''Cannonball'' is a British/Canadian

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme sp ...

drama series In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-gen ...

starring Paul Birch and William Campbell, and aired on CBC Television in Canada,

ABC Weekend TV ABC Weekend TV was the popular name of the British broadcaster ABC Television Limited, which provided the weekend service in the Midlands and Northern England regions of the Independent Television (ITV) network from 1956 to 1968. It was one ...

in the United Kingdom, and in

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

in the United States. Produced by

Normandie Productions Television Programs of America, Inc (TPA) was a New York-based US television production company in the 1950s. TPA had a Canadian subsidiary, Normandie Productions. This television production and distribution company was best known for '' Fury, K ...

and

ITC Entertainment The Incorporated Television Company (ITC), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes. History Incorporated Television Programme Compan ...

, the series' interiors were filmed at Canadian Film Industries Limited, a studio in Canada. Exteriors were shot in and around

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...

. The series is one of the few ITC productions to air on ABC Weekend TV in the UK. Because

Associated TeleVision Associated Television was the original name of the British broadcaster ATV, part of the Independent Television (ITV) network. It provided a service to London at weekends from 1955 to 1968, to the Midlands on weekdays from 1956 to 1968, and t ...

(ATV) owners of ITC, also ran the

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

weekend and Midlands weekdays ITV companies, they tended to hold the rights for ITC series in order to show each one in the Midlands (where ABC was the weekend operator) during the week. The series aired from October 6, 1958 to July 13, 1959, for 39 episodes in

black-and-white Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

Synopsis

The series follows the adventures of Mike Malone (Paul Birch), whose nickname is 'Cannonball', and Jerry Austin (William Campbell), two

trucker A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster, or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; a HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

s who haul cargo across the US and Canada for the fictitious

-based C&A Transport Company Ltd. The truck depicted is believed a GMC Model 950 COE ( cab-over engine) diesel tractor built and sold in the same decade by

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American multinational automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and was the largest in the world for 77 years bef ...

. The supporting cast includes Beth Lockerbie as Mary Malone, Mike's wife, and

Beth Morris Bethan "Beth" Morris (19 July 1943 – 1 March 2018) was a Welsh actress. Born in Gorseinon and a lifetime native of Swansea, she was probably best known for her performance as Julia Drusilla in the 1976 BBC adaptation of ''I, Claudius''. Her ...

as Ginny Malone and Steve Barringer as Butch Malone, the couple's two children. Howard Milsom appears as C&A Transport Company Ltd.'s dispatcher Harry Butler. The duo's adventures come to an end in the series's final episode, "Tunnel Vision". Austin, who is Malone's co-driver on the truck, has an opportunity to go back and finish college. Malone knows this but realizes Austin will not take the opportunity because it will break up their partnership. In his yearly medical check up, Malone pretends to have tunnel vision (lack of

peripheral vision Peripheral vision, or ''indirect vision'', is vision as it occurs outside the point of fixation, i.e. away from the center of gaze or, when viewed at large angles, in (or out of) the "corner of one's eye". The vast majority of the area in the ...

) which means he no longer qualifies to drive trucks. This frees Austin who is able to finish his college education.

Main cast

* Paul Birch as Cannonball Mike Malone * William Campbell as Jerry Austin * Beth Lockerbie as Mary Malone *

as Ginny Malone * Steve Barringer as Butch Malone * Howard Milsom as Harry Butler

Episode list

The original production order appears to be lost and all that remains is a partial list based upon

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (french: Société Radio-Canada), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a federal Crown corporation that receives funding from the government. ...

and ITV air dates. As titles were not shown on-screen, these titles may be speculative. * "The Runaway Truck" * "Pills" * "Nitro Haul" * "Small Cargo" * "The Big Ambulance" * "Mark Time" * "The Necklace" * "Shock" * "The Attack" * "The Girl Reporter" * "Butch" * "Little Old Man" * "Sauce for the Goose" * "The Girl at Joe's Place" * "Nanette" * "Lil's Cafe" * "The Hostage" * "Fallout" * "Marooned" * "Undercover" * "Vendetta" * "The Has-been" * "The Flying Dutchman" * "Rodeo" * "Trip to Buffalo" * "Wild Party" * "Driving School" * "Eyewitness" * "Ginny" * "Racket" * "Green-eyed Monster" * "Sights on Safety" * "Moose Hunt" * "Big Buck" * "Willy" * "The Dog" * "Snake Eyes" * "The Iron Lung" * "Tunnel Eyes"

Theme music

The Cannonball TV series had a theme that opened and closed each episode. The words and music were written and performed by the American country artist

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled a ...

References

External links

TV.com entry

Cannonball Intro
*
Cannonball
- Canadian Communication Foundation

* ttps://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cannonball+tv+series+1958 Episodes of ''Cannonball'' on YouTube-Starring Paul Birch and William Campbell {{DEFAULTSORT:Cannonball (Tv Series) 1958 British television series debuts 1959 British television series endings 1958 Canadian television series debuts 1959 Canadian television series endings 1950s British drama television series 1950s Canadian drama television series British adventure television series Canadian adventure television series Black-and-white British television shows Black-and-white Canadian television shows CBC Television original programming English-language television shows First-run syndicated television programs in the United States Television shows filmed in Toronto Television shows produced by ABC Weekend TV Television series by ITC Entertainment Works about trucks