Dr. Helen Magnus is the protagonist and central character of the Canadian

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

-science fiction television series ''

Sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

''. She is portrayed by

Amanda Tapping Amanda Tapping (born 28 August 1965) is a British-Canadian actress and director. She is best known for portraying Samantha Carter in the Canadian–American military science fiction television series ''Stargate SG-1,'' ''Stargate Atlantis,'' an ...

. In the series, Magnus is a

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

from

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

England, who currently runs the global Sanctuary Network, an organization tasked with finding a series of creatures called "abnormals", and later bring them to a Sanctuary base for refuge to protect them from the human population. The character is over two and a half centuries old, having been given her advanced longevity by injecting herself with

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mischief or deat ...

blood, as well as reliving the 20th century from temporal displacement. After traveling back in time, Magnus had to avoid people, so she isolated herself. In the season 4 finale "Sanctuary For None: Part 2" It was revealed that Magnus spent the 113 years creating a new Sanctuary. Tapping was offered a part in the original web series by series creator

Damian Kindler Damian Kindler (born May 31, 1968) is a television and film writer, director and producer. Born in Melbourne, Australia, Kindler's family swiftly emigrated to Toronto, Canada, where he was raised. He currently resides in Venice, California, US. ...

and director Martin Wood. It became the actress' first regular role since playing

Samantha Carter Samantha "Sam" Carter, USAF is a fictional character in the Canadian–American military science fiction '' Stargate'' franchise. Played by Amanda Tapping, she appears in all three shows in the franchise: ''Stargate SG-1'', ''Stargate Atlantis'' ...

on ''

Stargate SG-1 ''Stargate SG-1'' (often stylized in all caps, or abbreviated ''SG-1'') is a military science fiction adventure television series within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's ''Stargate'' franchise. The show, created by Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner, ...

'' and ''

Stargate Atlantis ''Stargate Atlantis'' (usually stylized in all caps and often abbreviated ''SGA'') is an adventure and military science fiction television series and part of MGM's ''Stargate'' franchise. The show was created by Brad Wright and Robert C. Coop ...

'' for eleven years. She initially had difficulty playing Magnus as her personality greatly differed from Carter. She also dyed her hair darker and spoke with an English accent throughout the run, as she herself was born in England. In addition, Tapping serves as the series executive producer and on some occasions, director. Magnus and Tapping's portrayal of the character received generally mixed reactions from critics, with the negative comments pointing toward's Tapping's accent. However, Tapping was nominated for four awards, one Gemini Award and three

Leo Award The Leo Awards are the awards program for the British Columbia film and television industry. Held each May or June in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the Leo Awards were founded by the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation of British C ...

s, for her role as Helen Magnus, winning a Leo Award for "Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series" in 2009 for the episode " Requiem".

Character arc

Background

Helen Magnus was born on August 27, 1850 to Gregory Magnus ( Jim Byrnes) and Patricia Heathering. Her father was regarded as a controversial medical researcher of his time, and exposed his daughter to his profession when she was a child. Years later, she helped form a secret group known as "the Five", along with John Druitt (

Christopher Heyerdahl Christopher Heyerdahl (born September 18, 1963) is a Canadian actor who portrayed Alastair in ''Supernatural,'' the Wraith Todd in ''Stargate Atlantis'', Sam in '' Van Helsing,'' "Swede" in ''Hell on Wheels,'' and Marcus in '' The Twilight Saga ...

Nikola Tesla Nikola Tesla ( ; ,"Tesla"
''

Jonathon Young Jonathon Young (born May 8, 1973) is a Canadian actor known for his role of Nikola Tesla on the SyFy show ''Sanctuary''. Appearances include ''The Fog'', ''Eureka'', and ''Stargate Atlantis''. Young is a well-respected stage actor. He is the ...

), James Watson (

Peter Wingfield Dr Peter Wingfield (born 5 September 1962) is a Welsh-born television actor, well known for his television roles as Dan Clifford in ''Holby City'', Dr. Robert Helm in ''Queen of Swords'' and Inspector Simon Ross in ''Cold Squad'' but he is int ...

) and Nigel Griffin (Vincent Gale) at Oxford University. Each member voluntarily injected themselves with pure

blood, a species that had become extinct centuries before. This granted each member unique abilities. Magnus' ability was longevity, allowing her to live several times longer than any normal human. At this point she entered a relationship with Druitt, whose ability is personal

teleportation Teleportation is the hypothetical transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. It is a common subject in science fiction literature and in other popular culture. Teleportation is oft ...

. However, he became insane and murdered several prostitutes, thereby becoming

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in the autumn of 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer w ...

. They did conceive a child, Magnus later took the embryo and froze it. By the turn of the 20th century, her research with the abnormal population went into full swing, and she founded the Sanctuary Network. To get the funding she needed, the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

reunited the Five to stop and kill Adam Worth (

Ian Tracey Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

), who was turned down as a sixth member and blamed the Five for the death of his daughter, from releasing a toxin in London. In the season two episode " Next Tuesday", Magnus states she was a passenger on the ''

RMS Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...

'' in 1912. In July 1944, she worked with the

French Resistance The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...

in Normandy to prevent the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

s from controlling a fire

elemental An elemental is a mythic being that is described in occult and alchemical works from around the time of the European Renaissance, and particularly elaborated in the 16th century works of Paracelsus. According to Paracelsus and his subsequent fo ...

before D-Day. She then charged the head Sanctuary in Old City, a fictional city in the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

, during which she decided to use the embryo to bear her daughter,

Ashley Ashley is a place name derived from the Old English words '' æsc'' (“ash”) and '' lēah'' (“meadow”). It may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ashley (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...

( Emilie Ullerup). On one of her expeditions, she saved a young

Will Zimmerman Dr. William "Will" Zimmerman is a main character and male lead of the Canadian fantasy-science fiction television series ''Sanctuary (TV series), Sanctuary''. He is portrayed by Robin Dunne. Will is introduced in the series as an Federal Bureau o ...

from a dangerous abnormal, but failed to capture it before it killed his mother.

Season one

In the first season of the show, Magnus appoints an adult Will (

Robin Dunne Robin Dunne (born November 19, 1976) is a Canadian actor who has had numerous leading roles in sequels throughout his career, but is perhaps best known for his role as Doctor Will Zimmerman in the science fiction television series ''Sanctuary''. ...

), a forensic psychiatrist who worked for the Old City Police Department, to become her new protégé, which he eventually accepts. Druitt returns to the Sanctuary to ask Magnus to cure him from an unknown affliction; Magnus tricks him into injecting poison, though Druitt escapes. Later, in " The Five", it would be revealed Druitt survived, and Tesla was able to suppress his insanity. In " Fata Morgana", she becomes aware of an underground organization known as the Cabal, who plot to control all abnormals for their own gain, and in several episodes throughout the first season, will become her and her organization's primary focus. In " Requiem", Magnus becomes exposed to an aggressive parasite in the Bermuda Triangle when going with Will to see a group of

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes ass ...

s who massacred each other because of the same parasite. To stop Magnus from killing Will and herself, Will locks her in a cabin in the submarine, and drains all the oxygen, killing her. She is later revived after Will captures the escaping parasite. In the two-part season finale " Revelations", the Cabal launch a bioweapon called "Lazarus", which causes any exposed abnormal to attack humans. To combat this, Magnus regroups the Five to Bhalasaam, a lost city, to recover the source blood (vampire blood). However, by the end Magnus is distressed to learn that the Cabal have turned Ashley against her and the team and steals the blood sample.

Season two

The second season begins six weeks after the end of the first, where Magnus works hard to defeat the Cabal and save Ashley, whom the Cabal transformed to a vampire-hybrid superabnormal, one of six tasked to destroy the Sanctuary Network. When the superabnormals arrive at the Old City Sanctuary, Magnus is able to get through to Ashley, who recognises her in time to save her from another superabnormal, and then teleports. Because an electromagnetic field is active, it would mean whoever teleports inside would be vaporized. Despite this, Magnus believes Ashley's life energy may be in the electromagnetic field's buffer. When it does not, she is forced to accept that Ashley has died. Because of her death, and other loved ones because of her longevity, she tried to find a way to age at a normal rate again. She finds an elixir used by the

Mayans The Maya peoples () are an ethnolinguistic group of indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived within that historical reg ...

in Honduras, but it has the side effect of turning humans into zombie-like creatures. After being shown the potential consequences of the elixir's release by an incorporeal guardian, she decides to leave it behind. Later on in the season, her leadership of the Sanctuary Network would be called into question by the other heads of house. In "

Veritas Veritas is the name given to the Roman virtue of truthfulness, which was considered one of the main virtues any good Roman should possess. The Greek goddess of truth is Aletheia (Ancient Greek: ). The German philosopher Martin Heidegger argues ...

", she sets up an elaborate scheme to apprehend a telepath named Emma (

Erica Cerra Erica Cerra (born October 31, 1979) is a Canadian actress, best known for her portrayal of Deputy Jo Lupo on the Syfy series ''Eureka'', and artificial intelligence A.L.I.E. and her creator Becca on '' The 100''. Career Cerra was born in Vanco ...

), whom she suspects of working against the Network. In the scheme, Magnus forges a mental illness and fakes the murder of her butler, Bigfoot (Heyerdahl), and makes Emma believe she kept alive Big Bertha, the most dangerous abnormal on Earth, which Magnus was thought to have killed. However, it is revealed in the season finale "

Kali Kali (; sa, काली, ), also referred to as Mahakali, Bhadrakali, and Kalika ( sa, कालिका), is a Hindu goddess who is considered to be the goddess of ultimate power, time, destruction and change in Shaktism. In this tra ...

", Magnus did indeed keep her alive in secrecy, but sedated, as she believes that killing Bertha would jeopardize the planet. When Big Bertha is being controlled by Edward Forsythe, Magnus attempts to sedate Big Bertha again, but by then, Terrence Wexford (

Paul McGillion Paul McGillion is a Scottish actor, who has worked in television, film and theatre. He is best known for his role on the television series ''Stargate Atlantis'' as Dr. Carson Beckett. Early life McGillion was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Sco ...

) overrides her authority and assumes control of the network. His attempt to kill Bertha only succeeds in angering her, and she launches a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

Season three

The third season begins with Magnus forcing Wexford to step down as head of the Sanctuary Network, thereby putting herself back in command, while the rest of the team deal with the tsunami. Though they are not happy that Big Bertha is still alive, the other Sanctuary house heads decide to keep Magnus in charge, while also firing Wexford for breaking several protocols. She learns from Will that when he talked to Kali, the avatar manifestation of Big Bertha, into stopping the tsunami, he saw her father, who left her clues leading to a map leading to

Hollow Earth The Hollow Earth is a concept proposing that the planet Earth is entirely hollow or contains a substantial interior space. Notably suggested by Edmond Halley in the late 17th century, the notion was disproven, first tentatively by Pierre Bougue ...

, thought to be the home of every abnormal species on the planet. In " Breach" Magnus learns Adam Worth is still alive, and he also intends to find Hollow Earth, having been there before and resurrected. After finding an entrance to Hollow Earth in

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...

, she and the team venture to the underground city of Praxis, where leader Ranna (

Polly Walker Polly Alexandra Walker (born 19 May 1966) is an English actress. She has starred in the films '' Enchanted April'' (1991), '' Patriot Games'' (1992), ''Sliver'' (1993), '' Restoration'' (1995), '' The Gambler'' (1997), and '' Savage Messiah'' ( ...

) executes her and her team for trespassing. However, they are later resurrected as she wants their help in saving the city, which is facing destruction because a hyperspecies abnormal is not controlling the city's geothermal energy. After saving it, Magnus and her team and Ranna part in good terms. It is also revealed Worth also came to the city to steal a power source with unlimited capabilities. Though it was assumed Druitt killed him before he could leave with it, it is later revealed in the season finale that Druitt kept him alive and that he is using the power source to create a time machine and cure his daughter's

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...

, which could cause untold consequences on the planet. His first failed attempt causes the destruction of Praxis, and a

time dilation In physics and relativity, time dilation is the difference in the elapsed time as measured by two clocks. It is either due to a relative velocity between them ( special relativistic "kinetic" time dilation) or to a difference in gravitational ...

bubble in

Carentan Carentan () is a small rural town near the north-eastern base of the French Cotentin Peninsula in Normandy in north-western France, with a population of about 6,000. It is a former commune in the Manche department. On 1 January 2016, it was mer ...

, France. Magnus fails to stop him from succeeding, but does follow him through a time portal to London in 1898.

Season four

Magnus pursues Worth throughout London to stop him from curing his daughter Imogene, who is meant to die in the timeline. During the pursuit she tries to avoid her past self, but fails to stop encountering Watson, who quickly discovers she is from his future, but he promises to keep quiet for the sake of preserving the timeline. When Worth chases Magnus later he accidentally kills Imogene, restoring the timeline. After killing Worth, Magnus ends up in hiding for the next 113 years before she can resurface to help Will dealing with a mass of Abnormals invading the surface. In the season finale, it is revealed that Helen had been secretly working with several important figures of the 20th Century, including

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...

and

Buckminster Fuller Richard Buckminster Fuller (; July 12, 1895 – July 1, 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, writer, designer, inventor, philosopher, and futurist. He styled his name as R. Buckminster Fuller in his writings, publishing mo ...

amongst others, and had built a new underground Sanctuary.

Characterization

The Syfy website describes Magnus as "beautiful and enigmatic" who has "devoted her life to the practical research of cutting edge medicine and science". Her work is to explore the world of abnormals. While the rest of the world dismiss them as monstrous figments of their imaginations and elements of childhood nightmares, Magnus realizes that they are the world's triumphs and mistakes. Magnus hence becomes their protector, but in some cases, their captor. She is also described as "bold and straightforward, brave and no-nonsense, yet she remains proudly true to her formal Victorian English sensibilities". Portraying actress Amanda Tapping described Magnus as a "crazy character" who is "very eccentric and very sexy and very unapologetic". Magnus "adores her daughter Ashley, respecting her independence and self-reliance – but that doesn't preclude some occasional mother-daughter friction". Tapping has said that there is a "huge amount of respect" between the two characters, adding "Ashley knows that when her mother says she needs to do something then she says it for a reason. And Magnus has a huge amount of respect for Ashley because Ashley can do things that she can't." Magnus made a hard choice of having Ashley even though she does not have her mother's longevity, and Magnus would outlive her daughter. In the first season Magnus recruits Will as her protégé. When asked what Magnus thinks of Will, Tapping stated "I think Helen finds him fascinating. He's so idealistic, she sees in him all the qualities that she admires, but all the qualities that she knows will probably get beaten out of him over the course of time. His idealism and purity of thought and the way he analyses things ... she absolutely respects that, but I think she also realises that there's going to come a time when he's going to become a bit jaded ... There are a couple of episodes where there's been this bizarre sexual tension between the two of them ... but generally there's just a huge healthy respect." During a

Blastr Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Lau ...

interview in 2011, Tapping further explains Magnus' relationship with Will; "I love how this relationship has developed. .."It's been a really organic transformation of Will's character and Magnus. To actually bring somebody on board who, initially, it's all about teaching him the ropes. And then as the seasons have gone on he's come into his own. He's come into his own as a scientist. He's come into his own in terms of his relationship with the people in the Sanctuary." Dunne meanwhile stated "there's a nice synchronicity that has formed between the two characters. And really, they're two people that depend on each other for survival. And therefore, that's where the respect comes out of."

Conceptual history

Series creator

conceived the idea of ''Sanctuary'' in 2001, many of his ideas were included in the final product, one of them being the English scientist Helen Magnus. A few years later, Kindler asked Martin Wood if there was a potential for a series. When Wood believed it would be, they both decided to approach Amanda Tapping to participate in the project, and she accepted. Kindler believed that casting Tapping was a "nice fit" to the character because the actress was born in England. Tapping, who played the regular character

in ''

'' and sister show ''

'', did not know the future of her role in the show when she was approached to appear on ''Sanctuary'' in 2006. When the webseries started shooting in January 2007, it did not conflict with her commitments on ''Stargate''. After the fourth season of ''Atlantis'', Tapping was offered to return to the fifth season and she accepted. When ''Sanctuary'' was picked up to a television series, Tapping decided to turn down the ''Atlantis'' contract, having been encouraged by her husband to move on after playing Carter for eleven years. She went through a "weird disconnect" playing Magnus since "Sam Carter was so much a part of me". However, she was able to embrace playing a new character "pretty quickly". Nevertheless, Tapping found it a challenge to play a different character, as Carter and Magnus have differing personalities and points of view; "after playing a character like Sam Carter for so long where her physicality is so comfortable – Sam is so comfortable in her own skin and Helen is this very sexual, more mysterious being. She has a much darker edge to her and it was sort of finding that because Carter always looks on the bright side and Helen has been around so long, and has seen so much of the evil in human society if you will." Whilst filming the webisodes, Tapping wore a dark-haired wig, but when the television series was being shot, she dyed her hair to match the hair colour of the wig. Tapping spoke with an English accent throughout the run of the series. Although many of her relatives are from the United Kingdom and speak with British accents Tapping found the accent a challenge, as her character came from the Victorian era, which is a "very specific way of speaking. She clings to that eccentricity a bit, to that Britishness." The actress listened to several different voices, as she had to factor in the fact that Magnus lived all around the world. ''Sanctuary'' was mostly filmed on virtual green screen sets. Initially Tapping went through what she called "chroma key green headaches" because she had to stare at nothing but bright green walls for the first few days. When she got used to it, she likened filming on green screen to working in theatre. In the second season her daughter, Ashley was killed off. The producers, as well as the American and Canadian networks to give the character, including Magnus, a deep and most dramatic impact. They also wanted Magnus to feel more angry and vulnerable throughout the season, especially in the first three episodes. After playing Magnus in the series' third season, Tapping admitted that she still does not get Magnus because "there's so many things about the decisions that she makes that I still can't wrap my head around, and to me that's fascinating as an actor, to try to get inside somebody so complex and so kind of confusing." In the episode "Normandy", Tapping wore a red-haired wig for Magnus during her time in the Second World War, as an homage to her late grandmother. For the fourth season, Tapping requested that Magnus would be given a new love interest. The request was granted in the form of a female virologist appearing early in the season (thus establishing Magnus's bisexuality). In addition to being an actor, Tapping was also an executive producer on the series. However, she did not get paid extra as that salary would go towards financing the show, which was not backed up by a studio. She also served as a director on certain days if other directors were unavailable, or called in sick. In the second season, she was allowed to direct "

", the seventh episode.

Reception

Critical reaction

According to Mark Wilson of ''About.com'', Amanda Tapping was enthusiastic about creating a radically different character after eleven years playing

in ''

'' and ''

'', and expended tremendous effort to separate Helen from Carter as successfully as possible. Tapping was able to successfully portray a woman who's experienced a century and a half of isolation, strangeness, and relentless compassion. Rick Bentley from ''

McClatchy Newspapers The McClatchy Company, commonly referred to as simply McClatchy, is an American publishing company incorporated under Delaware's General Corporation Law and based in Sacramento, California. It operates 29 daily newspapers in fourteen states and ...

'' commented Tapping's role as Dr. Magnus was a way for the actor to make a name of herself outside the ''Stargate'' universe as Carter. Magnus is also described as a "non-glib, female

Jack Harkness Captain Jack Harkness is a fictional character played by John Barrowman in ''Doctor Who'' and its spin-off series, '' Torchwood''. The character first appears in the 2005 ''Doctor Who'' episode "The Empty Child" and subsequently features in the ...

;" Jack Harkness being the main character from the British science fiction show ''

Torchwood ''Torchwood'' is a British science fiction television programme created by Russell T Davies. A spin-off of the 2005 revival of ''Doctor Who'', it aired from 2006 to 2011. The show shifted its broadcast channel each series to reflect its growin ...

''. Hilary Rothing of UGO said that "Dr. Helen Magnus is intelligent, alluring and has one of those tasty British accents – Victorian era to be exact. That's because she's a 157 years old. But seriously, she doesn't look a day over 35." She also added that Tapping is "right at home" taking the lead for the show. Alex Walker of Den of Geek believed Magnus was "typical for an English character in an American TV show, with a liking for tea and a cut-glass elocution betraying no hint of a regional accent". Helen Magnus has been listed number ten in ''

TV Squad Weblogs, Inc. was a blog network that published content on a variety of subjects, including tech news, video games, automobiles and pop culture. At one point, the network had as many as 90 blogs, although the vast majority of its traffic could be ...

's'' "Ten Most mysterious characters on television". Magnus's English accent was not well received by some critics. She was listed ninth in

io9 ''io9'' is part of Gizmodo media since 2015, and it began as blog launched in 2008 by Gawker Media. The site initially focused on the subjects of science fiction, fantasy, futurism, science, technology and related areas but over the years has ...

's "Worst Fake Accents From The Yanks (And Canucks) Of Science Fiction", with Meredith Woerner stating "I really want to like this new Sci Fi Channel show, especially since the monsters look amazing – but I'm worried Tapping's dreadful accent will get in the way. It sounds completely forced in all the clips I've seen so far, but I'll guess I'll have to wait until October 3 to make my full assessment." Maureen Ryan of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' wondered why Tapping decided to speak with an "iffy accent," but added she would be of interest by fans of Tapping's previous works, notably ''Stargate''. Rob Owen of the ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving metropolitan Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the first newspaper published west of the Alle ...

'' called Tapping's English accent "unremarkable", whilst calling the show an "unremarkable series."

Accolades

Over the course of the series, Tapping's portrayal of Magnus resulted in several award nominations. Tapping was nominated for a 2009 Gemini Award for "Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role," for her role in "Requiem", but lost out to ''

Being Erica ''Being Erica'' is a Canadian comedy-drama television series that aired on CBC from January 5, 2009, to December 12, 2011. Created by Jana Sinyor, the series was originally announced by the CBC as ''The Session'', but was later retitled ''Bein ...

's''

Erin Karpluk Erin Karpluk (born ) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her portrayal of Erica Strange on the CBC Television series ''Being Erica'' from 2009 to 2011. Early life Karpluk was born in Jasper, Alberta to a mother who was a high-school princ ...

In the same year, Tapping won the similar "Best Lead Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series"

for the same episode. She was nominated for the same category again in 2010 for "Pavor Nocturnus", and in 2011 for "Breach", but lost out to Erin Karpluk and '' Blackstone's''

Carmen Moore Carmen Moore (born 24 December 1972) is a Canadian actress known for her work in television. She is known for her role as Loreen Cassway on ''Arctic Air'' (for which she was nominated for a Leo Award in 2012) and the lead role of Leona Stoney, o ...

, respectively.

References

External links

Helen Magnus
at Syfy.com
Helen Magnus
a
The Sanctuary Network
{{DEFAULTSORT:Magnus, Helen Sanctuary (TV series) Fictional advisors Fictional bisexual females Fictional SIS agents Fictional characters displaced in time Fictional characters with slowed ageing Fictional diplomats Fictional female secret agents and spies Fictional female doctors Fictional people from London Fictional biochemists Fictional botanists Fictional geneticists Fictional life scientists Fictional physicians Fictional professors Fictional epidemiologists Fictional medical examiners Fictional monster hunters Fictional obstetricians and gynaecologists Fictional pathologists Fictional parapsychologists Fictional surgeons Fictional toxicologists Fictional virologists Fictional microbiologists Fictional cryptozoologists and magizoologists Fictional ethologists Fictional zoologists Fictional astrobiologists Fictional female scientists Fictional women soldiers and warriors Fictional World War II veterans Fictional University of Oxford people Television characters introduced in 2007