A still from a scene in the show The Searchers. (submitted photo/Angel Entertainment)

By Derek Cornet

APTN

New TV show a tribute to late Elder Tom Charles

Jan 31, 2024 | 4:21 PM

A new TV show in the works for APTN will serve a tribute to the late Tom Charles, a well-respected Elder of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band known for his skills in locating missing persons.

Doug Cuthand is the executive producer of the show called The Searchers and he’s working with Angel Entertainment to bring it to life. The show involves re-enactments of people lost in the woods, and showcases efforts of search crews to locate the missing individuals.

The show involves cases in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan and could air on APTN in 2025.

“Anybody who has been lost in the woods, it makes for an interesting story on how search parties are put together and how they go out and try to find them,” Cuthand said.

“We are going to be covering that from the point of view of the people lost in the forest or the people who are searching for them. We have a couple in the can already and they are quite interesting stories.”

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Filming for the show has already commenced with shooting being done in Grandmother’s Bay, La Ronge and Stanley Mission. While two have already been completed, another five are currently in development. In total, the show will have 13 episodes in the first season.

Tom Charles was recognized for more than 40 years of search and rescue work in 2020. (Lorne Stewart/Facebook)

“We started this idea when Tom was still alive. APTN liked it and we were going to go ahead with it, but then Tom got sick and passed on,” Cuthand said.

“We dropped it. We didn’t want to do anything about it, but as time went on, I thought there were a lot of interesting stories. It’s a very interesting series, so I thought I would do it as a tribute to him. He inspired it, but it’s done as a tribute to him and his good work.”

Charles began offering his skills as a searcher in 1979 and, until his death in 2021, he assisted in approximately 300 searches. In 2020, he was honoured for his service by the Prince Albert Grand Council during the Saskatchewan First Nations Emergency Management Forum in Saskatoon.

His daughter Kristen Charles has been interviewed for the new show and producers have her blessing for it to move forward.

“I know my dad before he had passed on, he expressed his wishes for it to become a reality,” she said. “It was kind of his last hope, his last baby there. He wanted to make it a reality and that’s kind of us following through with his wishes.”

Cuthand and Angel Entertainment are seeking more stories to be featured on the show. They are offering a $200 finders fee for ideas that successfully make it on to the show. Ideas can be submitted to searchstv@angelentertainment.ca.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com