Wojeck

Wojeck
Format	Drama
Starring	John Vernon
Country of origin	CAN
No. of episodes	20 (+ 1992 TV Movie)
Production
Running time	60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	CBC
Original run	1966 – 1968

Wojeck is a Canadian dramatic television series, which aired on the CBC from 1966 to 1968. It was the first successful drama series on English Canadian television.

The series starred John Vernon as Steve Wojeck, a crusading big city coroner who regularly fought moral injustices raised by the deaths he investigated. He often tackled tough and controversial issues—the very first episode of the series examined the role of racism in the suicide of a young Ojibwe man. The show was inspired by the career of Dr. Morton Shulman.

The cast also included Ted Follows, Patricia Collins, and Carl Banas. Jennifer Dale played his daughter.

Although it was one of the highest-rated shows on Canadian television in its time, only 20 episodes of the series were made, because Vernon was lured to Hollywood by the promise of more money than the CBC could offer. He only returned to the role once, for a TV-movie Wojeck: Out of the Fire (1992).

The show inspired the later American series Quincy, M.E. A more recent Canadian series, Da Vinci's Inquest, is also considered to have been inspired by Wojeck.

In 2002, Wojeck became a MasterWorks honouree by the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada.

See also

The use of forensic pathology in the investigation of crime has been the central theme of several TV mystery-suspense dramas, including:

• Quincy, M.E., US (NBC), 1976
• Silent Witness, UK (BBC), 1996
• Da Vinci's Inquest, Canada (CBC), 1998
• Waking The Dead, UK (BBC), 2000

External links

• Queen's University Directory of CBC Television Series: Wojeck (text link)
• Museum of Broadcast Communications
• Wojeck at the Internet Movie Database
• Wojeck: Out of the Fire at the Internet Movie Database
• AVTrust.ca - Wojeck, MasterWorks 2002 (video clip)