Wojeck is a Canadian dramatic television series, which aired on CBC Television from 1966 to 1968. It was arguably the first successful drama series on English Canadian television, and was the first TV series anywhere to regularly feature and focus on forensic pathology in the investigation of crime. Consequently, Wojeck has been hailed as an early forerunner of several successful shows that later explored the same genre, including The Expert (1968–76), Quincy, M.E. (1976–83), (2000–15), and Bones (2005–2017), among many others.
The de facto pilot for the show, produced in Canada by the CBC and featuring the entire cast of the series, aired as an episode of Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre titled "Tell Them the Streets Are Dancing" (broadcast March 17, 1966).
Characters and plot
Similar to
Route 66 or
Naked City,
Wojeck followed the "semi-anthology" format of often building the stories around the guest actors, rather than the regular cast. Still, the main four characters are at the centre of the show overall, and Wojeck's investigations generally drive the stories forward.
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Dr. Stefan "Steve" Wojeck is a crusading Toronto coroner who regularly fights moral injustices raised by the deaths he investigates. He often tackles tough and controversial issues. The character is Catholic, with Polish heritage.
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Steve's wife Marty Wojeck is frequently his sounding board at home. A former nurse, Marty looks after their two school-age children (who are often discussed, but very seldom seen on-camera).
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Crown Attorney Arnie Bateman is often, though not always, a force for trying to find a compromise between Wojeck's sometimes nearly-obsessive desire for justice and the practical realities of the justice system. This frequently puts Wojeck and Bateman at odds professionally, with Bateman finding Wojeck's "tilting at windmills" approach unhelpful and unsustainable, and a frustrated Wojeck finding Bateman cowardly or hypocritical. Nevertheless, they are (usually) able to put their differences aside in their personal lives and are shown to be good friends outside of work.
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Police Sergeant Byron James is also a work colleague and friend of Wojeck's, who is assigned specifically to the Coroner's Office as an investigator. Their relationship is noticeably less fraught than that of Wojeck and Bateman, with the quietly determined police sergeantlike Wojeckintent on seeing criminal activity punished appropriately.
Wojeck was noted for its issue-driven stories, exploring topics that had rarely been directly confronted in television drama to that time, whether in Canada or elsewhere. Episodes of Wojeck deal frankly with abortion, homosexuality, drug addiction, systemic corporate and government corruption, negligence of the elderly, and other issues that were otherwise almost completely absent from TV programming of the era.
Main cast
Production
The show was inspired by the career of Dr.
Morton Shulman.
Unusually for the time, episodes were shot almost entirely on location using hand-held cameras, giving the show a semi-documentary feel. The first season (1966) was filmed in black and white, while season two (1968) was shot in colour.
Wojeck also notably took a "rep company" approach to guest casting, with some guest stars appearing multiple times in different roles over the brief 20-episode run. Cec Linder starred in four episodes as four different characters, Robert Goodier played three characters over four episodes, and many, many actors appeared in three episodes playing three different characters. Margot Kidder (then billed as Margaret Kidder) appeared in only one episode (season 2's "After All, Who's Art Morrison?"), but it was her on-screen acting debut.
Although it was one of the highest-rated shows on Canadian television in its time, only 20 episodes of Wojeck were made, because series star Vernon was lured to Hollywood by the promise of more money and more consistent work than the CBC could offer. (Even after Wojeck's success, the CBC could not promise Vernon the show would return in 1969, as they had to wait for a year-end budget allocation.) Vernon only returned to the role once, for a TV movie Wojeck: Out of the Fire (1992).
Episodes
Bob Hope Presents The Chrysler Theatre (1966)
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Seen in advance of the series. Though not conceived as such, it was a de facto "pilot" for the subsequent TV series.
Series 1 (1966)
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All series 1 episodes are in black & white.
Series 2 (1968)
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All series 2 episodes are in colour.
Special (1992)
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This production was created as a stand-alone, feature-length special. Originally shot in 1990 (and directed by original series director Daryl Duke), the production initially fell apart before completion due to a number of factors including weather-related shooting problems, and network dissatisfaction with the completed scenes. The script was extensively rewritten and reshot two years later by a different writer and director, though some footage from 1990 was retained. John Vernon, Patricia Collins and Ted Follows returned from the original series; Carl Banas did not. Duration: approximately 89 minutes.
Forensic pathology theme
Wojeck was the first TV series to feature forensic pathology in the investigation of crime. This became the central theme of several other TV mystery-suspense dramas, beginning with the BBC's
The Expert in 1968. Other programs include:
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Quincy, M.E., USA, 1976
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Silent Witness, UK (BBC), 1996
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Da Vinci's Inquest, Canada (CBC), 1998
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Waking The Dead, UK (BBC), 2000
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, U.S. (CBS), 2000; and two spinoffs + a revival, including:
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, U.S. (CBS), 2002
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, U.S. (CBS), 2004
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, U.S. (CBS), 2021
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Crossing Jordan, U.S. (NBC), 2001
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Bones, U.S. (Fox), 2005
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RIS Delitti Imperfetti, Italy (Canale 5), 2005
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R.I.S, police scientifique, France (TF1), 2006
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Post Mortem, Germany (RTL), 2007
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R. I. S. – Die Sprache der Toten, Germany (Sat.1), 2007
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Rizzoli & Isles, U.S. (TNT), 2010
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Body of Proof, U.S. (ABC), 2011
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The Coroner UK, (BBC), 2015
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Coroner, Canada, (CBC), 2019
Awards
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At the 19th Canadian Film Awards in 1967, Episode 1, "The Last Man in the World", tied for Best Film for TV. Cinematographer Grahame Woods won the award for Best Black-and-White Cinematography and Ron Kelly won for Best Director.
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In 2002, Wojeck became a MasterWorks honouree by the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada.
External links
