What to promote? What to promote? Well, I've loved Forever Knight for years: it's my oldest active fandom. It's a TV series about an angsty vampire working as a homicide detective to expiate his feelings of guilt.

FK ran for three seasons in the 90s, first as a late-night show after the news, and then as a syndicated series.

Det. Nick Knight

For a while it was in reruns; today you have to search out the DVDs. In truth, though, there was a fair amount of searching for it even back in the day. At the time, I wondered whether that might even have something to do with my being so devoted to it. When you've scoured the TV Guide trying to find a station that carries it, and then hunted it round the dial as it changes time slots, you tend to feel the show has to have value to it. How else do you justify the effort? (Or is that a chicken-and-egg question?)

As FK started in a Crimetime After Prime Time line-up, it's basically a cop show with a difference—the difference being, of course, that the hero was born in the 13th century, has incredible powers that aid him in solving crimes, and a family (of sorts) that keeps wanting him to return to the vampire lifestyle. Nick Knight—born Nicolas de Brabant, with myriad aliases down the centuries—was played by Geraint Wyn Davies.

A knight returning from the Crusades in 1228, Nick was "brought across" in Paris by an older vampire, LaCroix, and thereafter travelled for centuries with his master.

LaCroix

Almost every episode has a flashback to this period of Nick's life. Cumulatively, we see how, over time, his feelings toward killing shifted. Today, Nick drinks bottled blood; as a homicide detective, he tries to save lives; and, for centuries, he has tried to find a way to become human again. However, from LaCroix's point of view, to seek mortality is suicidal: vampires are immortal, but humans die. LaCroix—who, in life, was a Roman general—is autocratic, dogmatic, and dangerous. He sees himself as pater familias, and Nick as a recalcitrant son. With them also travels Janette, brought across by LaCroix in the 11th century: she is, so to speak, Nick's sister; but she has also, off and on, been his lover. Today, she keeps a Goth nightclub called The Raven, a haven for the vampires of Toronto. Though more sympathetic to Nick than their master is, she still feels that he is utterly misguided.

In his quest for mortality, Nick is nowadays aided by a police pathologist, Dr. Natalie Lambert.

Dr. Natalie Lambert

Obviously, she is his present-day love interest! However, there are plenty of reasons why neither of them is open with the other about the way they feel. Natalie is Nick's doctor; he has a long history of draining (and killing) women he falls in love with; and the vampire community would not approve of anything that might draw attention to them. Still, as Nick works Homicide and she autopsies murder victims, the two of them see each other all the time professionally. And they are certainly close friends: they spend a lot of off-duty time together, and Natalie is Nick's only human confidant. If LaCroix is his "bad angel", then she is his "good one". Though that does, of course, depend on how you feel about his antipathy to his vampire condition.

But, of course, this is only one side of the series. Forever Knight was, first and foremost, sold as a cop show. So every episode has its murder mystery; and, as a Homicide detective, Nick works for the Toronto Metropolitan Police force. He has a boss (actually a different one each season); and he has a partner (Don Schanke in the first two seasons, and Tracy Vetter in the final season).

Capt. Joe Stonetree &     Det. Don Schanke Season 1	Det. Don Schanke &     Capt. Amanda Cohen Season 2	Capt. Joe Reese &     Det. Tracy Vetter Season 3

Each of the police captains has their own style: Joe Stonetree (played by Gary Farmer) is pretty laid back; Amanda Cohen (Netsuko Ohama) is crisply by-the-book; and Joe Reese (Blu Mankuma) is ambitious. As for the partners: Don Schanke (John Kapelos) is a family man, and an experienced cop who is more able than he seems on the surface; Tracy Vetter (Lisa Ryder) is the newly promoted daughter of a senior officer, both advantaged by and resentful of her father's influence. The prominent cast of human characters also means that Nick is mostly interacting with mortals who have no idea that he is a vampire. A source of angst, sure; but, even more, a source of humour.
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