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Episode one of The Dark Years begins at the end of the Roaring '20s in the newsrooms of The Toronto Daily Star, a big-city newspaper whose popularity comes from its appeal to "the little guy." Reporters at The Toronto Daily Star shed light on "The Dark Years" by collecting stories and anecdotes from the ordinary people who lived through the daily hardships, humiliations and hungers that defined the Great Depression.

Throughout this episode, we move from the Toronto skyscraper offices of the Star into the field where true stories are found, reported and, as editor Harry Hindmarsh tells us, "played big." Our guides through this world are Hindmarsh, the Star reporters, even a newsroom copy boy. Each character offers a personal entry point into first-hand accounts of Canadian experiences during the 1930s, connecting these stories to the larger global context that shaped those critical years.

Evocative animation transports us to the era: to the drifter settlements on the Don River known as "jungles"; to the missions serving hardworking "men out of luck"; to the hard-luck stories of a Great War veteran; and into the lives of men who must ride the rails and depend on the kindness of strangers to get by. We meet Tim Buck, a Canadian communist leader, and follow him through his visit to communist Russia, his sedition trial and imprisonment in Canada, and the attempt on his life in prison. Roving reporter Gordon Sinclair takes us to Germany, where he encounters Nazi soldiers in a restaurant, interviews Hitler, and sees, in a moment of ominous foreshadowing, what effect the early years of the decade have had on the people of Germany.

The first episode of this miniseries draws us into the everyday, extraordinary worlds of regular folk who lived- and died- during The Dark Years.

Harry Hindmarsh, Gordon Sinclair, Tim Buck, Adolf Hitler

"The Dark Years" uses original animation, archival footage and eyewitness accounts to bring to life colorful stories from the 1930s in Canada. Featuring the voices of some of Canada's best-known actors, this playful three-part series revolves around an adventurous group of Canadian newsmen at a big city newspaper. These spirited reporters set out to cover the major events of the decade, from record-breaking cross-Atlantic flights, and the birth of the world-famous Dionne quintuplets, to the slow march to war.

This mini-series was five years in the making.

The documentary featured a portrayal of Harry Hindmarsh, legendary editor of the Toronto Daily Star. However, neither the Star nor the Hindmarsh family participated in the making of the documentary.

Story editor and senior researcher Barbara Sears had the idea of using the Star as a framing device for the events of the story.

"The (Star) really was on a kind of mission," director Steven Silver said in an interview with the modern-day paper. "It mattered to them and to the paper and to (publisher) Joe Atkinson and to the country itself, that they document this time. It really did feel like history was ending, that the world would never be the same."

Silver decided upon using animator for the documentary: "I knew at the beginning that the kind of lightness of animation would be useful in dealing with the subject matter. "I also knew the animation was going to liberate me because I could choose the best of the stories, knowing I wouldn't have to hunt for stock footage to tell those stories."

Animation director John Halfpenny used heavy shadows and other comic-book techniques to emphasize the "larger than life" images of the reporters.

Techniques varied from cubism (to portray the Spanish Civil War) to a Looney Tunes took for the appearance of Adolf Hitler in 1930.

While Hindmarsh's narration was based on public materials, screenwriter Steve Lucas provided the words.

"I needed somebody who could speak to every moment in the Star," said Silver. "Obviously, (Hindmarsh) didn't say all the words he says in the documentary. But I needed a narrator who would be of the time."