Christopher Hood (24 March 1943 – 20 January 2020) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

television editor, director, writer and producer. He is best known as the director and co-creator of the ''

Degrassi ''Degrassi'' is a Canadian television franchise created by Kit Hood and Linda Schuyler in 1979. It is centred on a multigenerational teen drama about an ensemble cast of teenagers attending the namesake Toronto school as they navigate their ad ...

'' franchise alongside

Linda Schuyler Linda Schuyler, (; née Bawcutt; born February 12, 1948) is a Canadian television producer. She is best known for being the co-creator and producer of the ''Degrassi'' teen drama franchise, which has spanned five series over four decades. She i ...

, including the series ''

The Kids of Degrassi Street ''The Kids of Degrassi Street'' is a Canadian children's television series and the first in the ''Degrassi'' franchise created by Kit Hood and Linda Schuyler. It follows the lives of a group of children living on De Grassi Street in Toronto. It ...

'', ''

Degrassi Junior High ''Degrassi Junior High'' is a Canadian television series and the second series in the ''Degrassi'' franchise created by Kit Hood and Linda Schuyler. A successor but not a direct spin-off of ''The Kids of Degrassi Street'', it debuted on CBC ...

'', and ''

Degrassi High ''Degrassi High'' is a Canadian teen drama television series and the third series in the ''Degrassi'' franchise created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood. A direct continuation of '' Degrassi Junior High'', it debuted on CBC in Canada on November ...

,'' the latter two of which established the franchise's popularity and longevity.

Career

Christopher "Kit" Hood was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England in 1943, the son of Robert Hood and Eve Jennings, a writer of children's books. Hood worked as a child actor, then as a

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film which increasingly involves the use of digital technology. The film edit ...

with

Walt Disney Productions The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

in London. In 1969, he emigrated to Canada. In Toronto, he was a freelance editor of television commercials when he met

, a grade 8 teacher-turned-filmmaker who was looking for an editor with advanced technical skills. In 1976, they founded Playing With Time, Inc., a company which specialized in educational films and documentaries. Their first film together was ''Jimmy: Playing With Time'', a documentary about a marathon pianist. That was followed by ''

Ida Makes a Movie ''Ida Makes a Movie'' is a 1979 Canadian after school special short film produced by Kit Hood and Linda Schuyler for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, who aired the film on December 8, 1979. The story was adapted from the 1974 children's pict ...

'', a film about an inner-city girl who wanted to make a film about cleaning up her neighbourhood. The concept for more kids-related episodes was accepted by the CBC, additional funding was procured and the result was ''

''. By 1986, they had produced 26 episodes of the show. Playing With Time produced some short films and documentaries, but most of the company's output was the ''

'' series, which included ''The Kids Of Degrassi Street'' (1979-1986), ''Degrassi Junior High'' (1987-1989), ''Degrassi High'' (1987-1991), and ''Degrassi: The Next Generation'' (2001-2015). The series followed the lives of Toronto children, from elementary school to high school. The shows’ content focused on challenges such as teenage pregnancy, drug use, alcoholism, child abuse, bullying, deaths of parents, and peer pressure. Each series was enormously popular and garnered dozens of

awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award ...

. Hood wrote and/or directed and/or produced most of the episodes and made a guest appearance in one, playing an angry parent in the 1988 episode ''Censored''. At the end of the last season of ''Degrassi High'', Hood and Schuyler produced a documentary about the series called ''

Degrassi Talks ''Degrassi Talks'' is a Canadian non-fiction documentary Television program, television series and part of the ''Degrassi'' franchise created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood. Running six episodes from February 29 to March 30, 1992, it revolved arou ...

'', and the 1992 TV movie '' School's Out!''. Hood did not participate in ''Degrassi: The Next Generation''; he produced and directed a few more projects before retiring to Nova Scotia in 1998.

Personal Life and death

Hood was married to Agnes Malouf, a teacher, and had two daughters and one step-daughter. On January 20, 2021, he died of a brain aneurysm at the family home in

West Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia West Lawrencetown is a residential community within the Halifax Regional Municipality Nova Scotia on the Eastern Shore on Route 207 along the scenic route Marine Drive. History Despite the British Conquest of Acadia in 1710, Nova Scotia remai ...

, at age 76. In August 2021, Hood's daughter Georgia created an online petition to have the City of Toronto name the laneway behind the former Playing With Time production office after him.

Filmography

Director and/or Producer and/or Writer *''Our Cultural Fabric'' - short film, 1978 *''Jimmy: Playing With Time'' - documentary, 1979 *''

'' - short film, 1979 *''

'' - TV series, 26 episodes, 1979-1986 *''Growing Up with Sandy Offenheim'' - documentary, 1980 *''Pearls in the Alphabet Soup'' - short film, 1980 *''Don’t Call Me Stupid'' - short film, 1980 *''Advice on Lice'' - short film, 1985 *''

OWL/TV OWL/TV is a Canadian children's educational television series that aired on CBC, from 1985 to 1990, and then later on CTV, from 1990 to 1994. It focused on nature and science discovery, emphasizing to viewers how they can affect their own envir ...

'' - TV series, ''Real Kids'' segments, 1985-1986 *''Danger Keep Out!'' - documentary short, 1987 *''

'' - TV series, 59 episodes, 1987-1991 *''

'' - TV series, 1987-1989 (co-creator) *''

'' - TV series, 1989-1991 (co-creator) *''

'' - documentary series, 6 episodes, 1992 *'' School's Out!'' - TV movie, 1992 *''X-Rated'' - TV movie, 1994 *''

Road to Avonlea ''Road to Avonlea'' is a Canadian television series first broadcast in Canada between January 7, 1990, and March 31, 1996, as part of the ''CBC Family Hour'' anthology series, and in the United States starting on March 5, 1990. It was created b ...

'' - TV series, director, 1 episode (''A Fox Tale''), 1995 *''Strauss: The King of 3/4 Time'' - TV movie, 1995 *''Just a Little Red Dot'' - short film, 1997 *''Dancing on the Moon'' - drama, 1997

References

1943 births 2020 deaths English emigrants to Canada Canadian television directors Canadian television writers Canadian television producers Canadian screenwriters Television show creators Degrassi (franchise) {{tv-director-stub