veteran who fought at Passchendaele, he once told Andrew that his three years of military service were the worst of his life and reluctantly admitted killing enemy soldiers. Foyle requests a transfer to the War Office several times in the first two series, but by the end of the third series he seems to have accepted his lot; his detective work is just as important, in its own way, to the war effort. He argues that innocent victims of murder should not be forgotten during wartime. With high moral standards, Foyle is scrupulously honest and incisive. His speech is straightforward, and peppered with dry wit. Foyle is open-minded for a man of his time. He is compassionate when he learns that one of Andrew's friends is homosexual ("Among the Few") and reluctant to prosecute an attempted suicide ("Casualties of War"); homosexual activity and attempted suicide were criminal offences at the time. Foyle is also reluctant to harass a left-wing activist for his political views ("War of Nerves"). He alone opposes the imposition of a temporary colour bar in Hastings when tensions erupt between black and white US troops ("Killing Time"). Consistent with the value he places on human life, Foyle notes that the accidental killing of a pregnant woman took two lives ("Among the Few"). Loyal to his colleagues, he expects the same from them; he reproaches Sgt. Milner for disloyalty in "The White Feather" and criticises the sergeant's disrespectful attitude towards him and Stewart in "The Russian House", despite the fact that they no longer work together. In turn, Foyle trusts his colleagues. Quick to forgive Milner, he believes in the sergeant's innocence when he is suspected of his estranged wife's murder in "Bleak Midwinter". Foyle has a fatherly concern (mixed with exasperation) for Stewart. He relaxes by trout fishing (at which he is very skilled and which supplements his wartime rations), and plays golf with less proficiency. Foyle is often accompanied in both by his son or Hugh Reid, his uniformed counterpart. Cameo and guest characters also occasionally appear with him on these outings, enabling exchanges of information important to the plot. Foyle retires (or resigns) more than once, resigning at the end of the fourth series when his arrest of two murder suspects is thwarted by a bureaucrat with the claim that their work is too important to the war effort. He returns in the fifth series