Quentin Durgens, M.P. | |
---|---|
Starring | Gordon Pinsent |
Country of origin | Canada |
No. of seasons | 4 |
No. of episodes | 41 |
Production | |
Producers |
David Gardner Kirk Jones John Trent Ron Weyman |
Running time | 60 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | CBC |
Release | October 7, 1965 February 4, 1969 | –
Quentin Durgens, M.P. is a Canadian dramatic television series, which aired on CBC Television from 1965 to 1969. [1] It was one of the first hour-long drama series produced by the CBC, and helped to establish Gordon Pinsent as a major star in Canada. [1] Created by George Robertson, [2] the series first aired in 1965 under the title Mr. Member of Parliament, as a short-run series within the CBC's drama anthology The Serial. [3] It was spun off into a standalone series and retitled Quentin Durgens, M.P. in its second season. [4]
Set in Ottawa, Ontario and the fictional community of Moose Falls, [a] the series starred Pinsent as Quentin Durgens, an idealistic young lawyer who wins election as a Member of Parliament, succeeding his father in a by-election after his father's death in office. [3] Durgens was a backbench member of the governing party in the House of Commons, [4] but had a maverick streak and aspired to do the right thing even if it wasn't politically expedient. [4] Some of the storylines within the series were fictionalized depictions of real-life events in Canadian politics, [1] and the series incorporated some documentary filmmaking techniques inspired by the National Film Board. [1]
Alan Macnaughton, the retiring Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada, and David Vivian Currie, the incumbent Sergeant-at-Arms, served as script consultants to ensure that Canadian political process was accurately depicted. [3]
The series was frequently compared in the Canadian press to Slattery's People, an American series about a state legislator which aired on CBS in the 1964–65 season. [3]
The cast also included Suzanne Lévesque, Budd Knapp, Cec Linder, Ovila Légaré and Chris Wiggins. [1]