R.C.M.P.

Overview

R.C.M.P. was a Canadian television drama series about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The series ran a single season, consisting of 39 weekly half-hour episodes. It starred French-Canadian actor Gilles Pelletier as Corporal Jacques Gagnier and English-Canadian actor Don Francks as Constable Bill Mitchell. The series was created by Canadian film-maker Frank "Budge" Crawley in collaboration with Crawley Films, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the BBC in the United Kingdom and Australian Broadcasting Commission. Unapologetically cold, grainy, and raw, the show was very realistic and stood up well against other crime dramas on TV of the day. Crawley created the series in an attempt to fulfill his dream of sharing "the Canadian way" with the rest of the world. While not a fan of American-style cinema, Crawley wished R.C.M.P. to sign with a U.S. television network. American networks at that time demanded full control over any shows they broadcast and R.C.M.P. ended up with only a paltry take in American syndication.