Series synopsis
Cold Squad is a Canadian drama crime television series that premiered on CTV on January 23, 1998. It ended on June 4, 2005. It was created by Matt MacLeod, Julia Keatley, Philip Keatley. It stars Garry Chalk, Joy Tanner, Julie Stewart and Matthew Bennett.
Cold Squad is a Canadian police procedural television series first broadcast in 1998 that followed the investigations of a part of the Vancouver Police Department Homicide Division tasked with solving cold cases, the titular Cold Squad, as led by Sergeant Ali McCormick (Julie Stewart).
The cast of Cold Squad was diverse and changing, McCormick being the only character to appear in all 7 seasons. Between the second and third seasons, almost the entire on-screen cast other than Julie Stewart were ...
Premise
Cold Squad is a Canadian police procedural television series first broadcast in 1998 that followed the investigations of a part of the Vancouver Police Department Homicide Division tasked with solving cold cases, the titular Cold Squad, as led by Sergeant Ali McCormick (Julie Stewart).
The cast of Cold Squad was diverse and changing, McCormick being the only character to appear in all 7 seasons. Between the second and third seasons, almost the entire on-screen cast other than Julie Stewart were replaced. This along with the new sets, a significant revamp of the credits and theme music, and even having McCormick's hair change from auburn to dirty-blonde all contributed to a considerable reworking of the series.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Garry Chalk as Insp. Andrew Pawlachuk
- Joy Tanner as Jill Stone
- Julie Stewart as Sgt. Ali McCormick
- Matthew Bennett as Det. Len Harper
- Tahmoh Penikett as Constable Ray Chase
- Jerry Wasserman as Insp. Vince Schneider
- Joely Collins as Christine Wren
- Richard Ian Cox as Manny Needlebaum
Supporting cast
- Jay Brazeau as Sam Fisher
- Stephen McHattie as Sgt. Frank Coscarella
- Peter Wingfield as Insp. Simon Ross
- Hiro Kanagawa as Det. James Kai
- Michael Hogan as Det. Tony Logozzo
- Lori Triolo as Det. Jackie Cortez
- Erica Cerra as Stephanie Johnston
- Gregory Calpakis as Det. Nicco Sevallis
- Allan Lysell as Det. Bill Overmyer
- Eli Gabay as Det. Larry Iredell
- Linda Ko as Christine Liu
- Sonja Bennett as Det. Samantha Walters
Guest cast
Episodes
This series spans 7 seasons with 98 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 11 | January 23, 1998 | April 3, 1998 |
| Season 2 | 15 | September 25, 1998 | February 19, 1999 |
| Season 3 | 13 | October 22, 1999 | January 29, 2000 |
| Season 4 | 20 | October 6, 2000 | April 21, 2001 |
| Season 5 | 13 | September 29, 2001 | March 2, 2002 |
| Season 6 | 13 | September 21, 2002 | February 15, 2003 |
| Season 7 | 13 | September 4, 2004 | June 4, 2005 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Christopher Williams Christopher Gerald Williams was ten when he was taken from the bedroom he shared with his seven-year-old brother Joey in 1977. Twenty years later when another body is found, Tony realises that David Sawyer was killed in a way very similar to young Christopher, and Ali joins forces with Iredell to uncover the killer. After doing DNA tests, the squad realises that the same man killed both boys, and they begin investigating Victor de Jarre and Jacob Knewling, who were suspects in the first investigation. Ali tries to get what she can out of Christopher's now-grown brother Joey, who has become an alcoholic. |
January 23, 1998 |
| 2 |
Janine Elston Twelve years ago, a teenaged girl named Janine Elston was shot while she slept in her bed. Her father, a former cop, goes to Cold Squad to ask for help when Wayne Corby, the man who was believed to have killed her, is about to be released from jail. Since Corby was never charged with Janine's death, he could still be held responsible. |
January 30, 1998 |
| 3 |
Tess A skull and a computer-generated image lead the squad to the parents of a 14-year-old rape victim. |
February 6, 1998 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Jane Doe (1) A 12 year old case where a murdered woman's death matched the M.O. of a now-convicted killer seems to be yet another victim. Until investigation shows the killer couldn't have done it. He was already in prison. McCormick and Logozzo try to find who was the original killer and who was the copycat. This two-part episode introduces Inspector Simon Ross. |
September 25, 1998 |
| 2 |
Jane Doe (2) As an investigation into a 20-year-old killing spree continues, the Cold Squad is rocked by murder and internal strife. |
October 2, 1998 |
| 3 |
Stanley Caron While enjoying a day off, Ali receives a tip from a lawyer friend about Randy Benjamin, a young man who had assisted Simon Willard in the rape and murder of three young men years earlier. Attorney-client privilege prevents him from saying much, but he points Ali towards the murder of Stanley Caron in 1993. After getting some information from Schneider, who is now in private security, Logozzo investigates the hotel where Caron died, and Ali, based on tips from a street hustler and the carefully veiled comments of her friend, picks up on the trail of a young punk named Jack Rodgers, which leads right back to Randy. |
October 9, 1998 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Deadly Games (1) After Ali hits a young boy with her car after having a fight with Simon, she soon finds herself not only fighting to prove her innocence, but also fighting to get her job back, which she was stripped of without her knowledge while on vacation. Cold Squad has been turned into a provincial task force, and the only member of the old guard left is Logozzo, so Ali has to prove herself to Coscarella, the new sergeant in charge. |
October 22, 1999 |
| 2 |
Deadly Games (2) With her life in shambles and Det. Logozzo in the hospital after the warehouse shooting, Ali spends most of her time with her partner. Simon is somewhat involved in the investigation, but most of this episode is used to introduce the new characters in the series as they try to solve an old murder that has connections to the boy Ali hit. It turns out the youngster had a weapon and it is tied to the murder. Meanwhile, Simon tries to patch up things between him and Ali and learns where Ali was when she was supposedly on vacation ... she had an abortion. |
October 29, 1999 |
| 3 |
First Deadly Sin Ali and Frank are assigned to find out who murdered plastic surgeon Marvin Michaelsen after a drug dealer identifies him as the man who removed his fingerprints, but the tension between the two soon ends up taking a higher priority than the investigation. Nicco and Mickey work together on the case of Dermot Wells, a garbage collector that is believed to have murdered his former co-worker, and make a bet on how soon they'll get a confession. |
November 5, 1999 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
A Good Death Firefighters find a mass grave in the cellar of a home with nine bodies, one of which is directly connected to a cold case. Christine has trouble fitting in when she takes over for Bernice, who didn't leave her any instructions. Mickey comes under suspicion when Bailey's wife is murdered because he pointed the finger at her. |
October 6, 2000 |
| 2 |
Common Knowledge The squad re-investigates the murder of a well-known philanthropist at the request of the son who is believed to have murdered him. Nicco helps Mickey when she's suspected of murdering Bailey Gallanson's wife. |
October 13, 2000 |
| 3 |
Murder Farm A count of the corpses in storage at a police training facility leads to a murder investigation. |
October 20, 2000 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Personal Politics When the squad investigates the murder of an abortion doctor, old wounds are re-opened for the team. |
September 29, 2001 |
| 2 |
Family Ties Nicco becomes personally involved in a case after a man who takes drug's asks the squad to find his mother's killer. |
October 6, 2001 |
| 3 |
Picasso's Mistake A case from Pawlachuck's past comes back to life and forces him to face up to some personal demons he thought he had escaped for good and from this he learns a few things about himself in the progress. |
October 13, 2001 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Career Opportunists When Dana Hughes comes into the station to report to Mickey that her estranged husband murdered two hookers three years earlier, they investigate, and when the young woman is beaten, Mickey blames herself because she warned the husband to stay away from his wife. As the case goes on, Dana brings in more and more evidence against Wayne, but what Mickey doesn't know is that someone is pulling all Dana's strings. After modeling for the cover of a local magazine, Ali considers a transfer to Ottawa, where she would be working in a joint American/Canadian anti-terrorist task force. Dan forms a partnership with his uncle so he and Vanessa can go with her, but Ali's mother's past is going to stand in her way. Nicco is forced into a meeting with department psychiatrist Leanne Walker in regards to the death of André, the pimp of a young hooker named Billie that Nicco had gotten involved with and helped clean up her life. |
September 21, 2002 |
| 2 |
Horton Killed a Wu While Mickey moves into her new position upstairs supervising all the departments, Ali takes over the case of some recent murders at a massage parlor. |
September 28, 2002 |
| 3 |
Happily Ever After Harper can't let go of his obsession with Viveca Wells. He is convinced that she murdered her last husband, and when he learns she's engaged to be married again, he tries to warn her fiancé, Richard, who tells Harper that he knows all about her past, and he's okay with it. While researching the case with Ali and trying to fight his own attraction to Wells, he learns that Richard has been the man in her life all along. Nicco is upset because in the six weeks since he's been off of suspension, he hasn't worked a single case. Ali finally throws him a bone by having him interview a prospective witness in the case of a racially motivated murder and while Nicco gets the man to ID the suspect, he's not happy with it. |
October 5, 2002 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
No Life Like It When the sister of a murder victim from a case Ali worked on years before is found dead in an alleyway behind a strip club, Ali investigates the murder even though she's not officially on the police force. |
September 4, 2004 |
| 2 |
Voices Over Water When a camp counselor offers evidence that three children who died in a boating accident at camp thirty years ago were actually murdered, the Squad investigates the claims. Ali initially goes off what Goren Berkland is claiming even though there is only his word to go on, until she discovers that he lives in a mental institution and is only occasionally in touch with reality. |
September 11, 2004 |
| 3 |
Teen Angel When a young woman dies mysteriously before what everyone assures Cold Squad was a guaranteed win in a nationally televised singing contest, the group investigates only to learn that the singer's worst enemies may have been closer to home than she thought. |
September 18, 2004 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | CTV |
|---|---|
| First aired | January 23, 1998 |
| Last aired | June 4, 2005 |
| Runtime | 60 minutes |
| Status | ended |
| Schedule | Saturday |