After the murder of his policeman father in the Yukon, Constable Benton Fraser (Paul Gross), a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) ‘Mountie’, abandons his Rockies patch and follows the killer’s tracks all the way to Chicago where he meets Ray Vecchio (David Marciano), a streetwise Chicago PD detective. Together they continue their search for the truth and justice.
Fraser stays in Chicago as an attachment at the Canadian consulate, but somehow always gets involved in local law enforcement.
He is joined on his adventures in the Windy City – still dressed in his scarlet Mountie uniform – by his deaf (but lip-reading) white husky-wolf cross, Diefenbaker.
Ultra-polite and often naive, Fraser applied his own moral code – and his heightened animal instincts – and cut through the corruption and cynicism that dogged the city and its approach to justice.
In the third season, Fraser gained a new police partner when Stanley Raymond Kowalski (Callum Keith Rennie) replaced Ray Vecchio, assuming the latter’s identity while Vecchio went undercover.
With its dry humour and quirky feel (reminiscent of Northern Exposure), Due South poked gentle fun at both American and Canadian stereotypes. It was produced in Canada, with a grimed-up and newly graffiti-ridden Toronto doubling up for Chicago.
In the UK, the series was originally shown on Sky One but suffered badly at the hands of terrestrial TV schedulers despite its considerable popularity, jumping days, skipping weeks and even switching channels during its sporadic four-year run.
Constable Benton Fraser
Paul Gross Detective Ray Vecchio
David Marciano Capt/Lt. Harding Welsh
Beau Starr Detective Louis Gardino
Daniel Kas Detective Jack Huey
Tony Craig Detective Stanley Raymond Kowalski
Callum Keith Rennie Elaine Besbriss
Catherine Bruhier Fraser Sr
Gordon Pinsent Sgt. Buck Frobisher
Leslie Nielsen Francesca Vecchio
Ramona Milano Inspector Margaret ‘Meg’ Thatcher
Camilla Scott Detective Thomas E Dewey
Tom Melissis
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