| Durham County | |
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| Genre | Crime drama |
| Created by |
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| Starring |
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| Country of origin | Canada |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 18 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 45–57 minutes |
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| Original release | |
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| Release | May 7, 2007 (2007-05-07) – November 29, 2010 (2010-11-29) |
Durham County is a Canadian crime drama television series produced by Muse Entertainment and Back Alley Films. It starred Hugh Dillon as Mike Sweeney, a homicide detective who finds that moving back home comes with trouble and danger. Dillon appeared in this series at the same time he appeared in an ongoing role in another series, Flashpoint.
The series stars Hugh Dillon as Mike Sweeney, a homicide detective from Toronto who moves his family to suburban Durham County[a] to start over after his partner was killed and his wife Audrey (Hélène Joy) was diagnosed with breast cancer. However, he soon discovers that his neighbour and childhood nemesis Ray Prager (Justin Louis) may be a serial killer.
The series premiered on Movie Central and The Movie Network on May 7, 2007. After more than a year, the second season premiered on July 13, 2009. The third and final season debuted on October 25, 2010. The first season subsequently aired on Global in the 2007–2008 television season. In Canada, the first season was released on DVD on September 9, 2008, followed by the second season on July 27, 2010.
On September 7, 2009, the series began airing on Ion Television, which reaches more than 94 million US television households.[1] The network secured all US television, digital media rights, Internet streaming and video-on-demand rights for the program.[2] It is the first original series to air on the network since 2004.
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First aired | Last aired | |||
| 1 | 6 | May 7, 2007 (2007-05-07) | June 11, 2007 (2007-06-11) | |
| 2 | 6 | July 13, 2009 (2009-07-13) | August 17, 2009 (2009-08-17) | |
| 3 | 6 | October 25, 2010 (2010-10-25) | November 29, 2010 (2010-11-29) | |
| No. overall | No.in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "What Lies Beneath" | Holly Dale | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik & Janis Ludman | May 7, 2007 (2007-05-07) | 101 |
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Detective Mike Sweeney and his family move to Durham County after Mike's partner is murdered. The peaceful life he dreamed of is disturbed by the killings of two teenage girls and a dark rival from his past about his neighbor.
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| 2 | 2 | "The Lady of the Lake" | Holly Dale | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | May 14, 2007 (2007-05-14) | 102 |
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Mike is drawn into a web of his own deceptions when killing is committed close to home. His daughter suffers the dangers of teen sexuality. Ray Prager is in chaos after his wife leaves him.
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| 3 | 3 | "Divide and Conquer" | Holly Dale | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | May 21, 2007 (2007-05-21) | 103 |
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Mike finds it extremely difficult to hide an awful secret. Ray crosses paths with a murderer and another woman is killed.
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| 4 | 4 | "Guys and Dolls" | Holly Dale | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | May 28, 2007 (2007-05-28) | 104 |
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Mike brings Ray in for questioning after evidence is found. Before long, Mike is under suspicion as Prager weaves a net of suspicion around his old rival.
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| 5 | 5 | "Dark Man" | Adrienne Mitchell | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | June 4, 2007 (2007-06-04) | 105 |
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Ray gets close to Audrey Sweeney so he can manipulate Mike's family. Mike and Audrey reach a boiling point while she defends Ray.
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| 6 | 6 | "Life in the Doll House" | Adrienne Mitchell | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | June 11, 2007 (2007-06-11) | 106 |
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Mike faces his worst fear—his dark secrets are close to coming out while Ray is violently out of control.
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| No. overall | No.in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 1 | "Little Lost Children" | Adrienne Mitchell | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | July 13, 2009 (2009-07-13) | 201 |
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Mike Sweeney has been promoted to a new position as Homicide Detective. Ray Prager is in lockdown after killing two women and sexually assaulting Mike's daughter, Sadie. Mike is assigned a case of a possible homicide of a baby and takes it to forensic psychiatrist Pen Verrity to help him understand how the murder happened.
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| 8 | 2 | "Ray Loves Sadie True" | Adrienne Mitchell | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | July 20, 2009 (2009-07-20) | 202 |
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As Mike tries to deal with a tragic mistake with the case of baby Jane Doe, Internal Affairs and a reporter scrutinize his actions. Sadie begins therapy sessions with Pen as her trauma surfaces, while Pen's husband Jonathan accuses her not only of trying to drown their son Mark but of killing their daughter Bonnie. Mike tries to win back Audrey but Pen orchestrates a plan to keep Mike close and get rid of Audrey.
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| 9 | 3 | "The Fish in the Ocean" | Alain Desrochers | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | July 27, 2009 (2009-07-27) | 203 |
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The drug overdose that Pen gave Audrey caused more harm than Pen anticipated; Pen is relieved to learn that Audrey will be okay. Mike loses his temper when he finds out Ray's pals served up an alibi and got him off one of the murder charges. Meanwhile, Sadie telephones Ray and learns that her father may be involved in the death of a girl named Lissie Alexie. Pen convinces both her son and Mike that Jonathan is violent; Mike is now thoroughly committed to being her protector.
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| 10 | 4 | "Daddy Hurt Mommy?" | Alain Desrochers | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | August 3, 2009 (2009-08-03) | 204 |
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Jonathan's "assault" on Pen encourages Mike to push further with the investigation. However, to determine whether Jonathan harmed Bonnie Mike needs to exhume Bonnie's body, something Pen will not allow. Mike's commitment to Pen is shaken when he discovers a fact that seems to confirm Tom's hypothesis that Bonnie was poisoned not by Jonathan, but by her mother. Pen, desperate, sends Mark away with Jonathan then lies to Mike, telling him Mark's been kidnapped. Sadie tells Mike that the boys harassing her at school are the sons of the guys who alibied Ray.
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| 11 | 5 | "Boys Do Things" | Rachel Talalay | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | August 10, 2009 (2009-08-10) | 205 |
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Sadie, intent on facing her fears so she can stand up at the trial, reenacts what happened between her and Ray at the farmhouse but is devastated when she discovers a braid of hair buried within its walls—the braid is Lissie Alexie's. Convinced that this and the stolen file she found in Mike's briefcase are enough to prove her father is a murderer, Sadie confronts him. Mike is now suspicious of Pen, wondering if she is connected with Audrey's mysterious illness and the murder of Jonathan's girlfriend Molly. Ray's pals force Sadie into their car and take her up to the farm, where they threaten and intimidate her.
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| 12 | 6 | "Surviving the Fall" | Rachel Talalay | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | August 17, 2009 (2009-08-17) | 206 |
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Tom arrives at the farm, responding to Sadie's call for help. She refuses to acknowledge her father as she tells Tom that Mike and Ray murdered Lissie here. Mark and Jonathan are found, and Jonathan's to be charged with murder, with Mark returning to Pen. To protect Mark, Mike makes amends with Pen, plays the happy lover, and tries to leverage a confession. Glenn tells Mike that he watched Ray and his buddies beat, rape and burn Lissie, but Glenn refuses to make a statement. Sadie acknowledges her fear and vulnerability and stands up in court.
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| No. overall | No.in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | 1 | "Homelands" | Adrienne Mitchell | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | October 25, 2010 (2010-10-25) | 301 |
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Mike, back together with his wife Audrey, now pregnant, investigates two brutal murders in a commuter train depot. Sadie, living with Ray Jr. and just graduated from police college, is assigned to work undercover on the case to gather information. And Mike's partner, Ivan, is a former soldier who has secretly killed his wife in the woods.
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| 14 | 2 | "Family Day" | Adrienne Mitchell | Unknown | November 1, 2010 (2010-11-01) | 302 |
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Mike grows suspicious about Ivan when his wife still has not shown up. Sadie tells her mother she is pregnant with Ray Jr.'s baby, but she risks getting in over her head as she goes deeper undercover to get close to David Cho. Ivan has more flashbacks to his time in Kosovo as his memories of the past blur with murders in the present.
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| 15 | 3 | "Distance, Hunting and Home" | Adrienne Mitchell | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | November 8, 2010 (2010-11-08) | 303 |
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Mike prefers Ivan's brother-in-law Miro for the murder of Ivan's wife. Miro enlists Ivan's help for his drug-running, competing with the Cho operation that is behind the brutal murders. As Ivan's visiting her, Audrey's pregnancy goes bloodily wrong; Ivan, a former medic, insists on cutting the baby out but Audrey dies.
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| 16 | 4 | "Survivors" | Charles Binamé | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | November 15, 2010 (2010-11-15) | 304 |
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Sadie is enraged after her father slept with Ivan's cousin Mira. Mike drifts from his daughters, cannot bring himself to see his newborn son, and grows angrier with Ivan, now informing him of Miro's plans. Sadie secretly goes undercover. Miro, with Ivan in tow, kills and rips off two of Cho's drug-runners. Mike, certain that Ivan's stringing him along, takes his badge.
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| 17 | 5 | "The World Ends" | Charles Binamé | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | November 22, 2010 (2010-11-22) | 305 |
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The family prepares for Audrey's cremation service. Sadie, this time officially undercover, finds herself too close for comfort to the killer and chief drug-runner, David Cho's father. Ivan realizes that Miro tricked him into murdering his wife. Mike turns to Ivan for counsel about Sadie, still haunted by her mother's death, but Ivan has a confession of his own to make.
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| 18 | 6 | "Sanctuary" | Charles Binamé | Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik | November 29, 2010 (2010-11-29) | 306 |
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After Ivan's drunken confession, Mike and his team obtain a warrant and search Ivan's house for clues to his wife's murder. Sadie represses her memories of killing Julian Cho. Mike releases Ivan so he will lead him to Miro, who has abducted Mira. Sadie tells her father that she is keeping her baby and will marry Ray Jr.
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All three seasons of Durham County are distributed in Canada by Muse Distribution International and internationally by ITV Global.
All three seasons were filmed in and around Montreal, Quebec.
Anchor Bay Entertainment has released the first two seasons on DVD in Canada only.[3][4] The third season will be released on February 21, 2012.[5]
In addition to the DVD releases, all three seasons became available in Canada in the iTunes Store on August 1, 2011.
Well Go USA released the first season on DVD in the US.[6] Season 2 was released on November 23, 2010.[7]
| DVD Name | Ep# | Release Date (CAN) | Release Date (US) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 6 | September 9, 2008 | January 19, 2010 |
| Season 2 | 6 | July 27, 2010 | November 23, 2010 |
