Character: Sir Giles Messinger
Actor: Ronald Pickup
Episode: The French Drop

Ronald Pickup was delighted to join the cast of Foyle's War to play grieving father Sir Giles Messinger.

"Sir Giles works for MI5 and he's extremely conservative. He's an old guard type and he's antagonistic towards the new secret service organisation, the Special Operations Executive, that has been set up.

"He's essentially a good man, but he's not capable of expressing his emotions. He's a Major General and someone of that rank is arrogant and doesn't feel that he has to be polite. But it's partly because the era he lives in is based on etiquette and rank.

"He has a very good but formal relationship with his wife and a bad relationship with his son, who was something of a rebel. His son's death moves him very deeply and he wants to blame it on someone. He feels guilty about why his son should have taken his own life."
Sir Giles meets Foyle (Michael Kitchen) during the investigation into his son's death.

"It was great to work with Michael. I'd worked with him on radio and in recitals and I've always admired him. Angela Thorne was also a lovely wife - she is terrific, and I really enjoyed working with the director Gavin Millar again. I had seen a few episodes of Foyle's War and I wanted very much to be part of the series.

"I've done so many costume dramas but I haven't played that many military people. The costume was authentic and it is part of the performance whether you are playing a major general or a tramp."

Ronald recently appeared in The Worst Week of My Life and Featherboy. His other credits include Jennie, The Last Detective, Cambridge Spies, Waking The Dead, The Riff Raff Element, A Time to Dance and A Very Open Prison. Film work includes The Mission, The Fourth Protocol and Lolita.