Manipulators, The

1 9 7 0 – 1 9 7 1 (Canada)
12 x 60 minute episodes

A successor to Wojeck, The Manipulators fit the CBC formula as a pertinent, contemporary drama about professionals working within social institutions.

The concept for The Manipulators – stories about parole officers and ex-cons on probation – had a local pilot run in Vancouver as a half-hour drama (The Clients), videotaped in black and white. The show expanded to a full hour for the network and was produced on film and in colour.

Probation officers Rick Nicholson (Marc Strange who had appeared in Hatch’s Mill) and Maggie Campbell (stage actor Roxanne Irwin) acted as officers of the court and bore responsibility to the judicial system in which they worked – but they were also obliged to help ex-cons in society and found themselves defending their clients against the system.

Filmed in Vancouver, the first season consisted of five stories, and the series opened with a hard-hitting drama about drug addiction called “Spike In The Wall”. The episode attracted media and public attention to the series when Linda Goranson removed her top to appear naked to save paroled drug addict, Mark (Jace Vander Veen) from his downward spiral. The script by Ben Maartman and direction by Daryl Duke set a tone of adventurous, gritty naturalism for the series.

The second season expanded to seven episodes and began with “Turn To The Wind”, again starring Jace Vander Veen, this time as a political activist suspected of a bombing on the property of the US consulate.

Subsequent episodes included “The Code” (starring Joseph Golland and Ted Rekert) with a theme that involved young people’s use of soft drugs; “Bell And Bonnie, Bonnie And Bell” (starring Rae Brown, Judy De Moor, and Ivor Harris), a story of a negligent mother and her daughter; and “X-Kalay” (with Margot Kidder), about a self-help rehabilitation centre for convicts.

The creator of The Manipulators was Ed McGibbon, a Toronto writer and broadcaster who had narrated the CBLT public affairs program, Toronto File, and had been a correspondent for CJAD radio in Montreal. The series’ working title, The Double Bind, expressed McGibbon’s perspective on the subject and the protagonists.

The executive producer was Philip Keatley.

Rick Nicholson
Marc Strange
Maggie Campbell
Roxanne Irwin