''Lord Have Mercy!'' is a Canadian television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

, produced by Leda Serene Films, first shown on

Vision TV VisionTV is a Canadian English language Category A specialty channel that broadcasts multi-faith, multicultural, and general entertainment programming aimed at the 45 and over demographic. VisionTV is currently owned by ZoomerMedia, a company ...

in 2003. It received further showings in Canada on

Toronto One CKXT-DT was a broadcast television station based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that broadcast to much of southern and eastern Ontario. It was owned by Quebecor Media through its Groupe TVA unit. Although beginning as a general interest independent s ...

, APTN and

Showcase Showcase or vitrine may refer to: *Cabinet (furniture) *Display case Music * ''Showcase'' (Bill Anderson album), 1964 * ''Showcase'' (Patsy Cline album), 1961 * ''Showcase'' (Buddy Holly album), 1964 * ''Showcase'' (Philly Joe Jones album), 1959 ...

later the same year. The series, one of the first television productions launched by Vision TV's multicultural television development fund, starred

Arnold Pinnock Arnold Pinnock (born 1967) is a Canadian actor who is perhaps best known for his appearance as Paul Greebie, Casey's guidance counselor, in ''Life with Derek''. Pinnock was born in Birmingham, England. His career began with sketch comedy at Toro ...

as Dwight Gooding, an ambitious new youth

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

at Mt. Zion, a Caribbean-Canadian church. Other main characters were Dennis "Sprangalang" Hall as head pastor Cuthbert Stevens, Rachel Price as Gooding's wife Desirée, Leonie Forbes as pastoral assistant Hope McCauley, and Shawn Singleton and

d'bi young d’bi.young anitafrika is a Jamaican-Canadian feminist dub poet, activist, and singer for the band D’bi and the 333. Their work includes theatrical performances, four published collections of poetry, twelve plays, and seven albums. Early l ...

as Hope's grandchildren Kent and Crystal. The cast also included

Gary Farmer Gary Dale Farmer (born June 12, 1953) is a Canadian actor and musician. He is perhaps best known for his role as Nobody in the films ''Dead Man'' (1995) and '' Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai'' (1999), and for his role in '' Smoke Signals'' (1 ...

Russell Peters Russell Dominic Peters (born September 29, 1970) is a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, and producer. He began performing in Toronto in 1989 and won a Gemini Award in 2008. In 2013, he was number three on ''Forbes'' list of the world's highe ...

and

Louis Negin Louis Negin (20 October 1929 – 2 December 2022) was a British-born Canadian actor, best known for his roles in the films of Guy Maddin."Enchantment". ''In Toronto'', September 2011. Career Born in London, England, and raised in Toronto, Ontari ...

. ''Lord Have Mercy!'' was created by Vanz Chapman and Frances-Anne Solomon, based on an idea by Paul deSilva. It was produced by Solomon, Chapman and Claire Prieto, and directed by Solomon. Scripts were written by Solomon, Chapman and

Ngozi Paul Ngozi Paul is a Canadian stage and screen actress, writer, director and producer. She is best known as the creator, executive producer, and actress of Global TV's comedic drama ''Da Kink in My Hair''. Early life Paul was born and raised in To ...

. The series cost about $2 million to produce and was shot

live to tape Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting bega ...

. The show was nominated for two Gemini Awards, for Best Comedy Series and for Best Female Performer ( Leonie Forbes) and has been screened at the ''African Disapora Film Festival'' in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The series has aired in subsequent years in the Caribbean including runs on

Gayelle TV Gayelle Television (Gayelle) is a privately owned television station, serving Trinidad and Tobago. The television station broadcasts on UHF channel 23 to the city of Port of Spain and has recently started broadcasting to Central Trinidad on UH ...

and NCC-TV in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

in 2008 It has also been repeated several times on Jamaican-based

Caribbean International Network Caribbean International Network (CIN)-TV is an internationally broadcast English language television channel based in Jamaica. The main focus of the channel is Caribbean culture, news, sports, lifestyle, opinions, and entertainment. The main emphas ...

(CIN-TV), a channel which is carried by cable systems in the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban landmass, at , and one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. The vast metropolitan area ...

Cast and characters

as Youth Pastor Dwight Gooding, an ambitious up and coming junior pastor at Mt. Zion Church. * Dennis "Sprangalang" Hall as Pastor Lloyd Cuthbert Stevens, Mt. Zion's head pastor and patriarch. * Rachel Price as Desiree, Gooding's wife * Leonie Forbes as pastoral assistant Sister Hope McCauley * Shawn Singleton as Kent, Hope's grandson *

d'bi Young d’bi.young anitafrika is a Jamaican-Canadian feminist dub poet, activist, and singer for the band D’bi and the 333. Their work includes theatrical performances, four published collections of poetry, twelve plays, and seven albums. Early l ...

(credited on-screen as Debbie Young) as Crystal, Hope's granddaughter *

as Marty C. Marten, the church's window washer and handyman, who is in love with Sister Hope *

as Ryan Sarma, Gooding's childhood friend. *

as Pastor White, a Roman Catholic priest and friend of Pastor Cuthbert's.

Cast and characters

Episodes

References

External links