Foyle's War (TV Series)

They Fought in the Fields (2004)

James Wilby: Major Cornwall

Quotes 

• DCS Christopher Foyle : [about his German]  And it's only what I managed to pick up in Germany during the last war. It's not that good.

  [indicates Weiser] 

  DCS Christopher Foyle : Well, it's as good as his English.

  Major Cornwall : No, he doesn't speak English at all.

  DCS Christopher Foyle : [to Weiser]  You're fairly fluent, aren't you? You understood one of my questions without it being translated when I came over here last time. And you understood every word we said when we first picked you up. You heard us talking about the woman who was with us that day being a possible murder suspect, and you described her later as the person you claimed took your gun when you were hanging from the tree.

  Major Cornwall : What information did Sabartovski have that was so important?

  DCS Christopher Foyle : [to Weiser]  Do you want to answer that question?

  [silence] 

  DCS Christopher Foyle : No? It seems from what he said to Schimmel that he was an expert in RDF, what you know as "Funk-mess", or radar, and it looked like there'd been perhaps a new system on board, which is why they made the effort to get back to it to make sure it was destroyed, or to get rid of it if it wasn't. How am I doing?

  [silence] 

  DCS Christopher Foyle : He was sent for the same reason, to make sure the equipment was destroyed, and Sabartovski as well. And he came prepared to fake a situation in which he'd be caught and most likely taken to the same holding camp as Sabartovski and get rid of him here.

  Raimund Weiser : If I faked the parachute drop, how did I get here?

  [Cornwall looks at him sharply. Foyle shrugs, as if his suspicion was confirmed] 

  DCS Christopher Foyle : Hmm... perfect English.

  [Weiser smirks] 

  DCS Christopher Foyle : Boat? There were saltwater stains on your trousers, and no marks at all from a parachute and a harness that had never been used before.

  Raimund Weiser : Good! Beach landing from a U-Boat.

• [Foyle has just caught a murderer in a POW camp and is speaking with the camp's chief interrogator] 

  Major Cornwall : I've always tried to see the best in people, and we've had good results with the prisoners. Quite a number have already opened up to us. You see, I spent a year at university in Heidelberg before the war. I always found the Germans to be a civilized and gracious race.

  DCS Christopher Foyle : Ah... You ever played football against them?

  Major Cornwall : Football? No. Cricket's my game. There's a disappointing dearth of cricket pitches in Heidelberg.

  DCS Christopher Foyle : I was in a police team that played in Germany in '36. The German team that met us were very smart, hospitable, very gracious, very civilized. Wonderful night - they wined and dined us, and we all left the Bierkeller at dawn, and we staggered onto the pitch later that day badly hung over. But the German team that ran on to play us were 11 totally different men, who'd been in bed before 10:00, not touched a drop, and we got a complete stuffing. They used different rules. But if we don't want to lose this war, I think first of all, we've even got to be sure about what game they're playing. And you're right... it's not cricket.

• Major Cornwall : Why didn't you tell me you speak German?

  DCS Christopher Foyle : [apologetically]  Well, frankly, Major, there became less and less point in telling you anything.

• DCS Christopher Foyle : You left the farmhouse, and made your next mistake. You tried to get rid of the gun.

  Raimund Weiser : Yes. That was a mistake.

  DCS Christopher Foyle : So, we know you did it, it's just a question of why? Perhaps being spotted faking the parachute drop didn't suit your purposes, so you had to destroy the witness? Why else would you do it?

  [silence] 

  Raimund Weiser : [shrugs, smirking]  He was English.

  Major Cornwall : You'll hang for this.