Internationally Speaking

Besides the English Television show, Rising Damp which I featured in this blog earlier this month, other television shows like Due South are produced and filmed in countries outside of the U.S and having a main character who wears union suits. Perhaps you caught the mid-nineties TV show with Constable Benton Fraser of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. 

Like me and many of you, Fraser preferred wearing red union suits to bed. He would read for awhile before turning out the light to get some well earned rest.

Realizing the photos are a bit dark especially if you view on your smart phone, 
it's only because, Fraser reads in bed with only a dim lamp.
View these on your computer or laptop for best results.

Due South was a popular dramatic comedy crime show filmed primarily in Toronto, Canada. Produced by Alliance Communications and created by Paul Haggis, it ran for four seasons beginning in April, 1994. The show first appeared as a movie on Canadian television, later being picked up and financed by BBC. Soon, it was aired in the United States.

RCMP officer Benton Fraser worked out of the Canadian Consulate in Chicago and worked closely with the Chicago Police Department. Growing up wearing red combinations, the thirty-something crime fighter continued to wear union suits into adulthood. Why not? The windy city is often times very cold. Besides what would a RCMP officer wear under his red uniform? 

Part of the comedic situations included Fraser wearing his long red underwear, usually with white socks, in several of the episodes.

One of the first examples was from March 9, 1995's The Blue Line. In this one, a friend of his, he had known from when they were teenage boys, had become a popular but cocky pro ice hockey player who gets involved with the mob. He shows up late one night, walking into Fraser's unlocked apartment. Fraser is reading by lamplight in his red union suit and does not seem over alarmed at being interrupted. His deaf white wolf seems to sense happenings but seldom barks.

Fraser rises out of bed to greet his late night visitor... 

and soon gives up his bed to his guest volunteering to sleep on the floor... 

After talking deep into the night about their boyhood adventures and current jobs, the exhausted duo fall asleep. 

Catch this series on YouTube or Daily Motion to find that Fraser, perhaps reluctantly, agreed to be a bodyguard for his arrogant, yet talented, friend. 

Coming soon: additional episodes of the union suit clad Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman. 

From January, 1996 - "The Mask"

If you have seen other instances of Fraser running around in his red combinations, be sure to email or comment below. I will post over the next couple of weeks... Chris