Da Vinci's Inquest

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Da Vinci's Inquest
Logo
Created byChris Haddock
StarringNicholas Campbell
Suleka Mathew
Sarah-Jane Redmond
Donnelly Rhodes
Venus Terzo
Camille Sullivan
Ian Tracey
Gwynyth Walsh
Robert Wisden
Country of originCanada
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons7
No. of episodes91 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersChris Haddock
Laszlo Barna
Running time45 minutes per episode
Production companiesHaddock Entertainment
Barna-Alper Productions
Alliance Entertainment
Alliance Atlantis
Original release
NetworkCBC Television
ReleaseOctober 7, 1998 (1998-10-07) –
January 23, 2005 (2005-01-23)

Da Vinci's Inquest is a Canadian dramatic television series that aired on CBC Television from 1998 to 2005. While never a ratings blockbuster, seven seasons of thirteen episodes each were filmed for a total of ninety-one episodes.

The show, set and filmed in Vancouver, stars Nicholas Campbell as Dominic Da Vinci, once an undercover officer for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, but now a crusading coroner who seeks justice in the cases he investigates.

The cast also includes Gwynyth Walsh as Da Vinci's ex-wife and chief pathologist Patricia Da Vinci, Donnelly Rhodes as detective Leo Shannon, and Ian Tracey as detective Mick Leary.

Production

Da Vinci's Inquest was loosely based on the real life experiences of Larry Campbell, the former chief coroner of Vancouver, British Columbia, who was elected mayor of that city in 2002. The part of Da Vinci, however, was written specifically for actor Nicholas Campbell. Elements of the series storylines were also taken from sociopolitical issues faced by Vancouver itself, such as the plight of the homeless, the controversy over a designated injection site for drug users, the idea of establishing a red light district, and the disappearance of homeless women and sex workers-similar to the case of Robert Pickton.

Awards and nominations

Nicholas Campbell received the Gemini Award for Best Performance in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role for his work on the series and has guest-starred in American shows such as Monk and T.J. Hooker. Donnelly Rhodes also received a Gemini Award for Best Actor in 2002 and the Earle Grey Award in 2006. The series was critically acclaimed as the best television series in Canada after winning the Gemini Award for Best Dramatic Series for five of its first six seasons. When Da Vinci's Inquest completed its seventh and final season, it was continued in 2005 as Da Vinci's City Hall. In 2002 actress Keegan Connor Tracy won a Leo Award for her guest appearance in Season 4's "Pretend You Didn't See Me" and was brought back for a second appearance in 2005.

Availability outside Canada

United States

Da Vinci's Inquest made its U.S. debut the week of 17 September 2005, when it was already in syndication after the original run. The show continues to air in syndication and airs nationwide on the Retro Television Network. The series is distributed in the United States by PPI Releasing, a large distributor of Canadian programming to the American market. It formerly aired on the defunct Cloo network when it was branded as Sleuth.

Other countries

In Australia, it aired late Monday nights on the Nine Network, and its affiliates WIN (although on a different night) and NBN, and later on 13th Street. It has also been aired in late night slots on RTÉ One in Ireland. In Iceland, Skjár einn has aired the show in various slots, including Saturday evening.

Da Vinci's City Hall and TV movies

In Canada, the new spinoff series, Da Vinci's City Hall, premiered on 25 October 2005. However, after airing a complete first season of 13 episodes, the CBC cancelled the program.

In the U.S., Da Vinci's City Hall airs as part of the Da Vinci's Inquest rerun package, regarded as the eighth season of the series (even using the titles from the last three seasons of Inquest instead of the titles for City Hall). City Hall debuted in the U.S. on Superstation WGN on April 27, 2007, and released into national syndication to local stations, also as part of Da Vinci's Inquest, on November 4, 2007.

A TV movie following up on the two series, The Quality of Life, aired on CBC on June 14, 2008.[1]

Cast

Main characters

Recurring characters

Format

Da Vinci's Inquest is notable for its unconventional story formats. Unlike most crime dramas, many cases on Da Vinci's Inquest aren't fully explained, and some aren't even solved; often the episodes end with the resolution implied or even withheld entirely. Many of the show's fans hail this characteristic as one of its finest qualities. Also unusual is its handling of story arcs. Some arcs span the length of one or more seasons, but aren't touched on at all for several episodes at a time, similar to the Mythology / Monster of the Week format of The X-Files (which was also a Vancouver production, though not at the same time as Da Vinci's Inquest); several main and many guest actors appeared on both shows. An exception to this is Season 7, which features at least three main plots that are addressed in every episode. Two episodes, Season 3's "It's Backwards Day" and Season 4's "Pretend You Didn't See Me," are notable for their extended opening takes, which follow Da Vinci as he walks around a location and speaks with multiple characters in one continuous, ten-minute shot; the former episode is also noted for playing out largely in real time.

Major story arcs include: Da Vinci's attempts to balance his work life with his ex-wife and daughter; Leo Shannon struggling to care for his mentally ill wife; the relocation of an old mental hospital's cemetery and the intrigue that follows; Sunny overseeing an archaeological dig at a construction site; Angela Kosmo's battle with a corrupt, manipulative Vice cop; and Da Vinci's quest to establish a red light district and safe injection site to protect the sex workers and drug addicts of Vancouver, which leads him to run first for police chief and then mayor. The sex trade is a recurring theme throughout the entire series, and early season premieres and finales center around high numbers of homicides where prostitutes are the victims, which often turn out to be the work of a serial killer. Relationships between characters (such as Da Vinci's many romantic flings and that between Mick Leary and Sunny Ramen) are left in the background of or take place between episodes.

In Internet fandom, the plot line following Mick Leary's downward spiral into depression after an unstable female constable infatuated with him commits suicide is often considered one of the most powerful and best-written arcs in the entire series by many fans.[citation needed]

Episode guide

Main article: List of Da Vinci's Inquest episodes

DVD releases

Acorn Media UK has released the first three seasons on DVD in Region 1 (US only). Due to poor sales, no further seasons were released.

In Canada, Alliance Atlantis released the first season on DVD on October 14, 2003.[2] Season 2 was released on February 3, 2009 by Alliance Films, more than 5 years after the release of the first season.[3]

DVD Name Ep# Region 1 (US) Region 1 (CAN)
Season 1 13 February 27, 2007 October 14, 2003
Season 2 13 November 13, 2007 February 3, 2009
Season 3 13 June 10, 2008 N/A

References

  1. ^ "The Quality of Life (2008)". Internet Movie Database. IMDb.com, Inc. c. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-02-04. Retrieved 2009-04-26. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ "Da Vinci's Inquest: The Complete First Season". Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 25 April 2018 – via Amazon. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Da Vinci's Inquest: The Complete Second Season". Archived from the original on 12 August 2010. Retrieved 25 April 2018 – via Amazon. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

External links

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