Jeff Bockman – Google

What a beautifully written, acted and designed show that somehow manages to balance the family drama, and key traumas, with humor and with music. Though not a musical, music is at the center of this story of a stage mother and the talented four daughters she grooms (a rather pointed and intentional choice of words there) to be stars. Which one does. And while the conceit is not unique: dying mother, thwarted dreams, it is ultimately about what we give up to succeed, or to cede to giving up and letting the dream die. The actors are brilliant one and all. The stage set marvelously homey and yet as the various stairs climb up to the rooms of the Seaview Hotel and Spa, very hauntingly Piranesi. And the musical parts, by the actors playing the sisters as teens or those the adults are all lovely, and at times poignant. Another great Jez Butterworth play.

I cannot think of many shows that so expertly balance history, politics, character, and heeds but at time subverts the key genre tropes of a good detective (or ultimately spy) mystery. And while the actors are all wonderful, Michael Kitchen’s DCS Foyle is such a study in minimalism: so much is conveyed by him in a character so laconic but conveying so much with his facial expressions, so strong in his moral compass but without being rigid, such a good man in a world gone crazy with death and destruction of WWII, and later the moral ambiguities of the Cold War. Kudos to the Anthony Horowitz, and the entire cast and production team. And meets my high bar of rewatchability.