chief superintendent christopher foyle ( michael kitchen ) be a widowed middle age detective station on the south coast of england at the outbreak of the second world war while foyle have a son andrew who be a student at oxford before volunteer with the royal air force . due to wartime shortage in manpower amongst the police and foyle request a driver and get a uniformed civilian volunteer name samantha stewart ( honeysuckle week ) . foyle also recruit a disabled war veteran and former police detective paul milner from his hospital bed a his sergeant . the series serve both a a good period piece drama with some very informative and interesting historical element combine with some very good detective or mystery story element . the series put considerable emphasis on a number of social issue of the time and also paint a very evocative portrait of england during the war . the production value be very impressive especially when you consider this be a period television series with considerable scope and budget limitation . the standouts for me amongst the regular cast be michael kitchen who be incredibly effective in underplay his role while still manage to make foyle a very sympathetic character and and honeysuckle week who seem perfectly suit to her character . the interplay between these two character be certainly a highlight of the series . the series have attract some very impressive talent which have include such veteran a edward fox and charles dance as well a up and come talent like james mcavoy and david tennant ( doctor who ) .