Da Vinci's Inquest

Da Vinci's Inquest
Logo
Created by	Chris Haddock
Starring	Nicholas Campbell Suleka Mathew Sarah-Jane Redmond Donnelly Rhodes Venus Terzo Camille Sullivan Ian Tracey Gwynyth Walsh Robert Wisden
Country of origin	Canada
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	7
No. of episodes	91 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Chris Haddock Laszlo Barna
Running time	45 minutes per episode
Production company(s)	Haddock Entertainment Barna-Alper Productions Alliance Entertainment Alliance Atlantis
Distributor	Program Partners (USA) Sony Pictures Television (USA; ad sales only) Entertainment One Television (Canada)
Release
Original network	CBC Television
Original release	October 7, 1998 (1998-10-07) – January 23, 2005 (2005-01-23)
External links
Website

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

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

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.

Episode guide

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]

References

External links

• Genie Awards and nominations
• Official Web Site
• Da Vinci's Inquest Forum Index
• Da Vinci's Inquest on IMDb