Foyle's War to end after 13 years of award-winning drama

Creator Anthony Horowitz said he felt he had 'no more stories to tell'

Michael Kitchen plays Christopher Foyle in ITV's 'Foyle's War' (ITV)

ITV's long-running detective drama Foyle’s War is to end this month after eight series.

Detective Christopher Foyle will solve his last ever case in a two-hour finale on Sunday, which will see the senior MI5 intelligence officer re-examine Hilda Pierce’s top secret role during the war.

Michael Kitchen, who has played the detective since the drama’s inception, will be joined by series regulars Honeysuckle Weeks, Daniel Weyman, Ellie Haddington, Tim McMullan and Rupert Vansittart for the finale.

Foyle’s War began on ITV in 2002 after creator Anthony Horowitz thought of the concept following the end of the long-running series Inspector Morse.

The series was cancelled in 2007 but brought back in 2008 due to popular demand from fans.

Horowitz said he was sad to to say goodbye to the drama’s characters, but added he wasn’t sure if he had “any more stories to tell”.

“It feels a terrible wrench to say goodbye to characters I’ve lived with for more than fifteen years. But the truth is that I’m not sure there are any more stories to tell and anyway it was always my intention to end on a high note and I think this year’s episodes are the very best we’ve done,” he said.

Steve November, director of drama at ITV, said: “We are very sad to be saying goodbye to Foyle's War after so many amazing years, but delighted that the finale is so rich and mesmerising.

“Christopher Foyle has been a classic ITV hero and we are indebted to Anthony Horowitz for creating him and writing so many original stories for him, to Michael Kitchen for bringing him to life so brilliantly and to Eleventh Hour Films for consistently impeccable production.”

The Foyle’s War finale will air on Sunday 18 January.