Similar to Route 66 or Naked City, Wojeck followed the "semi-anthology" format of often building the stories around the guest actors, rather than the regular cast. Still, the main four characters are at the centre of the show overall, and Wojeck's investigations generally drive the stories forward.
Wojeck was noted for its issue-driven stories, exploring topics that had rarely been directly confronted in television drama to that time, whether in Canada or elsewhere. Episodes of Wojeck deal frankly with abortion, homosexuality, drug addiction, systemic corporate and government corruption, negligence of the elderly, and other issues that were otherwise almost completely absent from TV programming of the era.2
The show was inspired by the career of Dr. Morton Shulman.34 Unusually for the time, episodes were shot almost entirely on location using hand-held cameras, giving the show a semi-documentary feel. The first season (1966) was filmed in black and white, while season two (1968) was shot in colour.
Wojeck also notably took a "rep company" approach to guest casting, with some guest stars appearing multiple times in different roles over the brief 20-episode run. Cec Linder starred in four episodes as four different characters, Robert Goodier played three characters over four episodes, and many, many actors appeared in three episodes playing three different characters. Margot Kidder (then billed as Margaret Kidder) appeared in only one episode (season 2's "After All, Who's Art Morrison?"), but it was her on-screen acting debut.
Although it was one of the highest-rated shows on Canadian television in its time, only 20 episodes of Wojeck were made, because series star Vernon was lured to Hollywood by the promise of more money and more consistent work than the CBC could offer. (Even after Wojeck's success, the CBC could not promise Vernon the show would return in 1969, as they had to wait for a year-end budget allocation.) Vernon only returned to the role once, for a TV movie Wojeck: Out of the Fire (1992).
Wojeck was the first TV series to feature forensic pathology in the investigation of crime. This became the central theme of several other TV mystery-suspense dramas, beginning with the BBC's The Expert in 1968. Other programs include:
"IMDb". IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26546929/ ↩
"Wojeck to Wrestling" (PDF). www.queensu.ca. https://www.queensu.ca/filmandmedia/sites/fmwww/files/uploaded_files/Wojeck_0.pdf ↩
"Historicist: Introducing Dr. Morton Shulman". torontoist.com/. Retrieved 9 December 2012. http://torontoist.com/2012/07/historicist-introducing-dr-morton-shulman/ ↩
"WOJECK Drama series about a Canadian coroner". Television Heaven. Retrieved 9 December 2012. http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/wojeck.htm ↩
"Wojeck: Out of the Fire (TV Movie 1992) ⭐ 6.9 | Drama". IMDb. https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0173463/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk ↩
"Film Archives". The A.V. Club. https://www.avclub.com/film/reviews/wojeck-out-of-the-fire-1992 ↩
Preston-Ellis, Rom (9 November 2015). "BBC drama filmed in South Devon set to air next week". Torquay Herald Express. Local World. Archived from the original on 12 November 2015. Retrieved 11 January 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20151112082124/http://www.torquayheraldexpress.co.uk/BBC-drama-filmed-South-Devon-set-air-week/story-28141311-detail/story.html ↩
Conner, Shawn (3 February 2021). "Jenny Cooper returns to solve more cases in Season 3 of Coroner, with a COVID-19 twist". Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on 15 February 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210215225511/https://vancouversun.com/entertainment/local-arts/jenny-cooper-returns-to-solve-more-cases-in-season-3-of-coroner-with-a-covid-19-twist ↩