Network: CBC Television Network
Broadcast Run: 1963 to 1966
Broadcast Medium: Television
Aired Thursday nights, at various times, from 1963 to 1966.
CBC pioneered the mini-series in Canadian television with this program created by Ronald Weyman, one of the most innovative producers in the medium. The show was dedicated to limited drama series with location shoots and adventurous subjects. The format was flexible: it could run continuous stories and themes episodically thereby allowing for longer adaptations from novels and plays. Production values could be more elaborate, and location shoots offered more authenticity to each drama. Consequently, the show was not afraid of its Canadian roots.
Season One highlights:
The Son of a Hundred Kings by Thomas B. Costain. A ten week historical drama adapted by Leslie McFarlane, starring Martin Norton.
The Wings of Night by Thomas Raddall, adapted by Hugh Webster, starring James Doohan.
Strangers in Ste. Angele, written by Phyllis Lee Peterson, starring Bruno Gerussi, Graydon Gould, Antoinette Giroux and Juliette Bessette.
Caribou Country, written by Paul St. Pierre.
How to Break a Quarter Horse and The Education of Phyllistine; two movies for television.
More Joy in Heaven, by Morley Callaghan, starring John Vernon.
Season Two highlights:
Convoy by Joseph Schull
Chord of Steel by Thomas Costain, adapted by Lyon Todd, starring Paul Harding as Alexander Graham Bell.
A Train of Murder by Kay Hill, starring Don Francks, Gillie Fenwick, Beth Morris and Cosette Lee.
The Reluctant Agent, with John Horton and Diane Stapley.
A Train of Murder by Kay Hill
The Fasting Friar by Edward McCourt.
Season Three highlights:
Mr. Member of Parliament by George Robertson, starring Gordon Pinsent as Quentin Durgens, MP.
The Road by George Salverson, starring Robert Christie.
McGonigle Skates Again by Leslie McFarlane, starring Tom Harvey
[See Wojeck, Quentin Durgens MP and Caribou Country]
Written by John Corcelli – May, 2005