Durham County is a Canadian drama series created by Janis Lundman, Adrienne Mitchell and Laurie Finstad Knizhnik and produced by Muse Entertainment and Back Alley Films about a homicide detective who moves his family back to the small town he grew up in after his partner is murdered, only to discover the town has many dark secrets of its own.
The series aired in Canada on The Movie Network and Movie Central from 7 May, 2007 to 29 November, 2010. There are 18 hour-long episodes in three seasons.
The series originally premiered in South Africa on M-Net on Thursday 17 December 2009, at 21h30. Only the first season aired on M-Net. The series later aired on DStv's Sony Entertainment Television (SONY) channel. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 3 premiered on SONY on Monday 27 February 2012, at 20h30. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are six episodes in the third and final season.
Season 1
After his partner is murdered in cold blood, Detective Mike Sweeney moves his family back to the small town where he grew up. But beneath the rural calm of Durham County lurks secrets so dark that even those who carry them can no longer see the light of truth.
Mike Sweeney is no exception. He copes with his wife's battle with cancer by withdrawing into his work, and another woman's arms.
Sparks fly and tension mounts as a series of brutal murders cast a long shadow across Durham County.
Before long, Mike must come face to face with his past when he discovers that Ray Prager, a friend from his teenage years, is his new neighbour.
A deadly rivalry plays out in a psychological game of murder and revenge, drawing the members of both families ever deeper into a deadly web of desire and violence.
Mike's morbidly inquisitive teenage daughter, Sadie, starts to piece together the puzzle and becomes dangerously embroiled in the web being cast by their increasingly psychotic neighbour.
Meanwhile, the evidence and Mike's professional integrity are compromised by his own secret connection to one of the victims. It seems that Ray knows more about Mike than Mike can admit to himself.
Ray will do anything, including using his own family, to fulfil his increasingly brutal desires and psychotic needs. Sex, desperation and coming of age play out as a dangerous game of Russian roulette in Durham County.
Lies and deceit are revealed as family and personal secrets unravel almost as quickly as the lives bound up in them.
Even in quiet Durham County, sex and death wait in the shadows for someone to play.
Season 2
The lesson that "love hurts" is well learned by the characters who inhabit the eerie suburb of Durham County as the series launches its second season.
The series returns to the bleak and disturbing landscape of an alienated suburbia with a new star villain Michelle Forbes, known for her intense portrayals on the HBO series True Blood and In Treatment.
Durham County unfolds season two in the aftermath of the devastating impact of serial killer Ray Prager (played by Justin Louis in the first season, who was replaced by Romano Orzari for the second) on the lives of its characters, anchored by Homicide Detective Mike Sweeney (Hugh Dillon), his now estranged wife Audrey (Hélène Joy) and their traumatized teenage daughter Sadie (Laurence Leboeuf).
Season 2 pits Mike against an antagonist who has found a place in his heart and in his bed.
Dr. Penelope Verrity (Forbes), a forensic psychiatrist, understands the hell Mike suffers as a consequence of his Season 1 encounter with serial killer Ray Prager.
Mike's marriage and family are falling apart, and Pen, having lost her young daughter in a drowning accident, becomes a port in a storm – a charming, beautiful, empathetic lover.
When Mike begins to suspect that Pen may be a murderess, that her daughter's death was deliberate not accidental, he finds himself caught in a game of cat and mouse, emotionally bound to a villain who is ruthless and cunning.
Rejected by her husband and grieving for a daughter we can't be certain she didn't kill, Pen sets her sights on having Mike Sweeney - at any cost...
Season 3
In Season 3, Durham County focuses on a task force that covers crimes along the 401 highway corridor.
Mike Sweeney, now the Superintendent of the Durham police precinct, is on this force, which, when the episode opens, is investigating the murder of two young drug runners. Mike wonders whether these deaths are warnings to other runners or the beginnings of a gang war.
Mike's challenge is how to get through the language barriers and trace the crimes to sources, which may be here or overseas.
Durham, because of its proximity to the 401 corridor, is a transportation hub, one stop on a crime corridor. Nothing has roots here, but everything passes through.
Ivan Sujic (ex-military), partners with Mike on the task-force investigating the drug-trafficking murders. Mike quickly learns that Ivan is distraught because his wife, Katya, is missing and didn't return from a trip to the United States.
The friendship between the two men, a friendship that grows and deepens, also becomes for Mike, a murder investigation.
Mike suspects that Ivan's troubled brother-in-law, Miro, may have something to do with Katya's disappearance and that Ivan may know something about it.
Seasons
Season 1 (6 episodes)
Channel: M-Net | Premiere: 17 Dec 2009 | Finale: 21 Jan 2010 | Thursdays, 21h30
Channel: SONY | Premiere: 17 Oct 2011 | Finale: 21 Nov 2011 | Mondays, 21h20
Season 2 (6 episodes)
Channel: SONY | Premiere: 28 Nov 2011 | Finale: 2 Jan 2012 | Mondays, 21h20
Season 3 (6 episodes)
Channel: SONY | Premiere: 27 Feb 2012 | Finale: 2 Apr 2012 | Mondays, 20h30