Back in the early 1980's, on Saturday mornings, CBC used to run
episodes of "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon", and this. "R.C.M.P." was a
crisply-shot, realistic crime drama which was also a total
antithesis to the usual creaky stagebound stuff that passed for
Canadian television programming back then.
The two leads of "R.C.M.P." was a variation on the classic pairing
of older, experienced slightly world-weary captain, with the
ambitious young rookie. But what made it special was the almost
documentary-like feel as they take steps to get their man. The
series was beautifully shot in black and white, and had an
authentic feel of time and space.
There are two episodes I remember. The first features the young
hotshot rookie going undercover to infiltrate the beatnik scene to
make a pot bust! In order to fit in, he even takes a crash course on
the slang terms that the kids used: "My old man, etc." In one
scene set in a bohemian cafe, some cute beatnik chick offers him
a pull on a joint , but he decides to stick to his black coffee. The
second features Jimmy Doohan (yes, Mr. Scott himself) as a
murderer who then tries to destroy the evidence of his misdoings
by spraying acid jets on the corpse!
"R.C.M.P." was a fascinating, intelligent and realistic series. I sure
hope someone resurrects this from the vault. It would be
interesting to see if it still holds up almost half a century later, and
I'm betting it would. Is anyone in TV-land listening?
