Documentary: Biographies

Mahovlich and NHL legend and now a Canadian senator, was one of the first hockey players to stand up to the dictatorial, autocratic NHL owners of the day, an action that would lead to an emotional breakdown, and see him traded from the famed Toronto Maple Leafs.

Yet through it all, Mahovlich always kept his battles private, never public.

This documentary shows the Terry Fox only family and friends knew. It features never-before-seen footage of him speaking and running on his "Marathon of Hope".

Terry's story is told through interviews with his family and friends as well as former hockey superstar Darryl Sittler, and Man in Motion, Rick Hansen.

"You'd better ask Nellie". Those words are spoken a hundred times a week in this tiny corner of the Canadian Arctic – Inuvik. The story of Nellie Cournoyea is the story of the new North.

In her lifetime, she has seen Northern aboriginal people go from relying on the ups and downs of the fur industry and on government handouts, to truly being masters of their own social and economic destiny.

It all began with John Molson, an 18-year-old British immigrant who, in 1786, established what is now North America's oldest brewery.

It is an unrelenting focus on their business that has allowed Molson to survive for more than two centuries.

This documentary follows the National Hockey League stars back to their home town of Sault St. Marie, Ontario, where as children they played hockey together and forged a bond that would last the rest of their lives.

As professionals they were always adversaries – Phil became the league points leader in Boston and Tony the league's top goalie in Chicago. But after their playing days were done they came together once again in Florida where they joined forces to start the Tampa Bay Lightning NHL expansion team in 1992.

"I would speculate that I have rowed around the world at least twenty-five times," says Silken Laumann in this revealing documentary about the woman who came back from a career-ending injury to win an Olympic medal.

Silken Laumann: Flying on Water chronicles the many sides of this extraordinary athlete and woman who continues to pursue her professional and private life with trademark vigour.

Emily Carr is one of Canada's most celebrated artists and authors. Carr was a woman out of step with her time – a rebel in an age of Victorian correctness; an artist dedicated to work, not hearth and home, and an eccentric who camped out in the woods with a menagerie of animals and even hung chairs from the ceiling because she didn't like clutter.

Every day, 100 million readers open their newspapers and check in on the Pattersons - the comic strip family featured in Lynn Johnston's For Better or For Worse.

The everyday antics of John, Elly and their three kids have made the strip one of the most popular in North America - and one of the most controversial.

Christine Silverberg was named Chief of the Calgary Police Service – making history as the first woman to head up a big city police force in Canada. Who she is and how she did it, is the story of Top Cop as told on Life and Times.

Never Give Up Your Dreams provides a glimpse of the Man in Motion Tour never seen before. Viewers witness the enormous physical and emotional costs paid by Hansen. "I busted myself," he said. "The tour was about digging down and immersing myself in the struggle of my life."

The development of the relationship between Hansen and physiotherapist Amanda Reid (who married him after the tour) is explored through rare footage of the tour and through interviews with the couple.

The documentary traces Chief Dan George's journey from Salish Village to Hollywood fame, and features interviews with actor Dustin Hoffman, and Little Big Man director Arthur Penn. Dan George never studied acting, yet he was nominated for an Academy Award™.