Witness to Yesterday
| Witness to Yesterday | |
|---|---|
| Genre | docudrama |
| Created by | Arthur Voronka |
| Written by | Arthur Voronka |
| Presented by | Patrick Watson |
| Country of origin |
 Canada
|
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Tom Moore Arthur Voronka |
| Location(s) | Montreal |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Look Hear Productions |
| Release | |
| Original network |
Global CICA/TVOntario |
| Original release | 8 January 1974 – c. 1976 (original series) |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | Titans (1981-82) |
| Witness to Yesterday | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Alan Gough Patrick Watson |
| Presented by | Patrick Watson |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 12 |
| Production | |
| Location(s) | Fredericton Toronto |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | History |
| Original release | 24 March – 16 June 1998 |
Witness to Yesterday is a Canadian docudrama television series which featured staged interviews with historical personalities. It was first broadcast by Global Television Network in 1974, then produced by TVOntario to 1976. A 12-episode revival of the series was produced in 1998 for History Television.
Each episode featured a historical person as portrayed by a guest actor in conversation with host Patrick Watson who took the role of an interviewer.
Witness to Yesterday was among the first series to be broadcast by Global. Original episodes were broadcast on Global in a regular Tuesday 10:00 p.m. time slot from 8 January 1974 to 21 May 1974. The debut episode featured Brenda Donohue as Joan of Arc.
The series was produced in Montreal by Look Hear Productions, a division of the McConnell advertising company.
Laurier Lapierre conducted research for the series. Scripts were written, but the filming often incorporated ad-lib dialogue. Each episode was produced for approximately $6000 with actors paid from $600 to $2500. Host Patrick Watson earned 15% of the international sales income plus his base $500 per episode. Writers included Patrick Watson, Patrick Withrow and Doug Scott.
Global Television Network encountered financial difficulties in its initial months and cancelled most of its original Canadian programming by May 1974. Global owed Look Hear Productions $130,000 for producing 24 episodes of Witness to Yesterday. The last episode filmed prior to Global's cancellation featured Donald Sutherland as doctor Norman Bethune. Global eventually paid 30% of its bill for the series as part of its financial settlement with creditors.
CBC Television considered picking up the series but by then had booked other productions.Witness to Yesterday was transferred to Toronto educational station CICA-TV (OECA) which planned the production of three new episodes for the 1974-75 season and another 13 for the 1975-76 season, in addition to rebroadcasting the initial 20 episodes.
Global broadcast the series on a regular 10 p.m. Tuesday time slot.
Witness to Yesterday was sold to broadcasters in Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and on other Canadian stations.
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