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Witness to Yesterday
Genre Docudrama
Created by Arthur Voronka
Written by Arthur Voronka
Presented by Patrick Watson
Country of origin Canada
Original language(s) English
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 33
Production
Producer(s) Tom Moore
Arthur Voronka
Production location(s) Montreal
Production company(s) Look Hear Productions
Release
Original network Global
CICA/TVOntario
Original release 8 January 1974 (1974-01-08) – c. 1976 (original series)
Chronology
Related shows Titans (1981–1982)

Witness to Yesterday is a Canadian docudrama television series which featured staged interviews with historical personalities. It was first broadcast by Global Television Network in 1974 then produced by TVOntario to 1976. A 12-episode revival of the series was produced in 1998 for History Television.

Synopsis

Each episode featured a historical person as portrayed by a guest actor in conversation with host Patrick Watson who took the role of an interviewer.

Witness to Yesterday was among the first series to be broadcast by Global. Original episodes were broadcast on Global in a regular Tuesday 10:00 p.m. time slot from 8 January 1974 to 21 May 1974. The debut episode featured Sandy Dennis as Joan of Arc.

Production

The series was produced in Montreal by Look Hear Productions, a division of the McConnell advertising company.

Laurier Lapierre conducted research for the series. Scripts were written, but the filming often incorporated ad-lib dialogue. Each episode was produced for approximately $6000 with actors paid from $600 to $2500. Host Patrick Watson earned 15% of the international sales income plus his base $500 per episode. Writers included Patrick Watson, Patrick Withrow and Doug Scott.

Global Television Network encountered financial difficulties in its initial months and cancelled most of its original Canadian programming by May 1974. Global owed Look Hear Productions $130,000 for producing 24 episodes of Witness to Yesterday. The last episode filmed prior to Global's cancellation featured Donald Sutherland as doctor Norman Bethune. Global eventually paid 30% of its bill for the series as part of its financial settlement with creditors.

CBC Television considered picking up the series but by then had booked other productions. Witness to Yesterday was transferred to Toronto educational station CICA-TV (OECA) which planned the production of three new episodes for the 1974–75 season and another 13 for the 1975–76 season, in addition to rebroadcasting the initial 20 episodes.

Episodes

Global Television Network episodes (1974)

Global broadcast the series on a regular 10 p.m. Tuesday time slot.

No. Title / Historical figure Starring Original air date Notes / Refs
1 "Joan of Arc" Sandy Dennis 8 January 1974 (1974-01-08) Pilot episode
2 "Sitting Bull" August Schellenberg 15 January 1974 (1974-01-15) TBA
3 "Queen Victoria" Kate Reid 22 January 1974 (1974-01-22) TBA
4 "René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle" Laurier LaPierre 29 January 1974 (1974-01-29) TBA
5 "Catherine the Great" Zoe Caldwell 5 February 1974 (1974-02-05) TBA
6 "Patrick J. Whelan" Patrick McFadden 12 February 1974 (1974-02-12) TBA
7 "Sarah Bernhardt" Denise Pelletier 19 February 1974 (1974-02-19) TBA
8 "Billy the Kid" Richard Dreyfuss 26 February 1974 (1974-02-26) TBA
9 "John A. Macdonald" Robert Christie 5 March 1974 (1974-03-05) TBA
10 "Nell Gwyn" Dawn Greenhalgh 12 March 1974 (1974-03-12) TBA
11 "Christopher Columbus" William Hutt 19 March 1974 (1974-03-19) TBA
12 "William Shakespeare" Barry Morse 26 March 1974 (1974-03-26) TBA
13 "Thomas Paine" Robert Vaughn 2 April 1974 (1974-04-02) TBA
14 "Walter Raleigh" Chris Wiggins 9 April 1974 (1974-04-09) written by Doug Scott
15 "Socrates" Mavor Moore 16 April 1974 (1974-04-16) TBA
16 "Judas Iscariot" Donald Davis 23 April 1974 (1974-04-23) TBA
17 "Mata Hari" Maruska Stankova 30 April 1974 (1974-04-30) TBA
18 "Duke of Wellington" Christopher Plummer 7 May 1974 (1974-05-07) TBA
19 "Leonardo da Vinci" Patrick Watson 14 May 1974 (1974-05-14) TBA
20 "Rembrandt" Robert Markle 21 May 1974 (1974-05-21) TBA

CICA/TVOntario episodes (1974–1976)

Historical figure Starring
"Al Capone" Henry Ramer
"George Gershwin" Steve Allen
"Akhenaten" Allan Migicovsky
"Mohandas Gandhi" Louis Negin
"Earl of Durham" Colin Fox
"Emma Goldman" Marilyn Lightstone
"Lucrezia Borgia" Alexandra Bastedo
"Adolf Hitler" Robin Gammell
"Catherine de' Medici" Sydney Sturgess
"Norman Bethune" Donald Sutherland
"Mark Twain" Alex Trebek
"George Bernard Shaw" Barry Morse
"Grigori Rasputin" August Schellenberg
"Mary Todd Lincoln" Marian Waldman
"Cleopatra" Jayne Meadows

1998 revival

Witness to Yesterday
Directed by Alan Gough
Patrick Watson
Presented by Patrick Watson
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 12
Production
Production location(s) Fredericton
Toronto
Running time 30 minutes
Release
Original network History
Original release 24 March (1998-03-24) – 16 June 1998 (1998-06-16)

New episodes of Witness to Yesterday were broadcast by History Television in 1998. Watson again hosted the series and was its primary writer with additional writing by Hugh Graham. 12 episodes were completed of a 13-episode plan under a $700,000 budget. Eight episodes were recorded in December 1997 at St. Thomas University in Fredericton. The remaining episodes were recorded in Toronto. Alan Gough directed this series revival with Watson. New Brunswick company Cinefile and Toronto's The Film Works co-produced the series revival. Victor Solnicki and Barry Cameron were executive producers from Cinefile and The Film Works respectively. Its budget was supported by History Television, PBS which aired these episodes and a $168,500 credit from provincial agency Film NB.

History Television episodes (1998)

No. Title / Historical figure Starring Original air date Notes / Refs
1 "Marie Antoinette" Cynthia Dale 24 March 1998 (1998-03-24) TBA
2 "Niccolò Machiavelli" David Calderisi 31 March 1998 (1998-03-31) TBA
3 "Marie Curie" TBA 7 April 1998 (1998-04-07) TBA
4 "Genghis Khan" Gordon Tootoosis 14 April 1998 (1998-04-14) TBA
5 "Amelia Earhart" Martha Burns 21 April 1998 (1998-04-21) TBA
6 "Tecumseh" Raoul Trujillo 28 April 1998 (1998-04-28) TBA
7 "Mary Pickford" Charmion King 5 May 1998 (1998-05-05) TBA
8 "Mary Ann Shadd" Sylvia Sweeney 19 May 1998 (1998-05-19) TBA
9 "Vladimir Lenin" Michael Ironside 26 May 1998 (1998-05-26) TBA
10 "William Stephenson" John Neville 2 June 1998 (1998-06-02) TBA
11 "Alexander the Great" Paul Gross 9 June 1998 (1998-06-09) TBA
12 "Sigmund Freud" TBA 16 June 1998 (1998-06-16) TBA
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