Network: Société Radio-Canada (SRC) TV Network
Broadcast Run: 1996 to 2010
Broadcast Medium: Television
A daily soap opera, written by Fabienne Larouche, Virginie began airing from Monday to Thursday at 19:00 on Radio-Canada in September 1996. With 120 thirty-minute episodes broadcast every year, Virginie explored the difficulties encountered by a teacher who had to deal with adolescents ranging in age from 13 to 17 years old. Projected to last 16 years (1,920 thirty-minute episodes), Virginie attracted some 700,000 viewers per episode. On October 16, 2006, Radio-Canada broadcast the 1,221st episode of the series, a television longevity record in the Province of Quebec.
In 2007, after 12 years in the title role as Virginie, Chantal Fontaine decided to pursue other paths and left the Sainte-Jeanne-D’Arc school and the show. Another Virginie, Virginie Charest (Stéphanie Crête-Blais) who came on the scene in the previous season, and was also a physical education teacher, took on the role as an observer of all the things that were happening both inside the school and outside its walls. A host of characters including pupils, teachers, support staff and parents navigated through a world that was not always easy, but that was devoted to preparing the future of tomorrow’s adults.
Written by Yvon Chouinard – February, 2006