Some stuff comes back

Despite dramas such as Heartbeat, The Royal and The Bill getting wiped off our screens due to some indiscriminate whim of an ITV executive (both of whom have, by this time, gone on their merry ways), the power of the audience is being felt almost as if they were calling "it's behind you!" I am talking about the welcome return of Foyle's War, which began on ITV, Sunday 11th April.

Axed in 2007, the show has been given a new lease of life following the weight of public demand. I remember watching an interview with its creator, Anthony Horowitz, when it first aired and he said that each series would deal with the events of a particular war year – chronologically, of course.

But then ITV's then director of television decided that he wanted to attract an upmarket younger audience – as if he would know what people want to watch. I mean, let's face it: such arrogance is usually some misguided and desperate attempt to pull in more advertising revenue by attracting... more upmarket viewers? Amongst the younger audience? I'll stop there before I commit the cardinal sin of generalisation and falling into cliché country – a bit like the former ITV director of television did.

In its normal run, as originally outlined, Foyle's War got to 1943... and then, after being dumped, jumped to 1945 for a one-off 2-hour special just to cap it all off and make way for the wealthy youth. I don't think.

I realise that Anthony Horowitz will, at the very least, have storylined the programmes that were never made, and I sympathise with him. The new series takes over after VE-day in 1945, which is better than nothing, and I'm wondering if they'll consider a series that backtracks to those missing years.

Let's hope so.