# For the Record (Canadian TV series)

For the Record is a Canadian television drama anthology series that aired on CBC Television from 1976 to 1985. The series aired docudrama-style television films on contemporary social issues, typically airing between four and six films per year.
After a nearly decade run, the series was cancelled in 1985, although the CBC opted to continue commissioning similar television films as standalone productions, beginning with 1986's Turning to Stone.

## Concept

For the Record was intended as a series of dramas which would take an honest look at problems in Canadian society, among them many about mental illness and "flawed social institutions". It evolved out of the anthology series Performance, with some of its early films having been originally announced as entering production for that series before ultimately airing as episodes of For the Record instead.

## Critical assessment

Gail Henley remarked in 1985 that For the Record dramas were "information laden" when compared to their more emotional American counterparts and emphasises the importance of research and documentation for the series. As Bill MacVicar put it:
   Topicality is both a blessing and a bane for television. Since the time from concept to telecast can be much shorter than for movies, television appears better briefed and more up-to-date. But the voraciousness of the medium encourages clumsy or cynical abuse of topicality; all too often (as in the slack Lou Grant the mere act of raising an issue is assumed to be tantamount to solving it; in other cases, solutions are so slickly simplified that what purports to be an investigation is little more than a case of special pleading. In contrast to this frequent shortcoming, the CBC's For the Record series tends to do justice to the problems it airs.

## Episodes
### 1976

| Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
| 1 | "The Insurance Man from Ingersoll" | Peter Pearson | Peter Pearson, Norman Hartley | Michael Magee, Charlotte Blunt, Warren Davis, Mavor Moore | 8 February 1976 |
| An opposition MPP in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario makes explosive charges of political corruption against the government. ||||||
| 2 | "A Nest of Shadows" | Peter Carter | Michael Mercer | Louise Rinfret, Ralph Endersby | 15 February 1976 |
| 3 | "A Thousand Moons" | Gilles Carle | Mort Forer | Carole Laure, Nick Mancuso, Adeline Coppaway | 29 February 1976 |
| An elderly Métis woman living in Toronto wants to return to her hometown before her death. ||||||
| 4 | "Kathy Karuks Is a Grizzly Bear" | Peter Pearson | Ralph L. Thomas | Lesley Angus, Red Burnett, Rudi Lipp, Donnelly Rhodes, Dixie Seatle | 7 March 1976 |
| A swimmer who aspires to perform a marathon swim across Lake Ontario copes with an unscrupulous coach. ||||||
| 5 | "What We Have Here Is a People Problem" | Francis Mankiewicz | Michael Mercer | George Waight, Heath Lamberts | 1976 |

### 1977

| Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
| 6 | "Maria" | Allan King | Rick Salutin | Diane D'Aquila, Enzina Bertini, Jean Gascon | 9 January 1977 |
| A woman organizes a labour union. ||||||
| 7 | "Someday Soon..." | Don Haldane | Rudy Wiebe, Barry Pearson | John Vernon | 16 January 1977 |
| Farmers in Manitoba try to resist a hydroelectric dam development that threatens to flood their land. ||||||
| 8 | "Dreamspeaker" | Claude Jutra | Anne Cameron | Ian Tracey, George Clutesi | 23 January 1977 |
| Adaptation of Anne Cameron's novel Dreamspeaker. ||||||
| 9 | "Hank" | Don Haldane | Don Bailey, Ralph L. Thomas | Bob Warner | 30 January 1977 |
| 10 | "Ada" | Claude Jutra | Claude Jutra, Margaret Gibson | Janet Amos, Jayne Eastwood, David Fox | 6 February 1977 |
| Several women struggle in the mental health system. ||||||
| 11 | "The Tar Sands" | Peter Pearson | Peter Pearson, Peter Rowe, Ralph L. Thomas | Kenneth Welsh, Ken Pogue | 12 September 1977 |

### 1978

| Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
| 12 | "A Matter of Choice" | Francis Mankiewicz | Anne Cameron | Michael Ironside, Roberta Maxwell, Fiona Reid, Gary Reineke | 29 January 1978 |
| After being sexually assaulted by her acquaintance David (Reineke), Carol (Maxwell) struggles with the moral and legal complexities of whether to report her assault to the police. ||||||
| 13 | "Scoop" | Anthony Perris | Douglas Bowie | Scott Hylands, Lloyd Bochner, Deborah Templeton, Sabina Maydelle | 12 February 1978 |
| 14 | "Dying Hard" | Don Haldane | Bill Gough | Neil Munro, Clyde Rose, Claude Bede, Austin Davis, Estelle Wall | 12 March 1978 |
| 15 | "Seer Was Here" | Claude Jutra | Claude Jutra, Don Bailey | David Hemblen, Robert Forsythe | 3 December 1978 |

### 1979

| Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
| 16 | "Cementhead" | Ralph L. Thomas | Ralph L. Thomas, Roy MacGregor | Tom Butler, Peter Dvorsky, Martin Short, Kate Lynch | 18 February 1979 |
| Bear Bernier, a minor league hockey player from Sudbury, is willing to do whatever it takes to make the National Hockey League. ||||||
| 17 | "Je me souviens / Don't Forget Me" | Robin Spry | Carmel Dumas | | 25 February 1979 |
| 18 | "Homecoming" | Gilles Carle | Anne Cameron | | 4 March 1979 |
| 19 | "Certain Practices" | Martin Lavut | Ian Sutherland | Richard Monette, Alan Scarfe | 11 March 1979 |
| A young doctor challenges his hospital's chief surgeon over experimental surgeries. Winner of the Genie Award for Outstanding TV Drama Over 30 Minutes at the 1st Genie Awards in 1980. ||||||
| 20 | "Every Person Is Guilty" | Paul Almond | Ralph L. Thomas, Roy MacGregor | Ken Pogue, Lynne Griffin | 1979 |
| A journalist (Ken Pogue) tries to investigate a physical attack on his daughter. ||||||
| 21 | "One of Our Own" | William Fruet | Florrie Adelson | | 3 October 1979 |

### 1980

| Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
| 22 | "The Winnings of Frankie Walls" | Martin Lavut | Rob Forsyth | Al Waxman, Chapelle Jaffe | 2 March 1980 |
| Blue collar worker Frankie Walls (Waxman) struggles to find a new job after being laid off. ||||||
| 23 | "Harvest" | Giles Walker | Rob Forsyth | Jan Rubeš | 9 March 1980 |
| 24 | "Maintain the Right" | Les Rose | Tony Sheer | Laurie Brown, Nicholas Campbell | 16 March 1980 |
| After political activist Jane Kohl's (Brown) apartment is robbed, RCMP officer Tom Kelby (Campbell) is forced to decide whether to stand with her in the face of evidence that his superiors may be engaging in surveillance of Jane. ||||||
| 25 | "A Question of the Sixth" | Graham Parker | Grahame Woods | Lawrence Dane, Maureen McRae | 23 March 1980 |
| Garnet Burton (Dane), a middle-aged hog breeder, fights to be allowed to die by assisted suicide after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. ||||||
| 26 | "Lyon's Den" | Graham Parker | Tony Sheer | Mary Bellows, James Blendick, Mogens Gander | 1980 |

### 1981

| Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
| 27 | "A Far Cry from Home" | Gordon Pinsent | Helen Weils, Bill Gough | Mary Ann McDonald, Richard Monette | 1 February 1981 |
| 28 | "Snowbird" | Peter Pearson | Margaret Atwood | Robert Christie, Jayne Eastwood, Doris Petrie | 8 February 1981 |
| 29 | "The Running Man" | Donald Brittain | Anna Sandor | Chuck Shamata, Barbara Gordon, Colm Feore, Kate Trotter | 22 February 1981 |
| A married man struggles to come to terms with his homosexuality. ||||||
| 30 | "Cop" | Al Waxman | Grahame Woods | | 8 March 1981 |
| 31 | "Final Edition" | Peter Rowe | Tony Sheer | Alan Scarfe, Neil Munro, Donald Davis, Robert Clothier, Michael Hogan | 22 March 1981 |
| A media company decides to shut down its long-running flagship newspaper. ||||||

### 1982

| Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
| 32 | "An Honourable Member" | Donald Brittain | Roy MacGregor | Fiona Reid, Don Francks, Eric House | 28 February 1982 |
| Trish Baldwin, a backbench Member of Parliament, is named to the Cabinet of Canada but struggles to balance her political ambitions with her personal integrity when she has to defend a major government project in her riding to which she is personally opposed. ||||||
| 33 | "By Reason of Insanity" | Donald Shebib | David McLaren | Patricia Collins, John Wildman, Hrant Alianak | 7 March 1982 |
| Psychiatrists try to evaluate whether or not an accused murderer is insane. ||||||
| 34 | "High Card" | Bill Gough | Anna Sandor | Chuck Shamata, Celine Lomez, Helen Hughes | 14 March 1982 |
| A photographer gets himself into financial trouble by overusing his credit cards. ||||||
| 35 | "Becoming Laura" | Martin Lavut | Gordon Knot | Jennifer Jewison, Tom McCamus, Shelley Thompson | 21 March 1982 |
| A troubled teenager tries to establish her identity. ||||||
| 36 | "Blind Faith" | John Trent, Jack Nixon-Browne | Ian Sutherland | Sneezy Waters, Florence Paterson, Peter MacNeill, Martha Burns | 28 March 1982 |
| Marge Aylesworth (Paterson) inherits her late husband's horse racing business. ||||||

### 1983

| Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
| 37 | "Ready for Slaughter" | Allan King | Roy MacGregor | Gordon Pinsent, Diana Belshaw, Layne Coleman, Booth Savage | 6 March 1983 |
| A farmer struggles to hold onto his business despite his increasing financial debt. ||||||
| 38 | "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" | Zale Dalen | | Nicholas Campbell, Robert Joy, John Wildman | 13 March 1983 |
| 39 | "Reasonable Force" | Peter Rowe | Brian Kit McLeod, Peter Lower | Deepa Mehta, Abdul Merali, Lee Taylor | 20 March 1983 |
| An Indo-Canadian family in Vancouver struggles to deal with racism. ||||||
| 40 | "Moving Targets" | John Trent | Ian Sutherland | Allan Royal | 27 March 1983 |

### 1984

| Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
| 41 | "Kate Morris, Vice President" | Danièle J. Suissa | John C. W. Saxton | Kate Trotter, Scott Hylands | 19 February 1984 |
| A woman struggles to be taken seriously in her business career. ||||||
| 42 | "I Love a Man in Uniform" | Don McBrearty | John Frizzell | Tom Butler, Denis Forest, Dan MacDonald, Stephanie Morgenstern, Dixie Seatle, Timothy Webber, Kenneth Welsh | 26 February 1984 |
| 43 | "Hide & Seek" | René Bonnière | Barry Wexler | Bob Martin, Ingrid Veninger, David Patrick, Alan Scarfe | 4 March 1984 |
| Adaptation of Thomas J. Ryan's 1977 science fiction novel The Adolescence of P-1. ||||||
| 44 | "Slim Obsession" | Donald Shebib | Janet Kranz, Martin Langer | Susan Wright, Paul Kelman | 11 March 1984 |
| 45 | "Rough Justice" | Peter Yalden-Thomson | | | 25 March 1984 |
| 46 | "A Change of Heart" | Anne Wheeler | | Joy Coghill, Ken James | 1 April 1984 |

### 1985

| Number | Title | Director | Writer | Cast | Date |
| 47 | "The Boy Next Door" | John Hunter | John Hunter | Chris Owens, Chapelle Jaffe, Michael Hogan | 10 February 1985 |
| A mother struggles to cope with the behaviour of her troubled teenage son. ||||||
| 48 | "Where the Heart Is" | Carol Moore Ede | Suzette Couture | Margo Kane, Gary Farmer, Tantoo Cardinal, Tom Jackson | 23 February 1985 |
| After divorcing from her white husband, an indigenous woman discovers that she has lost her First Nations status. ||||||
| 49 | "The Front Line" | Douglas Jackson | Ken Mitchell | Brent Carver, Monique Mercure | 3 March 1985 |
| An activist priest encourages his congregation to protest a local factory which is manufacturing parts for military equipment. ||||||
| 50 | "Tools of the Devil" | Peter Yalden-Thomson | Don Truckey | Marc Strange, Heath Lamberts | 10 March 1985 |
| A journalist (Strange) tries to investigate the secret agenda of a politician (Lamberts). ||||||
| 51 | "The Exile" | Gordon Pinsent | Michael Mercer, Peter Lower | Denis Akiyama, Robert Ito, Hiroshi Nakashimi, Jim McLarty | 15 September 1985 |
| Three generations of a Japanese Canadian family deal with the ongoing consequences of the Japanese Canadian internment in World War II. ||||||