"Above and Beyond" (2006) (mini)TV mini-series

Director:

Sturla Gunnarsson

Writers:

John W. Doyle (writer)
Lisa Porter (writer)

Release Date:

29 October 2006 (Canada)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

True Story about the Atlantic Ferry Operation during World War II.

Plot Keywords:

Ferry | WWII | Newfoundland

Awards:

4 wins & 6 nominations

Cast

Liane Balaban	...	Shelagh Emberly
Jonathan Scarfe	...	Bill Jacobson
Allan Hawco	...	Nathan Burgess
Peter MacNeill	...	Gen. Anderson
Robert Wisden	...	Pritchard
Joss Ackland	...	Winston Churchill
Jason Priestley	...	Sir Frederick Banting
Kenneth Welsh	...	Lord Beaverbrook
Richard E. Grant	...	Don Bennett
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
R.J. Adams	...	Sarg
Mark Caven	...	Group Captain Martin
Robert Chafe	...	Tailor
Steve Cochrane	...	Harrison
Mika Collins	...	Vanessa
Mark Critch	...	Pittman
Sean Wayne Doyle	...	Rider
Darryl Flatman	...	Jeffers
Brad Hodder	...	Worchuk
Mike Kiss	...	Dales
Sonia Laplante	...	Liz
Robert Latimer	...	Crowley
Leah Lewis	...	Rosie Burgess
Mary Lewis	...	Sheila
Natalie Lisinska	...	Miss Bogston
James Mainprize	...	First Lord
Roger Maunder	...	Cowboy
Peter Messaline	...	Sinclair
Jonathan Montes	...	Jazz Waiter
Tony Munch	...	Joe Mackey
Michael C. Newsome	...	BBC Radio Announcer
Mark O'Brien	...	Drake
Allissa Ourakova	...	Dancer
Anthony Paton	...	Minister
Tom Smart	...	Radioman
Pete Soucy	...	Sadler
Austin Strugnell	...	Duffy

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Australia:M | Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

Gander, Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Company:

Pope Productions

Goofs:

Factual errors: The cockpit side window is blanked out in the cockpit set and the example aircraft probably to simplify filming.

Dreadful

This is written after viewing part I. I may not bother with part II. The story is a good one, the creation of Ferry Command in the early, dark years of World War II. But the production is sloppy and melodramatic, peopled with cardboard stereotypes right out of the Hardy Boys and hopelessly contrived situations. The special effects look as though they were done with a Commodorte 64 and there is a huge list of factual errors. For example, BOAC was not formed until after the war. In 1940 it was known as Imperial Airways. There was no such thing as CP Air in 1940. (Canadian Pacific Airlines at that time was a very small regional operation in British Columbia.) The supposedly Montreal homes are obviously in Toronto. Some props (radio equipment, fire extinguishers, thermos bottles, airport tractors and hangars) were blatantly of post war vintage. The portrayals of Churchill and Beaverbrook are reasonably good. The rest is an unfortunate joke. PS/I STAND CORRECTED. BOAC WAS FORMED IN 1940