Rideau Hall is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 television series broadcast begun in 2002 on CBC Television

CBC Television

CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...

. It starred Bette MacDonald

Bette MacDonald

Bette MacDonald, a Canadian comedian, is well-known for her comedic series Rideau Hall. Bette is married to teacher, actor, writer and director Maynard Morrison...

, Fiona Reid

Fiona Reid

Fiona Reid, CM is a Canadian television, film and stage actress. She is best known for her role as Cathy on the TV series King of Kensington....

, Jonathan Torrens

Jonathan Torrens

Jonathan Ormond Torrens is a Canadian actor and television personality best known for his co-hosting of Street Cents, his talk show Jonovision, and his role as "J-Roc" in the popular Canadian mockumentary Trailer Park Boys...

, Joe Dinicol

Joe Dinicol

Joe Dinicol is a Canadian actor.Dinicol was born in Stratford, Ontario, the son of acting coach and actor Keith Dinicol. He started his career as a child actor at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and has since appeared on national Canadian television series Train 48 and Rideau Hall...

, and Rejean Cournoyer

Rejean Cournoyer

Réjean Cournoyer is a Canadian actor and singer, and was raised in a bilingual, Mormon home. After graduating from Mount Saint Vincent University with a degree in public relations, and leaving Mormonism, he began working at the Charlottetown Festival, then made his way to Toronto in 1995 to...

.

It is a sitcom

Situation comedy

A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 about an earthy, one-hit wonder disco

Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

 queen named Regina Gallant (MacDonald) who is recommended for appointment as Governor General

Governor General of Canada

The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...

 by a conniving Prime Minister

Prime Minister of Canada

The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...

 anticipating she will become a national embarrassment in the job, allowing him to move ahead in eliminating the position, along with the Canadian Monarchy

Monarchy in Canada

The monarchy of Canada is the core of both Canada's federalism and its Westminster-style parliamentary democracy, being the foundation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the Canadian government and each provincial government...

. Regina is brash and loud and highly unsuitable for a formal position, but has a charming common touch.

Each episode has her becoming embroiled in one scandal or another, usually not of her making, only to have things resolve in her favour by the end. Reid plays her prim and proper executive assistant, Torrens her flakey gay secretary, and Dinicol her laconic, level-headed son. Cournoyer plays the Prime Minister's aide.

Barry Flatman

Barry Flatman

Barry Flatman is a Canadian actor. He has appeared in many film and television roles such as Rideau Hall in which he plays a fictional Prime Minister of Canada. His other works include My Name is Tanino, The Company, Saw 3, Just Friends, H2O, and most recently in the 2008 A&E's miniseries The...

 played the P.M. in the pilot, but did not appear in the regular series.

The series brought in fairly good ratings for the CBC and it was expected the show would be renewed for a second season; however, the show was cancelled after the Canadian Television Fund

Canadian Television Fund

The Canadian Television Fund supported the production and broadcast of Canadian television programs. On 1 April 2010, the Canadian Television Fund became the Canada Media Fund...

's budget was cut by the federal government and CBC could only afford to keep its more popular shows, like Royal Canadian Air Farce

Royal Canadian Air Farce

Air Farce Live, also credited as Air Farce, previously Royal Canadian Air Farce, and Air Farce—Final Flight! for the final season, was a Canadian comedy series starring the comedy troupe The Royal Canadian Air Farce that previously starred in an eponymous radio show on CBC radio from 1973 to 1997...

, on the air. Six half-hour episodes plus an hour-long pilot were produced.

External links

• Topsail Entertainment - the company behind Rideau Hall: The TV Series