Above and Beyond (miniseries)

Above and Beyond
Directed by	Sturla Gunnarsson
Written by	John W. Doyle Lisa Porter
Starring	Richard E. Grant Jason Priestley Liane Balaban
Country	Canada
Language	English
Original run	29 October – 30 October 2006
No. of episodes	2

Above and Beyond is a four-hour 2006 miniseries aired by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on October 29 and 30. The miniseries is about the Atlantic Ferry Organization, which was tasked with delivering aircraft from North America to Europe in the early years of the Second World War. It stars Richard E. Grant, Jonathan Scarfe, Liane Balaban, Allan Hawco, Kenneth Welsh, and Jason Priestley.

Cast

• Richard E. Grant — Don Bennett, former RAF pilot
• Kenneth Welsh — Lord Beaverbrook, Minister of Aircraft Production
• Joss Ackland — Winston Churchill, UK Prime Minister
• Peter Messaline — Archibald Sinclair, Secretary of State for Air
• Jason Priestley — Sir Frederick Banting
• Jonathan Scarfe — Bill Jacobson
• Liane Balaban — Shelagh Emberly
• Allan Hawco — Nathan Burgess
• Peter MacNeill — USAAF Gen. Anderson
• Robert Wisden — Pritchard, RAF officer

Awards

• Directors Guild of Canada's Craft Awards:
  • Direction - Television Movie/Mini-Series — Sturla Gunnarsson (won)
  • Picture Editing - Television Movie/Mini-Series — Jeff Warren (won)
  • Sound Editing - Television Movie/Mini-Series — David Rose, Kathy Choi, Jane Tattersall (nominated)
• Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television's Gemini Awards:
  • Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series — Jonathan Scarfe (won)
  • Best Original Music Score for a Program or Mini-Series — Jonathan Goldsmith (nominated)
  • Best Production Design or Art Direction in a Fiction Program or Series — Pam Hall, Ane Christensen (nominated)
  • Best Sound in a Dramatic Program — Henry Embry, Steph Carrier, Ronayne Higginson, Dino Pigat, David Rose, Jane Tattersall (nominated)
  • Best Visual Effects — Peter Evans, Darryl Couch, Chris Darlington, Mike Mombourquette, Michael Skiffington, John Vatcher, David Woodrow (nominated)
  • Best Writing in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series — John W. Doyle, Lisa Porter (nominated)
• Writers Guild of Canada's WGC Awards:
  • MOW & Miniseries — John W. Doyle, Lisa Porter (won)

Anachronisms and other errors

• The "B-24" used by the USAAF general is actually an RAF Lancaster bomber.

• The American General is wearing 5 stars indicating General of the Army rank, a rank no Army Air Corps officer ever achieved during the Second World War.

• The DC-3 shown in the first hour was equipped with modern turboprop engines.

• One scene shows a de Havilland Chipmunk trainer in a hangar. There were no Chipmunks in service in 1940; the first one flew in 1946.

• A modern dial tone could be heard during overseas telephone calls between Bennett and Lord Beaverbrook.

• Air-traffic control equipment under repair contains TO-3 transistors instead of thermionic valves.

External links

• Above and Beyond at the Internet Movie Database
• Above and Beyond at Rotten Tomatoes
• Above and Beyond at AllRovi

The jeep used by the general was a 1951 model