due South
Season 3 Background Information

General Information

Big changes are in store for Fraser when he returns from a vacation in Canada. His apartment is destroyed and his best friend appears to be missing, but he must pick up the pieces and move on with his life.

Many cast shake ups occur this season as Ray Vecchio and Elaine Besbriss leave the show, but new characters are also brought in such as Stanley Kowalski, Stella Kowalski, Thomas Dewey, and Mort Gustafson. Life in the due South world tends to change a little bit after several characters shift their outlooks on life.

Much of the season is devoted to Fraser and Kowalski getting used to each other as partners.

Main Characters

Returning Characters:

• Constable Benton Fraser: Two years in Chicago is starting to have an effect on the Mountie. Although he is still very trusting and believes the best in people, his attitude and actions seem to suggest that he is becoming used to the way things are done in the city.
• Diefenbaker: Fraser's deaf wolf (1/2 wolf actually) and companion. The wolf gets a new look this season as a new dog is brought in to play the part.
• Detective Jack Huey: Jack seems to be much more level headed this season. He obtains a new partner, Detective Thomas Dewey, and sets out to break the new guy in.
• Lieutenant Harding Welsh: The Detective's superior officer, Welsh oversees all actions for the Violent Crimes division of District 27. He is a tough but fair boss.
• Inspector Margaret Thatcher: The superior officer at the Canadian Consulate. Thatcher continues to be a tough boss for the Mounties, but her character is drastically softened from the way it was during season 2. The romantic tension between her and Fraser also seems to have disappeared, although it does pop up rarely.
• Fraser Sr.: Fraser's father appears again as a ghost during this season to offer his son advice. This time however, he decides that he needs an office to catch up with his work, so he builds one in Fraser's closet at the Consulate.
• Francesca Vecchio: Ray Vecchio's loud and outspoken sister. She decides to become Elaine's replacement as Civilian Aide at the 27th Precinct. While she struggles at first, she becomes fairly active in the cases that go on around her much to the detective's delight.

New Characters:

• Detective Stanley Kowalski (Ray Vecchio): Fraser's new partner. Stanley was brought in to pretend that he is 'Detective Ray Vecchio' while the real detective is deep undercover with the mob. Basically a good cop, Stanley has his own set of issues to work out during the season.
• Detective Thomas Dewey: Jack's new partner. Dewey is pretty outspoken and a competent cop, even if he smells bad according to Jack.

Departing Characters:

• Detective Raymond Vecchio: Ray Vecchio is written out of the show by sending him deep undercover with the mob in Las Vegas. He is impersonating Armando 'the Bookman' Langoustini in a cover that is somewhat shaky. To protect him and his family, another Detective is brought in to pretend that he is Ray at the 27th Precinct. Other than a short appearance in the season opener, Ray doesn't show up again all season. David Marciano decided not to return to the character due to a deal he was negotiating with CBS for a new series and because Alliance was going to cut his salary in the new season.
• Civilian Aide / Officer Elaine Besbriss: Elaine has been busy in the off season attending the Police Academy to become an officer. She appears in the first three episodes of the season before she graduates and moves to another Precinct. Catherine Bruhier moved to Los Angeles after season 2 was cancelled and was pursuing a career there.

Memorable Supporting Characters

• Constable Renfield Turnbull: Fraser's help at the Consulate. Turbull appears more often this season, but he is still a bumbling klutz.
• Stella Kowalski: Stanley Kowalski's ex-wife and an Assistant States Attorney. She still harbors feelings for Stan (and vice versa), but she has a no nonsense approach to work.
• Mort Gustafson: The Medical Examiner for the 27th Precinct. Mort likes opera and takes great delight in his work down in the morgue.

Locations

All locations for this season (except for stock Chicago footage) are located in Toronto, Canada. The show was filmed in Canada because of the cheaper rates of producing a television series. For a partial list of Filming Locations, please see: http://home.hiwaay.net/~warydbom/duesouth/location.htm.

• Fraser's Apartment: Burns to the ground in the season opener, "Burning Down the House." Due to the time between season 2 and 3 the sets were lost for the apartment and it was simplier to just write the apartment out of the show.
• Canadian Consulate: The Consulate changes locations again for this season. The new Consulate is much more elaborate than the previous two incarnations. Fraser takes up residence here after the loss of his apartment.
• District 27th Precinct: The Precinct again changes locations during this season, but unlike the Consulate move no mention is made about the changes.

Awards

For a list of awards that due South won for this season, please see: http://home.hiwaay.net/~warydbom/duesouth/awards.htm

Interesting Trivia

• The tradition of the 'Duck Boys' continues when Thomas Dewey is brought in as Jack Huey's new partner. Jack's previous partner was Louis Gardino. They are collectively known as the 'Duck Boys' because of the curious similarity of their names to Donald Duck's nephews: Huey, Louie, and Dewey.
• Thomas Dewey is named after an American politician and former governor of New York, Thomas E. Dewey.
• Paul Gross assumed the role of Executive Producer of the show for seasons 3 and 4. This could explain the subtle (and not so subtle) changes in characters and content and quality of the scripts for the final two seasons.
• Most of the sets were lost during the eight months between the filming of seasons 2 and 3, so many new sets were created to replace the old ones. Most of the changes were not mentioned in the show.
• This season was filmed in the same session as season 4.

Crew

Director of Photography - Malcolm Cross
Production Designer - Sandra Kybartas
Editor - Tom Joerin
Music - Jay Semko, Jack Lenz
Creative Producer - George Bloomfield
Executive Story Consultant - David Cole
Supervising Producer - Peter Bray
Producer - Frank Siracusa
Co-Executive Producer - R.B. Carney
Executive Producer - Paul Gross
Creative Consultant - John Krizanc
Executive Consultant - Jeff King
Story Editor - Julie Lacey
Stunts - Ken Quinn & Alison Reid
Diefenbaker - Trained by Rick Parker, Canadian Wranglers