Foyle's War could make a peacetime comeback

Popular ITV detective drama Foyle's War may be returning for an eighth series, according to one of its stars, Julian Ovenden.

The show has already made one unexpected comeback. It was axed by ITV after its sixth series but reinstated following an outcry from fans.

Now Ovenden, 35, who plays a Spitfire pilot in the Second World War drama, says talks are under way to bring it back.

Foyle's War writer Anthony Horowitz was first to hint at a fresh series in his blog in December, when he wrote that he had begun researching for new episodes.

Ovenden, whose character in the series, Andrew, is the son of senior police detective Christopher Foyle, played by Michael Kitchen, said today: "It sounds like it is a genuine possibility."

Former ITV director of television Simon Shaps axed the series originally but it was brought back when he left the broadcaster in 2008 and the seventh series aired in April 2010.

Ovenden added: "It'll be great to go back and explore the character. You see it on American TV, where someone is in a series for six or seven years. It allows you an amazing opportunity to create a very rounded, three-dimensional character. It'll be very interesting to see what happens if we do it again, particularly because the war is over now [in the series]. It's an interesting conundrum."

Ovenden, an old Etonian who went on to Oxford on a choral scholarship, signed a record deal last week and will release his debut album in April. He described the tracks as "reminiscent of the kind of songs you get at the end of a Bond film".