The Great Detective

this was a uniquely Canadian variation of the old American western..viz; a turn of the century cop show..instead of a U.S. Marshall, we had an Ontario Provincial Police Inspector..Instead of Texas, we had Ontario Canada...instead of a tall two fisted Marshall we had a portly police inspector, who, in turn solved crimes a la Sherlock Holmes using his powers of deduction instead of fists and guns so typically Canadian! (instead of Watson, he even had a devoted assistant in the form of Sargeant Striker who did most of his running around for him)...The locations were strictly urban and rural Ontario. the crimes were mainly crimes of passions and greed turned to murder although almost no blood or even violence was ever displayed...the attitudes were very much Victorian (women being very rarely considered as suspects even though the opposite often was the case)...Sadly, the series lasted only 1 season, never reaching a very wide audience who yearned for spicier and more vibrant action

We came across this series on Arts & Entertainment when we lived in the US in the 1980s (I don't think it aired in the UK). Once we had watched one episode we knew that we had to watch the rest of the series. The characters were realistic and the stories were well written. Each story was understated and provided a pleasant antidote to the more typical 'in your face' American series of the time. The series treated the audience as adults who didn't need to always be led by the hand through the plot. The lead character was Inspector Cameron, played admirably by Douglas Campbell. Inspector Cameron was a reader of characters and clues in the Sherlock Holmes tradition, but in a gentle Canadian way. The series still gives us a lot of fond memories 30 years later.