Hatch’s Mill

1 9 6 7 (Canada)
10 x 60 minute episodes

At the same time it was building its reputation for adventurous, contemporary drama with Wojeck and Quentin Durgens MP, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) – under the guidance of executive producer Ronald Weyman – tried to extend its record of successes into period comedy-drama with Hatch’s Mill.

Filmed in colour (the first for a CBC drama series), the show built a solid audience but took a critical pounding and did not return for a second season.

The stories concerned the Hatches, a family of southern Ontario settlers, in the 1830s. Robert Christie starred as Noah Hatch, the town magistrate and owner of the general store, Inn and the local mill. He and his wife, Maggie (Cosette Lee), and their children Saul (Marc Strange) and Silence (Sylvia Feigel) lived on a homestead farm.

Other regulars in the series – as inhabitants of the backwoods village – included Joyce Gordon, Ruth Springford, John Paris, Cec Montgomery, Jonathan White, Joe Austin, and Kurt Scheigl. Individual episodes featured appearances by Douglas Campbell, Emile Genest, Peter Donat, Patricia Collins, Tony Van Bridge, Gordon Pinsent, and Pam Hyatt.

The stories generally revolved around comic conflicts that resolved themselves in a rough-and-tumble way.

In the first show of the series, Saul tried to set up a stagecoach line. When he was contested by rogue Irishman Donegan (Chris Wiggins), they settled the dispute with a drawing match that set each man’s team of horses against the other. In another episode, two doctors who had differing opinions on how to treat the ailing Maggie Hatch fought a duel to settle their argument.

Instead of soberly dealing with the real conflicts and adversities of the Upper Canadian settlers, the series – created by George Salverson – portrayed boisterous and rowdy people coming to grips with more marginal problems.

Episodes were shot at Studio City in Kleinburg, north of Toronto, using some of the structures originally built for The Forest Rangers, with some elements of set decoration from nearby Pioneer Village.

Noah Hatch
Robert Christie
Maggie Hatch
Cosette Lee
Saul Hatch
Marc Strange
Silence Hatch
Sylvia Feigel
Fred Hill
Jonathan White
Big Kurt
Kurt Schiegl
Donegan
Chris Wiggins