''Forever Knight'' is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

series about Nick Knight, an 800-year-old

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

working as a police detective in modern-day

Toronto, Ontario 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 ancho ...

. Wracked with guilt for centuries of killing others, he seeks redemption by working as a homicide detective on the night shift while struggling to find a way to become human again. The series premiered on May 5, 1992, and concluded with the third-season finale on May 17, 1996.

Plot

The series followed the adventures of Nick Knight, a Toronto cop working the graveyard shift with his partner Donald Schanke. Unbeknownst to most of his colleagues, Nick is actually Nicholas, an 800-year-old vampire (his human

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

was reference to his status as a literal knight in medieval

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

). Remorseful over centuries spent as a vampiric cold-hearted killer, Nicholas works as a cop and often ends up using his special abilities to bring criminals to justice. Whenever he works on his cases, Nicholas remembers similar situations from previous lifetimes and these appear as flashbacks in the episodes. Nicholas explains his need to work on the night shift by claiming to have a skin disorder, photodermatitis, which requires him to stay out of sunlight. Refusing to feed from humans, he survives by drinking bottled animal blood, something that most vampires find repulsive. The only human who knows his true nature is his friend Natalie Lambert, a city medical examiner who doesn't like Nicholas using his special powers as she believes it increases his need for blood. Nick's ultimate dream is to find a way to become human once again, but his quest for redemption is complicated by the arrival of fellow vampires Lucien LaCroix and Janette DuCharme. Lucien LaCroix, who was a general in the early Roman Empire, and who was turned into a vampire by his daughter Divia as Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79AD, originally made Nick a vampire in 1228. Janette was also 'brought across' by LaCroix, before he brought Nick across. They were Nick's companions for many centuries until he left them, seeking redemption and a way to reclaim his lost humanity. Janette now runs a night club, while LaCroix works as a late-night talk radio host. While Janette is scornful yet tolerant of Nicholas's new lifestyle, LaCroix actively attempts to seduce his protégé back to a more violent life. During the series, Nick had two partners. For the first two seasons it is Don Schanke. At the beginning of the third season, Detective Schanke dies in an airplane explosion caused by a bomber, and Nick is assigned a new partner, Tracy Vetter, a rookie detective who gets the assignment due to her father's high-ranking position in the police force. Tracy finds herself increasingly attracted to Javier Vachon, also a new character, who is a vampire who had been a conquistador in life. Nick and Vachon know about each other, and Tracy knows about Vachon being a vampire, but she never knows Nick is also a vampire. Although Nick continues to protect the "innocent" civilians, he faces circumstances that risk the exposure of the vampire community who, up until this time, were unknown to other humans. Nick is faced with the choice to either move on or attempt to recapture his humanity through a method that puts Natalie's life in the balance. At that point LaCroix appears and indicates the time to leave is near and he must either bring Natalie over or leave her to die. Nicholas decides that neither option is acceptable and hands LaCroix a wooden stake. We do not see what LaCroix does, but we hear him say "Damn you, Nicholas" in stress and frustration, and the scene cuts out to the building where Nick lives and a shot of the sun rising. The ending is left to the viewers' interpretation but the implication is that Nick dies with LaCroix's help, hoping to join Natalie in an afterlife.

Cast

Geraint Wyn Davies Geraint Wyn Davies (, 20 April 1957) is a Welsh-American stage, film and television actor-director. Educated in Canada, he has worked in the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. His most famous role as the vampire-turned police dete ...

as Detective Nick Knight *

Nigel Bennett Nigel Bennett (born 19 November 1949) is a British-Canadian actor, director, and writer who has been based in Canada since 1986. He is best known for playing the vampire patriarch Lucien LaCroix in the TV series ''Forever Knight'', for which h ...

as Lucien LaCroix * Deborah Duchêne as Janette DuCharme * Catherine Disher as Natalie Lambert * John Kapelos as Detective Donald Schanke (seasons 1 & 2) * Gary Farmer as Captain Joe Stonetree (season 1) *

Natsuko Ohama is a feminine Japanese given name. Possible writings Natsuko can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *夏子, "summer, child" *懐子, "reminiscence, yearn, child" *捺子, "press, print, affix a seal, stamp, child" *奈� ...

as Captain Amanda Cohen (season 2) * Ben Bass as Javier Vachon (season 3) *

Lisa Ryder Lisa Ryder (born 26 October 1970) is a Canadian actress, who portrayed the role of Beka Valentine on the science fiction television series '' Andromeda''. Life and career Ryder was born in Edmonton, Alberta and attended the University of Tor ...

as Detective Tracy Vetter (season 3) * Blu Mankuma as Captain Joe Reese (season 3) * Greg Kramer as Screed (season 3)

Production

Development

The series originated as a 1989 CBS television movie, '' Nick Knight'', with Rick Springfield playing the title character. In 1992, CBS began broadcasting the series as part of its '' Crimetime After Primetime'' lineup, with a new name and with

now playing Nick Knight (using a pilot that had been re-shot with Davies).

The concept of vampires in the Forever Knight universe

Vampires in society

Though not the first sympathetic vampire detective in fiction ( Hannibal King, a vampire private eye who similarly refused to indulge his blood lust, preceded him in the pages of Marvel Comics'

Tomb of Dracula ''The Tomb of Dracula'' is an American horror comic book series published by Marvel Comics from April 1972 to August 1979. The 70-issue series featured a group of vampire hunters who fought Count Dracula and other supernatural menaces. On rare ...

by some years), ''Forever Knight'' helped popularize the concept. As such, it is seen as a direct precursor to other vampire detective/investigator shows such as ''

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles ...

'' and '' Blood Ties''. It also influenced shows featuring more broadly supernatural detectives, such as ''

The Dresden Files ''The Dresden Files'' is a series of contemporary fantasy/ mystery novels written by American author Jim Butcher. The first novel, '' Storm Front''—which was also Butcher's writing debut—was published in 2000 by Roc Books. The books are wr ...

''. In common with other vampire literature of the 1990s, when

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ma ...

was a common societal anxiety, vampirism in ''Forever Knight'' is partly approached as a disease to be overcome. The

Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing pediatric HIV infection and eliminating pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention and treatment programs. Founded in 1988 ...

is series star Geraint Wyn Davies' favoured charity; the "Bridging the Knight" fan event raised money for Casey House, an AIDS hospice in

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 anch ...

, helped in part by donations from ''Forever Knight'' producer Nicolas Gray, as well as the series' actors and crew.

Vampire powers

Nick Knight, as well as several other vampire characters, demonstrates a number of superhuman abilities. As a vampire, Nick has not aged throughout nearly 800 years of existence. In most cases he is invulnerable to harm from gunshot, blunt force trauma, or blade. Vampires in the ''Forever Knight'' universe display the powers of super strength and speed, enhanced senses, flight and a degree of hypnotism/mind control. However, Nick's hypnotism does not always work, especially if the victim has physical evidence that proves opposite to what Nick would have him or her believe. Vampires in the ''Forever Knight'' universe are not reanimated corpses as their hearts beat a few times every ten minutes, as is stated in one episode. None of the vampires turn into such things as bats, wolves, mist or fog. Two episodes reveal that vampirism in the ''Forever Knight'' universe is to some degree a psychosomatic condition. Although vampires suffer the standard aversion to garlic and combust in the presence of holy objects or sunlight, vampires that have forgotten what they are, due to suffering a physical or mental trauma, are completely unaffected by these things.

Episodes

The series aired on CBS from May 5, 1992, to March 2, 1993, in

First-run syndication Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States wher ...

from September 12, 1994, to July 24, 1995, and on

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madi ...

from September 11, 1995, to May 13, 1996, running for three seasons and a total of 70 episodes. Reruns were also seen in syndication during the mid-to-late 90s.

Sky UK Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

broadcast it during 1995 on

Sky One Sky One was a British pay television channel operated and owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). Originally launched on 26 April 1982 as Satellite Television, it was Europe's first satellite and non- terrestrial channel. From 31 July 1989, ...

at 11pm, marking the only time it was shown in the UK, as it has never been rerun.

Home media

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (abbreviated as SPHE) is the home video distribution division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. Background SPHE is responsible for the distribution of the Sony Pictures l ...

has released the entire series on DVD in Region 1 (US only) in 3 volume sets. Madman Entertainment released the entire series in Region 4 (Australia), in the same format.

In other media

Novels

There have been three novels written based on the series: * * *

Soundtracks

There have been two soundtrack CDs released that contain selections from the score. The first was released on 25 July 1996 and the second was released on 11 May 1999

Reception

Awards

''Forever Knight'' was nominated for 13

Gemini Awards The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...

, and won once in 1996. It was also nominated for a Golden Reel Award in 1992, but did not win. It was ranked #23 on

TV Guide's Top Cult Shows Ever Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising ...

in 2004,May 30 – June 5, 2004 issue of ''TV Guide''. but was taken off the list in 2007.

References

External links

''Forever Knight''
official site ( Sci Fi Channel). Archived fro
the original
on April 5, 2004. * * {{Crimetime After Primetime Canadian horror fiction television series 1992 Canadian television series debuts 1996 Canadian television series endings CBS original programming English-language television shows Television series by Glen-Warren Productions Television series by Universal Television Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television shows filmed in Toronto Television shows set in Toronto Vampire detective shows Vampires in television Romantic fantasy television series Television shows about reincarnation Works about atonement 1990s Canadian crime drama television series