TORONTO – CBC's new factual series is promising viewers an insider's view of Canada's health care system, as seen through the eyes of patients and caregivers.
Narrated by Emmy Award-winning Canadian actor Kiefer Sutherland, Keeping Canada Alive will air Sundays at 9:00 PM/9:30 NT starting October 4. Over a 24-hour period on May 6, 2015, 60 camera crews descended on more than 40 health and home care locations in 24 Canadian cities to capture a six-part, one-hour television series highlighting 36 emotionally charged and highly intimate stories – from a three-month-old baby having a hole in his heart patched to a terminal cancer patient receiving end-of-life care.
The innovative online companion, which will go live on September 21, expands on many of the TV series' stories by giving more insight into the health care industry as a whole. Close to 40 hours of footage will appear before the launch of the TV series, and visitors to the site can customize their experience by selecting themes and locations across the country.
Based on an ITV format, Keeping Canada Alive is commissioned by CBC Television and produced by Force Four Entertainment.
"Our production crew was granted unprecedented one-day access to our health care system, a system that impacts every single Canadian at some point in their lives," said Force Four’s chief creative officer John Ritchie, in the news release. "It is our privilege to give Canadians this never-before-seen snapshot of the moving stories of health care professionals and patients that make our health care system beat in a single 24-hour period."
"The CBC is proud to bring audiences this ground breaking series that is big in scale yet offers a very intimate and revealing portrait of all that our health care system does in a single day," added Jennifer Dettman, CBC’s executive director of unscripted content. "This show will inspire a national conversation about the institution that touches our lives from the moment we're born to the moment we die."
Health care facilities and caregivers featured in Keeping Canada Alive come from British Columbia (Richmond, Vancouver, Kamloops, Haida Gwaii, Comox), Alberta (Edmonton, Calgary), Saskatchewan (Fort Qu'Appelle), Manitoba (Winnipeg, Pine Falls), Ontario (Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Thunder Bay), Quebec (Montreal, Chisasibi), Nova Scotia (Halifax, Wolfville, Liverpool), Prince Edward Island (Charlottetown), New Brunswick (Minto), Newfoundland (St. John's), Labrador (Nain), and the Northwest Territories (Yellowknife).
