History YMMV / FoylesWar

* TheWoobie: Susan Gascogine. Her father, a judge, threatens her boyfriend with imprisonment on false charges because he's not posh. She takes in a Blitz evacuee because he seemed unwanted, but her parents hate him for having lower-class manners and she can't connect with him as she'd hoped to. Her father's life is threatened and the young boy dies. When she breaks down in front of Milner, her father walks in and throws him out, [[spoiler:and he's soon shot dead. Finally, her own mother confesses to murdering him, because he had been the one to kill the child.]]

* HarsherInHindsight: the death of poor Lucy Smith in ''Eagle Day''. In the episode, it's generally regarded as an innocent young girl seduced by an older man, in over her head, who [[spoiler: commits suicide over her resulting pregnancy, which is subsequently covered up because the man concerned is a key part of an experimental program.]] Which doesn't stop Foyle from telling the man's superior [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "What he did to Lucy Smith might not have been strictly criminal, perhaps, but it was immoral, improper, and downright disgusting."]] When re-watched in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the #Metoo campaign, it comes across as something far nastier: Major Graham using his position as her superior officer to intimidate and manipulate Lucy into becoming his mistress, partly by implying that providing sexual services to him was part of her job for morale purposes. (On the Wikipedia page, it's stated outright to be sexual assault.) Even worse, as they were both staff members of an experimental scientific program, the whole mess came under the Official Secrets Act, giving Lucy no recourse to the usual chain of command which should have protected her. (whether it would have, given the sexist attitudes of the time, is another discussion altogether) [[spoiler: It's no wonder Lucy's father kills Major Graham, and has no regrets whatsoever about doing so.]]

* HarsherInHindsight: the death of poor Lucy Smith in ''Eagle Day''. In the episode, it's generally regarded as an innocent young girl seduced by an older man, in over her head, who [[spoiler: commits suicide over her resulting pregnancy, which is subsequently covered up because the man concerned is a key part of an experimental program.]] Which doesn't stop Foyle from telling the man's superior [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "What he did to Lucy Smith might not have been strictly criminal, perhaps, but it was immoral, improper, and downright disgusting."]] When re-watched in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the #MeToo campaign, it comes across as something far nastier: Major Graham using his position as her superior officer to intimidate and manipulate Lucy into becoming his mistress, partly by implying that providing sexual services to him was part of her job for morale purposes. (On the Wikipedia page, it's stated outright to be sexual assault.) Even worse, as they were both staff members of an experimental scientific program, the whole mess came under the Official Secrets Act, giving Lucy no recourse to the usual chain of command which should have protected her. (whether it would have, given the sexist attitudes of the time, is another discussion altogether) [[spoiler: It's no wonder Lucy's father kills Major Graham, and has no regrets whatsoever about doing so.]]

* HarsherInHindsight: the death of poor Lucy Smith in ''Eagle Day''. In the episode, it's generally regarded as an innocent young girl seduced by an older man, in over her head, who [[spoiler: commits suicide over her resulting pregnancy, which is subsequently covered up because the man concerned is a key part of an experimental program.]] Which doesn't stop Foyle from telling the man's superior [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "What he did to Lucy Smith might not have been strictly criminal, perhaps, but it was immoral, improper, and downright disgusting."]]. When re-watched in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the #MeToo campaign, it comes across as something far nastier: Major Graham using his position as her superior officer to intimidate and manipulate Lucy into becoming his mistress, partly by implying that providing sexual services to him was part of her job for morale purposes. (On the Wikipedia page, it's stated outright to be sexual assault.) Even worse, as they were both staff members of an experimental scientific program, the whole mess came under the Official Secrets Act, giving Lucy no recourse to the usual chain of command which should have protected her. [[spoiler: it's no wonder Lucy's father kills him, and has no regrets whatsoever about doing so.]] One of Lucy's friends also heavily implies that one of the hazards of being a servicewoman is fighting off male colleagues who think that the ladies should be providing other kinds of service as well.

* HarsherInHindsight: the death of poor Lucy Smith in ''Eagle Day''. In the episode, it's generally regarded as a young girl seduced by an older man, in over her head, who [[spoiler: commits suicide over her resulting pregnancy, which is subsequently covered up because the man concerned is a key part of an experimental program.]] Which doesn't stop Foyle from telling the man's superior[[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech "It might not be illegal, but it was immoral, not to mention downright disgusting."]]. When re-watched in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the #MeToo campaign, it comes across as something far nastier: the man using his position as her superior to intimidate and manipulate Lucy into becoming his mistress, implying that providing sexual services to officers was part of her job for morale purposes. One of Lucy's friends also heavily implies that one of the hazards of being a servicewoman is fighting off male colleagues who think that the ladies should be providing other kinds of service as well.

* RetroactiveRecognition: The show contains a near-hilarious amount of young British actors who went on to make Hollywood's A-list, particularly Creator/JamesMcAvoy (who is best known for portraying the younger Professor Charles Xavier in the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries''), Creator/RosamundPike and C realtor/EmilyBlunt. Also featured are the fresh young faces of Creator/DavidTennant, Creator/SophiaMyles and Creator/TobiasMenzies.

* FanPreferredCouple: Despite a 27-year age difference between the characters, 73 percent of Foyle’s War related fanfics found on Website/FanFictionDotNet as of the beginning of 2012 romantically pair Christopher Foyle and his driver Samantha Stewart.

* RetroactiveRecognition: The show contains a near-hilarious amount of young British actors who went on to make Hollywood's A-list, particularly Creator/JamesMcAvoy (who is best known for portraying the younger Professor Charles Xavier in the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries''), Rosamund Pike and Emily Blunt. Also featured are the fresh young faces of Creator/DavidTennant, Creator/SophiaMyles and Creator/TobiasMenzies.

* TearJerker:
** When Foyle begins deconstructing Reginald Walker in "War Games," the gold box from Germany is the linchpin. [[spoiler:As soon as his narration voices over a flashback to his visit to a rabbi, you know that the box belonged to victims of the Holocaust--a Jewish family who used it to hold their prayer book before they were shot by the Nazis, and it was given as a sickening gift to a family who, according to Foyle's barrister friend, were more virulently anti-Semetic than even most Nazis.]]
** All of Dr. Novak's plot in "Broken Souls."
** The deterioration of [[spoiler:Captain Kiefer's]] character, from [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure his first appearance]] in "Invasion" to [[ShellShockedVeteran his return]] in "All Clear." The glimpses we get of how this happened don't help a bit.

* NightmareFuel: The effects of anthrax, in both its deliberate testing on livestock and its accidental spread to humans.

* RetroactiveRecognition: The show contains a near-hilarious amount of young British actors who went on to make Hollywood's A-list, particularly Creator/JamesMcAvoy (who is best known for portraying the younger [[Characters/XMenFilmSeriesProfessorCharlesXavier Professor Charles Xavier]] in the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries''), Rosamund Pike and Emily Blunt. Also featured are the fresh young faces of Creator/DavidTennant, Creator/SophiaMyles and Creator/TobiasMenzies.

* FanPreferredCouple: Despite a 27-year age difference between the characters, 73 percent of Foyle’s War related fanfics found on FanFictionDotNet as of the beginning of 2012 romantically pair Christopher Foyle and his driver Samantha Stewart.

* AccidentalInnuendo: In "Broken Souls," Brooks asks Sam to dig in her bottom (dresser) drawer for loose change for his football pool. She replies she has no drawers, top or bottom. Then they both burst out giggling.

* GeniusBonus: Or at least a bonus for the musically literate. A piano piece that is heard several times in "Elise", associated with the episode's title character, is not identified beyond a remark that Creator/LudwigVanBeethoven is perhaps not a tactful choice given the war; it's Beethoven's Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor, "For Elise".

* RetroactiveRecognition: The show contains a near-hilarious amount of young British actors who went on to make Hollywood's A-list, particularly Creator/JamesMcAvoy (who is best known for portraying the younger [[Characters/XMenFilmSeriesProfessorCharlesXavier Professor Charles Xavier]] in the ''Film/XMenFilmSeries''), Rosamund Pike and Emily Blunt. Also featured are the fresh young faces of David Tennant, Sophia Myles and Tobias Menzies.

* TearJerker: When Foyle begins deconstructing Reginald Walker in "War Games," the gold box from Germany is the linchpin. [[spoiler:As soon as his narration voices over a flashback to his visit to a rabbi, you know that the box belonged to victims of the Holocaust--a Jewish family who used it to hold their prayer book before they were shot by the Nazis, and it was given as a sickening gift to a family who, according to Foyle's barrister friend, were more virulently anti-Semetic than even most Nazis.]]

* RetroactiveRecognition: The show contains a near-hilarious amount of young British actors who went on to make Hollywood's A-list, particularly James McAvoy, Rosamund Pike and Emily Blunt. Also featured are the fresh young faces of David Tennant, Sophia Myles and Tobias Menzies.

* IGotBetter: In later series, the Prodcers seem to have forgotten that Milner had ''lost his leg'', as he moves perfectly freely.
** Some of this can be explained with FridgeBrilliance; he struggles a lot more in the earlier series because his injury is more recent and he's lacking confidence. In later episodes, he's more used to it and is in a better place physically and psychologically, and so doesn't struggle as much. He's still quite mobile for someone with a missing leg in several ways, however.
* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: In "A Lesson in Murder", Foyle and Sam investigate a factory where one of the suspects works, which is heavily guarded and under tight government security. It turns out to be [[spoiler: a factory run by the Ministry of Health for mass-producing wooden coffins to deal with the expected homefront casualties.]] You can almost see the anvils falling, but the effect is [[NightmareFuel chilling]].