''Street Legal'' is 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 ...

legal drama television series, which aired on CBC Television from 1987 to 1994 before returning with six new episodes starting March 4, 2019."'Street Legal' reboot among new shows in CBC's 2018/19 lineup"
''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'', May 24, 2018. ''Street Legal'' was the longest-running one-hour scripted drama in the history of Canadian television, holding the record for twenty years before being surpassed by ''

Heartland Heartland or Heartlands may refer to: Businesses and organisations * Heartland Bank, a New Zealand-based financial institution * Heartland Inn, a chain of hotels based in Iowa, United States * Heartland Alliance, an anti-poverty organization ...

's'' 139th episode on March 29, 2015."Cynthia Dale says new Street Legal is no nostalgia trip"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and par ...

'', March 1, 2019.

Synopsis

''Street Legal'' focuses on the professional and private lives of the partners in a small

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

law firm. The primary stars are Sonja Smits, Eric Peterson and C. David Johnson, and the cast also includes

Julie Khaner Julie Khaner (born December 5, 1957) is a Canadian television and film actress, best known for her roles in as Alana Newman Robinovitch in '' Street Legal'', Emily Henchpaw in the 1995 version of ''Jake and the Kid'', Sidney Dernhoff in '' The Ne ...

, Albert Schultz,

Cynthia Dale Cynthia Ciurluini, known professionally as Cynthia Dale, is a Canadian television actress and stage performer. She is best known for her role as lawyer Olivia Novak in the 1987–94, and re-booted in 2019, television drama '' Street Legal.' ...

, Maria del Mar, Ron Lea,

Anthony Sherwood Anthony Sherwood is a Canadian actor, producer, director and writer. Biography Sherwood was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Sherwood's grandmother, Alice Kane (née Alice White), was a musician and music teacher, his mother was an amateur singer ...

and Diane Polley. The series is distinctively Canadian, in the use of Canadian court customs and procedures. Much of the show's music was composed by Eric Robertson who was nominated for a Gemini Award in 1987 for his work on the show.

Cast and characters

In the early episodes, the show's three core characters were Carrie Barr (Smits), Leon Robinovitch (Peterson) and Chuck Tchobanian (Johnson), partners in the small downtown Toronto law firm of Barr, Robinovitch and Tchobanian. The three did not necessarily always see eye to eye on things: Tchobanian was a flashy, confident and conservative lawyer who was most interested in taking high-profile cases that would get his name into the media; Robinovitch was an activist labour lawyer who believed in defending the little guy and mounted a campaign for Mayor of Toronto during the series run; Barr was a soft-spoken and initially naïve young lawyer who was sometimes forced to mediate between her more opinionated partners. According to series producer Maryke McEwen, "if you want to label the characters I'd call them Liberal, Conservative and NDP." Characters introduced later included Mercedes (Sealy-Smith), the firm's no-nonsense office manager; Olivia Novak (Dale), an aggressive, risk-taking new lawyer with the firm who was a foil for Carrie and a love interest for Chuck; Alana Newman (Khaner), a judge who was married to Leon; Rob Diamond (Schultz), who joined the firm as a junior lawyer; Dillon Beck (Sherwood), a crown prosecutor who married Carrie; and Laura Crosby (del Mar), a new lawyer who joined the firm after Carrie was killed by a drunk driver. In the 2019 revival, Olivia loses her job with a

Bay Street Bay Street is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Canada's financial services industry since succeeding Montreal's St. James ...

firm, and joins RDL Legal, a boutique firm with whom she was formerly competing to land a major case.

Original cast

* Sonja Smits as Carrington "Carrie" Barr * C. David Johnson as Charles "Chuck" Tchobanian * Eric Peterson as Leon Robinovitch *

as Olivia Novak * David James Elliott as Nick Del Gado *

as Alana Newman Robinovitch *

as Dillon Beck * Albert Schultz as Rob Diamond * Maria del Mar as Laura Crosby * Ron Lea as Brian Malony *

Alison Sealy-Smith Alison Sealy-Smith (born 1959) is a Barbados-born Canadian actress best known for her role as Storm in various Marvel animated TV series. Early life and education Sealy-Smith was born in Bridgetown, Barbados and raised in Toronto. She attended ...

as Mercedes

2019 revival cast

as Olivia Novak *

Cara Ricketts Cara Ricketts is a Canadian actress,Richard Ouzounian"People to watch in 2011: Cara Ricketts" ''Toronto Star'', December 31, 2010. best known for her roles as Mary Lacroix in ''Anne with an E'' and Lilly Rue in the 2019 revival of '' Street Legal ...

as Lilly Rue * Steve Lund as Adam Darling *

Yvonne Chapman Yvonne Chapman may refer to: * Yvonne Chapman (politician) (born 1940), Australian politician * Yvonne Chapman (actress) Yvonne Chapman (born October 7, 1988) is a Canadian actress and model, known for her role as the villain Zhilan Zhang in Th ...

as Mina Lee * Joanne Vannicola as Sam * Emmanuel Kabongo as Roman Mussi

Show history

The original series pilot aired on CBC Television in 1986 as ''Shellgame'', a television film written by William Deverell which starred Brenda Robins as a lawyer defending accused murderer André ( Germain Houde). The film was not well received by audiences or critics, however, and the project was retooled and recast before premiering as a series in 1987. The series debuted on January 6, 1987, with a six-episode run that season."'Toronto' Law joins the ranks". '' Windsor Star'', January 6, 1987. Maryke McEwen was the executive producer. Early critical response to the series frequently compared it to the contemporaneous American series '' L.A. Law'', with some reviewers even coining the dismissive epithet ''T.O. Law''. The series then returned for a longer second season in September 1987. From the third through the seventh seasons, Brenda Greenberg was first senior producer, then executive producer, with Nada Harcourt taking over for the final season. The show's last regular weekly episode aired on February 18, 1994. Production wrapped up with the two-hour television film ''Last Rights'', which aired on November 6, 1994. Loosely based on the case of Sue Rodriguez, an

assisted suicide Assisted suicide is suicide undertaken with the aid of another person. The term usually refers to physician-assisted suicide (PAS), which is suicide that is assisted by a physician or other healthcare provider. Once it is determined that the p ...

activist who died a week before ''Street Legal's'' final regular episode aired, the film centred on Olivia's criminal trial after helping a terminally ill friend ( Brent Carver) commit suicide. The film drew 1.6 million viewers.

Revival

The concept for a 2019 revival of ''Street Legal'' was first discussed during a lunch including Cynthia Dale and Sally Catto, CBC's general manager of programming. During a subsequent lunch, producer Bernie Zukerman and Catto began to plan specifics for a relaunch. The revival centres on Olivia Novak (Dale), joining a small boutique law office, RDL Legal, after losing her job with a powerful

firm. In addition to Dale reprising her original role, the cast also includes Cara Ricketts, Steve Lund and Yvonne Chapman. Eric Peterson and Anthony Sherwood made guest appearances reprising their roles as Leon Robinovitch and Dillon Beck, but were not part of the full-time cast. Actors Allan Hawco, Patrick Labbé, Leni Parker,

Rosemary Dunsmore Rosemary Dunsmore (born July 13, 1952) is a Canadian TV, film, and theatre actress, director, and educator. She was awarded a Dora Mavor Moore Award for her 1982 performance in ''Straight Ahead/Blind Dancers''. In 2009 she won the ACTRA Award f ...

and Tom McCamus also appeared in supporting roles. The new season of six episodes premiered on March 4, 2019, on CBC Television. After each episode was broadcast, it also became available for viewing on the CBC Gem streaming service. The primary theme of the six episodes is the

opioid Opioids are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects. Medically they are primarily used for pain relief, including anesthesia. Other medical uses include suppression of diarrhea, replacement therapy for opioid use ...

crisis in Canada, including a class action lawsuit against a major pharmaceutical company that manufactures a highly addictive drug. In April 2019, the CBC announced that the reboot would not be renewed for a second season. The ninth season premiered on June 21, 2021, on Ovation in the United States and was also be released on the Ovation NOW app streaming service in the "Mystery Alley" channel section early before its premiere.

Episodes

Season 1 (1987)

Season 2 (1987)

Season 3 (1988–89)

Season 4 (1989–90)

Season 5 (1990–91)

Season 6 (1991–92)

Season 7 (1992–93)

Season 8 (1993–94)

Season 9 (2019)

Production

The creators of the 2019 series are Bruce M. Smith and Bernie Zukerman. The series is co-produced by IGP Productions and Broken Clown Company. The executive producers are Zukerman and Smith while the producers are listed as Cynthia Dale and Rayne Zukerman. Filming of the six episodes was completed primarily in Montreal with some work done in Toronto.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, title=Street Legal, id=0090530 1987 Canadian television series debuts 1994 Canadian television series endings Canadian legal television series Canadian television soap operas Canadian television series revived after cancellation CBC Television original programming Television shows set in Toronto Television shows filmed in Montreal Television shows filmed in Toronto 1980s Canadian drama television series 1990s Canadian drama television series 2010s Canadian drama television series 2019 Canadian television series debuts 2019 Canadian television series endings