Cold Squad
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Cold Squad | |
|---|---|
| Format | Crime drama |
| Created by | Julia Keatley and Matt MacLeod |
| Starring | Julie Stewart |
| Country of origin | |
| No. of episodes | 98 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 60 min. |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | CTV |
| Original run | January 23, 1998 – June 4, 2005 |
| External links | |
| Official website | |
| IMDb profile | |
| TV.com summary | |
Cold Squad is a Canadian procedural police series that follows the investigations of a part of the Vancouver PD Homicide Division tasked with solving cold cases, the titular Cold Squad, as led by Sgt. Ali McCormick (Julie Stewart).
The cast of Cold Squad was diverse and changing, McCormick being the only character to appear in all 7 seasons. Some notable series regulars (but far from all) included Det. Tony Logozzo (Michael Hogan) in seasons 1-2, Sgt. Frank Coscarella (Stephen McHattie) in seasons 3-4, Sgt. Len Harper (Matthew Bennett) in seasons 5-7, Insp. Vince Schneider (Jerry Wasserman) season 1, Insp. Simon Ross (Peter Wingfield) season 2, Insp. Andrew Pawlachuk (Garry Chalk) seasons 3-7, Det. Mickey Kollander (Tamara Craig Thomas) seasons 3-6, Det. Nicco Sevallis (Gregory Calpakis) seasons 3-6, Christine Wren (Joely Collins) seasons 4-7, and Corp. Ray Chase (Tahmoh Penikett) in season 7.
Between seasons 2 and 3, almost the entire cast (both major and supporting) were replaced, along with the sets, which changed the on-screen dynamics considerably. A major revamp of the opening credits and theme music, and having McCormick go from auburn to dirty-blonde hair, all contributed to this major reworking of the series.
It was first broadcast in 1998, and cancelled in 2004. The series' final season ran until Spring 2005, as part of a special "crime time", Saturday nights on CTV. However, due to CTV's sporadic scheduling, the last episodes of the series finished airing earlier in their French-dubbed version, on Séries+, before the end of 2004.
When Cold Case premiered, the show's similarities to Cold Squad led Julia Keatley and Matt MacLeod, the creators of Cold Squad, to retain an intellectual property attorney to look into the case (CTV also airs Cold Case as well).[1]. What did not seem to be noted at the time was the similarity to the much earlier (1980) BBC series The Enigma Files.
In 2005, Program Partners / Sony Pictures Television announced that it had acquired the US syndication rights and will start airing the show for the first time for United States audiences beginning in September 2006.
On September 2, 2003, Alliance Atlantis released the complete first season of Cold Squad on DVD. To date there has been no plans to release the remaining seasons.

