Due South


Due South is a Canadian crime comedy-drama television series created by Paul Haggis, and produced by Alliance Communications from its premiere on April 23, 1994, to its conclusion after four seasons on March 14, 1999. The series starred Paul Gross, David Marciano, Gordon Pinsent, Beau Starr, Catherine Bruhier, Camilla Scott, Ramona Milano, and Callum Keith Rennie. The show follows the adventures of Royal Canadian Mounted Police Constable Benton Fraser, who first came to Chicago on the trail of the killers of his father, and has remained, attached as liaison with the Canadian Consulate. He works alongside a detective of the Chicago Police Department to solve crimes. Both are aided at times by Fraser's deaf white wolf, Diefenbaker.
The show's format mixed between elements of a police drama and comedy, derived from the stereotypical differences between Canadian and American culture at the time. It also included elements of fantasy derived from Gross' character being visited by the memory of his father who often provides mixed advice on situations. The series itself was mostly filmed in Toronto, and was assisted with financing on later seasons by the BBC, which aired episodes on British television.

History

Due South originally debuted as a television movie on CTV in Canada and CBS in the United States. After higher-than-anticipated ratings, Due South was turned into a continuing drama series in 1994. It was the first Canadian-made series to have a prime time slot on a major American network.
After the 24-episode first season, CBS cancelled the series, but the show's success in Canada and the United Kingdom enabled the production company to raise enough money to mount a second thirteen-episode season, which ran from 1995 to 1996. The show was once again shown on CBS in late 1995 after many fall shows had failed, but CBS did not renew the series.
After a one-year hiatus, CTV revived the series in 1997 with international investment, and it ran for two further seasons, until 1999. In the United States, seasons three and four were packaged together as a single 26-episode season for syndication. Despite critical acclaim and a consistently warm reception by American audiences, Due South never became a huge hit in the United States; however, it was one of the most highly rated regular series ever broadcast by a Canadian network. The show remains popular in the United Kingdom, and became one of the few non-British shows to have a prime-time weeknight slot on BBC One.

UK

In the UK, Due South was first broadcast on Tuesday May 9, 1995, earning critical acclaim with comparisons to Northern Exposure and ratings of over eight million. The series continued on either a Tuesday or Friday every week except August until November 28, 1995. Season two was broadcast on Saturday nights from July 27, 1996 and fared similarly well, but was pulled from the schedules in mid October, with Noel's House Party taking its slot. The remaining 6 episodes were shown in January 1997, with the last episode going out on Easter Monday. The series was given a full repeat during the 1997 summer holidays each weekday morning.
The BBC helped co-finance the third series, however the BBC struggled to find a suitable slot on Saturday nights, with only six episodes being broadcast from May - July, with three further episodes before Christmas 1998, and a further two in early January 1999. From May 1999, the remaining episodes from series 3 and all of series 4 were broadcast until November 1999, on BBC Two and consistently performed well, with ratings of over two million viewers, regularly appearing in the top-ten weekly shows for the channel. Upon the end of the series in 1999, BBC Two immediately began to screen repeats, and the series ITV3 rescreened the series in 2006, while BBC Two from October 18, 2010, give the series another repeat run. A rerun on digital channel True Entertainment began on October 10, 2014, with the pilot, with regular-series episodes following on weekdays from October 13. When True Entertainment closed mid-2019 it was replaced with Sony Channel where the series was broadcast in full commencing late 2020.

Premise

The premise of the series centres on the exploits of Constable Benton Fraser, an officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who travels south to Chicago to initially solve the murder of his father, Sergeant Robert Fraser. Upon arriving in Chicago, Fraser promptly finds the Chicago PD detective assigned to his father's case, Raymond Vecchio, and they work together to solve the case. However, during their investigation, Fraser uncovers a scheme by several corrupt members of the RCMP that results in the shutdown of a new dam and the loss of many jobs, resulting in him being permanently stationed as a liaison officer in the Canadian consulate. Fraser continues working with Vecchio in solving cases around the city and occasionally across the border in Canada. Starting in the third season, Fraser works alongside a second partner, Stanley Raymond Kowalski, who poses as Vecchio after he leaves to assist in an undercover operation.
Fraser often differs in his manners, including his politeness and honesty, and his methods of solving crimes, but is determined and dogged in pursuing and bringing down suspects, including his ability to predict where they might attempt to escape. Alongside his partner in the Chicago Police Department, Fraser is accompanied at times by a deaf lip-reading half-wolf named Diefenbaker, whom he adopted after the canine saved his life. Starting with the first season's Christmas episode, Fraser finds himself visited by the ghost of his father Robert, whom only he can see, often providing mixed advice on his cases - with Robert appearing at random, infrequent moments. In the third season, the ghost appears more frequently, often within the wardrobe of his son's office at the consulate; anyone else who tries to follow merely finds Fraser.

Cast

The following lists the primary actors who appear in the series, and the respective roles they held:
The following lists prominent recurring cast members and their respective roles:
Notable guest stars include:
Filming was mostly done in Toronto, Ontario, which was used as a stand-in for Chicago. In many episodes a Toronto Transit Commission bus can be seen in the background. In others, prominent city landmarks such as the CN Tower and the Union Station can be glimpsed. Part of the series was shot in Banff National Park, Alberta.

Media

Books

Due South: The Official Companion by Geoff Tibballs was published in May 1998 containing basic information on the series and cast and brief episodes synopses up to the end of the third season. Another illustrated companion, Due South: The Official Guide by John A. Macdonald was published in December 1998. It contains some interviews with the characters and bios of the cast.
Four paperback novelizations by Graeme Grant writing as "Tom McGregor" were published in the UK; these were:
  • Death in the Wilderness, based on the pilot movie
  • An Invitation to Romance, based on the episodes "An Invitation to Romance" and "Gift of the Wheelman"
  • Vaulting North, based on "North" and "Vault"
  • All the Queen's Horses, based on "All the Queen's Horses" and "Red, White or Blue"

    Videos

The pilot two-hour movie was originally released on VHS in 1996, but individual episodes had been released prior to this throughout 1995 on VHS with two episodes per tape. In 1998, the season three and the season four two-part finales were released. In November 2002, the Due South Giftset was released containing the pilot movie and episodes Mountie on the Bounty and Call of the Wild.

DVD releases

released all 4 seasons on DVD in Canada only. The pilot episode is included on the third season release as a bonus feature.
In the US, Echo Bridge Home Entertainment released the series on DVD in 2005. Seasons 3 and 4 were released together as Due South: Season 3. They also released a series set on May 6, 2008. In 2011, Echo Bridge released the final two episodes, "Call Of The Wild" parts one & two, on a single DVD. In 2014, they released an eight-disk set of all four seasons, allegedly with inferior video quality to the original releases.
In Region 2, Network released the series on DVD in the UK. Seasons 3 and 4 were released together as Due South: The Complete Third Series.
In Region 4, Madman Entertainment released the series on DVD in Australia. Seasons 3 and 4 were released as Due South: Season 3.