle’s War is a British detective drama television series set during and shortly after World War II, created by screenwriter and author Anthony Horowitz, and commissioned by ITV after the long-running series Inspector Morse came to an end in 2000. It has been broadcast on ITV since 2002. It was cancelled in 2007 by the then-director of programmes, Simon Shaps, but positive public demand and a number of complaints about the cancellation prompted ITV to revive the series after its sixth series proved to be a ratings success.[1][2]
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