Patty Winter's
"North of 60" Page




"North of 60" is an ensemble drama about the fictional native community
of Lynx River, Northwest Territories, Canada. The show originally aired
on CBC from 1992 to 1997. It has been followed by several TV movies.


Join the discussion!
Click the button to subscribe
to the "North of 60" Yahoo Group

Click for Fort Liard, Northwest Territories Forecast

Current weather in Lynx River
Okay, okay--it's actually Fort Liard. :-)
It's hard to find weather reports for fictitious towns....






Quick Links

Current Air
Schedule


DVDs/Videos

FAQ

Episode Guides

TV Movies

Cast &
Characters


Interviews

Fun & Games

Photos

Links

About me



Habitat for Humanity International - Haiti Earthquake

Hot News!

January 28 - After more years than I care to admit, I have finally updated my North of 60 fan map. If you aren't already on it and would like to be, drop me a note, using these instructions. I'll do another update in mid-February. After that, no promises... :-)

January 22 - Not surprisingly, I'm seeing Tom Jackson's name mentioned in conjunction with tonight's "Canada for Haiti" TV fundraiser, to be carried live at 7:00 p.m. ET on CBC, CTV, and Global. I'm guessing that he may only be doing a prerecorded video, because tonight is opening night of "Beyond Eden," the musical in which he's co-starring as part of the cultural activities surrounding the Winter Olympics. There's a story about the play on CBC's website. You can find out more about the Cultural Olympiad on the official Vancouver 2010 website.

January 8 - I just found out that the pilot episode of "Blackstone" will air again tonight on APTN HD. According to Zap2It, it will also be shown Saturday and Sunday nights. Note that, according to this information, it will only be shown on APTN's HD channel, not on the main network. Filmed in the Edmonton area, "Blackstone" is about relationships and politics on a Native reserve. The cast includes Nof60 alumni Michelle Thrush, Nathaniel Arcand, Gordon Tootoosis, and Carmen Moore. The pilot was written by acclaimed writer/director Gil Cardinal, who directed several episodes of Nof60. The initial airing of "Blackstone" generated some good comments on the Nof60 Yahoo Group and in other TV forums, so if you get APTN HD and haven't seen it yet, do give it a try this weekend. You can find out more about the show on its official website.

January 3 - Happy New Year! - "Heartland" resumes on CBC this evening. We'll find out the fates of Scott Cardinal (Nathaniel Arcand) and Ty Borden. And those plane-crash scenes were filmed at the Nof60 set.

Season 4 of "Big Love" begins next Sunday on HBO in both the U.S. and Canada. IMDb is showing his character (Tommy Flute) as not appearing until Episode 3 (Jan. 24th), but I don't know whether that's accurate.

And of course, "Mixed Blessings" continues on Tuesdays on APTN (with a couple repeats during the week). You can see Wilma Pelly and Michelle Thrush on that show.

I just discovered some background videos on the ABC Family website that show the Nof60 set dressed up as the town of Polaris. If you start on the "Behind the Scenes" page, you can click on the "Going to the Dogs" and "Welcome to Polaris" clips. Each link actually contains all seven clips, but the first clip in each set is the one indicated by the clip name. Got that? :-)

December 26 - Heads-up on the TVtropolis schedule for Nof60: As of next Monday, it's being cut back to one airing a day, at 7:00 a.m. Of course, those of you with satellite TV can take your pick of the East and West Coast feeds...

CBC Calgary has posted a 30-minute excerpt of Tom Jackson's "Singing for Supper" concert in Edmonton. And yes, it is viewable even outside of Canada. It includes Tom singing "Huron Carole." Nof60 Yahoo Group member Ellen, who discovered that video for us, also attended some of this year's SfS concerts and took these photos. Thanks, Ellen!

Bravo Canada is running Robert Bockstael's episodes of "Wind at My Back" again. Each episode airs three times, and there are different episodes each weekday. VIVA is also airing WaMB again every morning (seven days a week), they are also currently showing RB's episodes.

There's a nice photo of Nathaniel Arcand in a recent "Heartland" blog posting.

Longtime Nof60 fan Chris recently made a quick visit to the Nof60 set while he and his girlfriend were on their way to Vancouver from their Winnipeg home. I've added his three new photos to the bottom of Chris' section on my Nof60 photos page. It's interesting to see the different paint schemes on the buildings now that they're being used for films other than Nof60.

A movie called "Every Emotion Costs" has just wrapped up filming near Sudbury, Ontario. Its cast includes Tantoo Cardinal and Nathaniel Arcand. You can read more about it in the Sudbury Star.

November 22 - The Winnipeg Free Press recently ran an interesting interview with Tom Jackson.

Graham Greene was recently interviewed on CBC Radio's program "Q." You can hear excerpts in the podcast of the Nov. 20th episode. He's in the recently released movie "Twilight: New Moon."

Calgary is finally going to get a real TV and movie studio, with a soundstage and a huge digital audio/video production facility. Producers had been using an old military site until it closed earlier this year. The new studio could open as early as Summer 2010.




Current Air Schedule

Where to find North of 60 on TV

North of 60 can be seen at the following times:

  • TVtropolis weekdays at 7:00 a.m. ET/PT.



  • DVDs/Videos

    The latest information about Nof60 DVD releases

    I haven't heard anything from Echo Bridge Entertainment in a long time about the possibility of North of 60 DVDs, but it can't hurt to keep voting for DVD releases on TVShowsOnDVD.com. Before you go to that site, please read this important information about the voting. Don't be the person who jeopardizes the voting by abusing the system!

    AudioVision Canada is selling a described-video version of "Dream Storm." I verified with them that there is not an alternate audio track, so you cannot turn off the description. Nonetheless, if this is something you're interested in having, you can order it from their website. It's available in DVD and VHS formats; also, you can get just the audio track on either CD or cassette.




    Episode Guides
    & Other Lists

    Essential North of 60 reference information

    I've written three different North of 60 episode lists and guides. Choose the one that meets your needs!

  • North of 60 Episode List: Years, episode numbers, and episode titles only

  • North of 60 Extended Episode List: Same as the basic list plus writers and directors

  • North of 60 Episode Guide: All of the above information plus descriptions of each episode, including its main actors

    I also have two other lists available:

  • Complete cast list for every episode of the series.

  • Gemini nominations and awards that the show received over its six seasons. For information about other Canadian shows, see my Canadian dramas page.



  • TV Movies

    News about the North of 60 TV movies

    The first North of 60 TV movie, entitled "In the Blue Ground," aired on CBC in March, 1999. "Trial by Fire" premiered in January, 2000. "Dream Storm" was broadcast in October, 2001. "Another Country" aired in February, 2003. "Distant Drumming premiered in January, 2005.

    Click to see more information about the first five North of 60 movies.

    Movie 6 Writing Campaign

    CBC paid for the development of a script for a sixth--and final--North of 60 movie. But that's only half the battle! We now need CBC to fund the actual production of the movie.

    Nof60 writer/producer Peter Lauterman told me, "I think what has to happen needs to come from the fan base, not the producers." That means:

    We, the fans of Nof60, must convince CBC to fund Movie 6!

    Please see my Movie 6 page for information on how you can encourage CBC to fund another Nof60 movie.




    Cast & Characters

    Information about Lynx River residents and visitors

    Want to know who played a recurring role on Nof60, or who the guest star was in a specific episode? Then visit my "Cast & Characters" page. Or click on one of the links below to go to the specified section.

  • Main characters
  • Other regular and recurring characters
  • Guest stars

    I also have a complete cast list for every episode of the series.



  • Interviews

    Transcripts of my chats with North of 60 cast and crew members.

    I've been lucky enough to visit the Nof60 set three times to interview cast and crew members. I've also conducted some additional interviews by telephone. Here's what's available:

  • Nathaniel Arcand (2002)

  • Simon Baker (2003) (includes video greeting)

  • Lawrence Bayne (2000) (2002)
    -- A greeting from Lawrence to Nof60 fans

  • "Distant Drumming" director and Nof60 photographer Dean Bennett (2003)

  • Tina Louise Bomberry (2002) (2003)
    -- A greeting from Tina Louise to Nof60 fans

  • Director and Alberta Filmworks co-founder Randy Bradshaw (2002)

  • Lorne Cardinal (2002)

  • Tracey Cook (2000)

  • Producer and Alberta Filmworks co-founder Tom Cox (2000) (2002)
    -- A greeting from Tom to Nof60 fans

  • Stacey Stewart Curtis (2000)

  • Peter Kelley Gaudreault (2001)

  • Nof60 co-creator Wayne Grigsby (2000)

  • "Another Country" director Gary Harvey (2002)

  • Jimmy Herman (2002)

  • Michael Horse (2002)
    -- A greeting from Michael to Nof60 fans

  • Nof60 filming site caretakers/security personnel Truman Hoszouski and Sharon Fogarty (2002)

  • Dakota House (2002) (2003) (includes video greeting)

  • Tom Jackson (2003) (includes video greeting)

  • Tina Keeper (2000) (2002) (2003) (includes video greeting)
    -- A greeting from Tina to Nof60 fans

  • "Another Country" and "Distant Drumming" guest star George Leach (2003)

  • Makeup artist Al Magallon (2000)

  • Lubomir Mykytiuk (2000) (2002) (2003)
    -- A greeting from Lubo to Nof60 fans

  • Wilma Pelly (2000) (2002) (2003)
    -- A greeting from Wilma to Nof60 fans

  • "Distant Drumming" guest star Jennifer Podemski (2003)

  • "Distant Drumming" guest star Ken Pogue (2003)

  • Nof60 producer Jordy Randall (2002)

  • "Another Country" guest star Hugh Thompson (2002)

  • Michelle Thrush (2002)
    -- A greeting from Michelle to Nof60 fans

  • Timothy Webber (2002) (2003)
    -- A greeting from Tim to Nof60 fans

  • "Another Country" guest star Ron White 2002)

  • Screenwriter Andrew Wreggit (2001)

    In addition, Montreal journalist Hélèna Katz interviewed John Bean (formerly known as John Oliver) in January, 2001 and kindly provided excerpts for my website.

    And not actually an interview, but I ran into Tina Keeper, Gordon Tootoosis, and Tantoo Cardinal at the American Indian Film Festival in November, 200, and have posted a report with photos.



  • Fun & Games

    North of 60 miscellany

    Fan map

    Where do Nof60 fans live? Check out my North of 60 fan map to find out! If you have Javascript enabled in your browser, you can click on a state or province to see the names of the fans who've reported in from that location. Here's how you can get on the map:

    1. Send an email to patty@wintertime.com with the subject of "Fan map."

    2. Copy and paste the following lines into it:

    Your first name:
    Your city/town name:
    Your state or province:

    3. Fill in the requested information and mail the message to me.

    If you are within 50 miles of a good-sized city, please provide that name instead of your actual town. That's because the scale of the map doesn't allow me to place markers with any great detail. Notice how the dot I've put on the map to indicate my location takes up all of the San Francisco Peninsula and South Bay! Also, if you're in Grinnell, Iowa, it's a lot faster for me to find Des Moines on a map than Grinnell. So, for example, if I were filling out this survey, I would put "San Jose" rather than "Sunnyvale."


    The 2005 Flood and Lynx River Map

    In June, 2005, several rivers in the Calgary area raged over their banks. There was extensive damage to the North of 60 set southwest of Calgary along the Elbow River. You can see flood reports and photos on my 2005 Flood page. The page includes a map showing which areas of Lynx River were affected by the floodwaters. As a companion to the flood map, I've posted a regular map of Lynx River. Hope you enjoy it!


    Quizzes

    Try your luck at these North of 60 quizzes developed by Helena Katz and me. There are some spoilers in the answers (although not major ones), so you may not want to read them unless you've seen the whole series.

  • Quiz #1: Who's in Town?
  • Quiz #2: Love and Betrayal
  • Quiz #3: Red Serge
  • Quiz #4: Crossovers


    Slavey

    Click here to see translations of some of the written Slavey that appeared under the opening credits of Trial by Fire.



  • Photos

    "Lynx River" and related photos contributed by fans

    I've put all the set photos contributed by Nof60 fans on a separate photos page. There are also some photos of the actual Canadian north.

    Here are some high-resolution photos of "Lynx River" that you're welcome to use on your computer desktop.

    Band hall
  • 1920x1200 pixels
  • Store and church
  • 1920x1200 pixels
  • Rapids and Sun rock
  • 1920x1200 pixels
  • 1280x1024 pixels
  • 1280x1024 pixels
  • 1280x1024 pixels
  • 1280x854 pixels
  • 1280x854 pixels
  • 1280x1024 pixels
  • 1024x768 pixels
  • 1024x768 pixels
  • 1024x768 pixels



  • Links

    More information about Nof60-related topics

  • Professor Mary Jane Miller, a member of the Nof60 Yahoo Group, has written several books about Canadian television. Her latest is Outside Looking In: Viewing First Nations Peoples in Canadian Dramatic Television Series, available from McGill-Queen's University Press. This is a fascinating discussion of how Native people are represented in shows such as The Beachcombers, The Rez, and of course, North of 60. The latter show gets five chapters in the book! There's even mention of our Yahoo Group list, and, umm, this website. :-)

  • Professor Miller also wrote an interesting analysis of Dream Storm that she kindly allowed me to post on this site.

  • Tom Jackson's website includes information about his Singing for Supper concerts.

  • Going M.I.L.E.S. is the website of Dakota House's youth empowerment program.

  • The JAM TV website has a collection of North of 60 newspaper stories.

  • The Government of the Northwest Territories website says that Fort Liard was the inspiration for Lynx River.

  • Want to find out more about your favorite native actors from Canada and the U.S.? Check out Annie's great NativeCelebs website and her page of Nof60 links.

  • The Encyclopedia of Television on the Museum of Broadcast Communications website includes specific pages about a number of Canadian shows. Prof. Miller wrote the page about North of 60.

  • Prof. Miller's essay on Canadian Television Programming in English is on the same site.

  • See the Canadian Screenwriter website for a very interesting interview with Nof60 co-creator Wayne Grigsby. The site also has interviews with North of 60 writers Peter Lauterman, Rob Forsyth, and Stacey Kaser.

  • Canadian artist Virginia Boulay has done a lovely painting of Sun Rock and the Elbow (Lynx) River. You can see it on her website and contact her about ordering a print.





  • About me

    How I got interested in North of 60

    I've had a lot of questions over the years about how someone from California ended up running a website about a Canadian television show. Actually, many of you probably don't even realize that I'm not in Canada! Nor am I a transplanted Canadian. I'm a native Californian who has never lived closer to Canada than Marin County.

    Here's how it started. Back in 1994, CBS Television began airing a show co-produced with CTV in Canada called "Due South." Created by Paul Haggis, the show captured me with its wit (including wry comments about U.S./Canadian relations), its interesting characters, and its enjoyable stories.

    I joined a "Due South" discussion list on the Internet and subscribed to a Usenet group about the show. At some point, one of my fellow listmembers mentioned another Canadian TV series that was also excellent, also about Mounties, and also produced by Alliance Atlantis. I asked whether she could send me a videotape with a few sample episodes--and the rest, as they say, is history. :-) (If I recall correctly, the first episode I ever saw was "Moonlight Sonata.")

    When I found out that CBC co-owned a cable/satellite channel in the U.S. that aired Nof60 and other Canadian dramas (it was called Trio), I begged a friend of mine who had DirecTV to tape the series for me, which he kindly did. In late 1996, the FCC issued a ruling that allowed me to put up a satellite dish where I live, so I quickly ran out and bought a DirecTV system for myself. (Trio was sold in 2000, and its programming changed the following year.)

    Somewhere along the line, I realized that the official Nof60 website (www.nof60.com) was only posting descriptions of the most recent episodes, so I began writing my own episode guide. Then in 1998, the official site disappeared entirely. By that time, I had started my own site to keep fans updated on news that wasn't being posted on the official site. So with the demise of that site, mine became the go-to place for Nof60 information. (In 2000, another official website was launched at www.northof60.net; it went away in 2007. In 2003, I was able to obtain the nof60.com domain and point it to my site so that fans who saw the URL in the closing credits of the show would end up where they could get Nof60 news.)

    In 1999, a Vancouver Nof60 fan named Anna started a Yahoo Group to discuss the show. I joined a couple of weeks later, and in 2000, Anna handed over the reins to Lonnie Cruse, Nancy Duemling, and me. Lonnie was subsequently replaced by Kelly Tucker, who still helps out occasionally, but mostly it's Nancy and me running the show now.

    In 2000, I made contact with the publicist for the show, Fran Humphreys. She ended up inviting me to visit the set during the filming of "Dream Storm." I later returned for "Another Country" and "Distant Drumming." You can see the results of those trips in the Interviews and Photos sections of this page.

    Well, I think that brings everyone up to date! Please drop me a note at patty@wintertime.com if you have any questions!



    Search Patty's North of 60 site:






    Professional Work | Off Hours


    patty@wintertime.com





    Text and photos (c) 1997-2010 Patricia F. Winter, except as noted.
    Last updated 1/30/2010


    Mac and the Mac logo are trademarks of Apple, Inc., registered
    in the U.S. and other countries. The Made on a Mac Badge
    is a trademark of Apple, Inc., used with permission.