Crime drama series R.C.M.P detailed the cases of Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officer Corporal Jacques Gasnier (Gilles Pelletier) working ‘the beat’ in the town of Shamattawa and other remote areas of Saskatchewan. Also appearing as regulars were Constable Frank Scott (John Perkins) and Constable Bill Mitchell (Don Francks).
The stories tended to be quite action led, one saw a young girl go missing and needing to be urgently found because a rabid fox was also loose in the area. Another was about the pursuit of a bank robber. Press materials highlighted the fact that all the stories were based on cases from the files of the real life Mounties.
The Liverpool Echo of Saturday 2 May 1959 had a short piece on the making of the series mentioned that the series was scheduled for later in the autumn and that effects man Ed Fowlie (who had worked on The Vikings and Bridge on the River Kwai) had to set up scenes involving dog fights, cracking ice lakes and a barn fire.
Reviewing the first episode in The Stage (14 July 1960) John Price said the said the lead players were “tough, patient and dedicated.”
The UK’s BBC part funded the programme and screened the series from Tuesday 12 July 1960 at 7.30pm beginning with the episode Thin Ice. Episodes were also seen in 1961 in a later 9.25pm timeslot.
Cast: GILLES PELLETIER as Corporal Jacques Gasnier; JOHN PERKINS as Constable Frank Scott; DON FRANCKS as Constable Bill Mitchell
Music: Bill McCauley / Script Editor: Vincent Tilsey / Executive Producer: F.R. ‘Budge’ Crawley
Canada – UK / CBC – Crawley – BBC / 39×30 minute episodes / Broadcast 1959
