Pit Pony (TV series)

Pit Pony
Starring	Alex Wrathell Jennie Raymond Shaun Smyth Denny Doherty Ellen Page Jeremy Akerman
Country of origin	Canada
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	44
Production
Producer(s)	Andrew Cochran
Running time	30 minutes
Release
Original network	CBC Television
Original release	February 5, 1999 – February 4, 2000

Pit Pony is a 1999 CBC television series which tells the story of small-town life in Glace Bay, on the island of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in 1904. The plot line revolves around the lives of the families of the men and boys who work in the coal mines.

Stories in the series were written by Heather Conkie, Paul Ledoux, Edwina Follows and Lori Houzer. It is based on the award-winning 1997 Canadian TV movie inspired by Joyce Barkhouse's novel of the same name.

The series, like the movie, was produced by Cochran Entertainment. The series was directed by Mike Clattenburg, Stephen Reynolds, and Peter Rowe. 70% of the cast and crew were from Cape Breton and 20% were from other regions of Nova Scotia.

In June 1999, production began for the second season of Pit Pony. However, the series was subsequently cancelled on February 4, 2000.

Pit Pony debuted on Canada's CBC on February 5, 1999 and ended on February 4, 2000. It ran for two seasons with 44 episodes. The Gemini Award-winning series airs in the United States on the Encore (TV network)

Set in the small Nova Scotia mining town of Glace Bay in the early 1900s, the series revolves around the lives and work of the town's male population, virtually all of whom were employed by the local coal mine, and the trials and tribulations of the women of the town, who waited anxiously to see if their loved ones would return home safely.

In particular, the plot line focuses on the story of the MacLean family. Willie MacLean is a 12-year-old boy with a love for horses and liking to school to escape the difficult times his family has. When the series begins, Willie's father has been dead for over a year from coal consumption, and his older brother, John also died in a mine cave in. When Willie's brother was killed in a cave in and his father wounded two or three years earlier (in the Pit Pony TV movie), Willie was forced to fill his brother's shoes to support his older sister Nellie, and two younger sisters, Maggie and Sarah, until their father recovered. Willie found work at the mine lonely and unfriendly; as a result he forms a bond with a pit pony horse in order to make it through each day.

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