H2O II: The Trojan Horse (2008)

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Want to catch up on Part One? H2O still available on DVD at amazon.ca and amazon.com

Paul Gross is Tom McLaughlin, a politician who watches the sidelines as Canada relinquishes sovereignty and joins the United States. The former prime minister refuses to lose his country without a fight. The ensuing global political thriller unfolds in THE TROJAN HORSE, a two-part, four-hour miniseries, premiering on CBC Television, Sunday, March 30, at 8 p.m., and concluding Sunday, April 6, at 8 p.m.

THE TROJAN HORSE features an exceptional cast of international stars, including Emmy Award-winner Tom Skerritt (Picket Fences), Emmy Award-winner and Golden Globe nominee Greta Scacchi (Emma), Gemini- and Genie Award-winner Martha Burns (Slings & Arrows), Genie Award-winner and Gemini nominee Saul Rubinek (Ticket to Heaven), Emmy and Gemini nominee Clark Johnson (The Sentinel), Guy Nadon (H2O), Rachael Crawford, and Gemini Award-winner Gross (Due South). Also starring is world-renowned actor William Hutt (Slings & Arrows) in his final performance.

“As anticipation grows on both sides of the border for the upcoming 2008 American presidential election, THE TROJAN HORSE will captivate audiences with stellar performances in a gripping political thriller,” said Kirstine Layfield, CBC-TV’s executive director of network programming.

Set in modern day North America, McLaughlin watches as a majority of Canadians vote to join the United States of America. The Canadian flag comes down and the country is redrawn into six states. Backed by three powerful European intelligence agencies, McLaughlin runs as an independent for president of the newly formed United States with his ex-wife, Texas Governor Mary Miller (Martha Burns) as his running mate.

Veteran British journalist Helen Madigan (Greta Scacchi) uncovers a shocking plot to undermine democracy in the U.S. Believing McLaughlin is an honest broker, she looks to him to expose the corruption in the current administration but instead, discovers a diabolical scheme that will unravel families and nations.

THE TROJAN HORSE is written by Paul Gross and John Krizanc and directed by Genie Award-winning director Charles Binamé (The Rocket). Executive producers are Paul Gross and Frank Siracusa. It is a Whizbang Films Production.

CBC Television - The Trojan Horse

• A political thriller, the Trojan Horse stars Paul Gross (H2O) as Tom McLaughlin, a politician who watches from the sidelines as Canada relinquishes sovereignty and joins the United States. He refuses to lose his country without a fight, whether it's fair or not.

Carole Gordon, Eclipse Magazine

• The Trojan Horse: A uniquely Canadian political thriller
  In 2004, during the last US Presidential election, Canadian broadcaster CBC aired H2O, an edgy, well-written and compelling drama about the sale of water to an increasingly thirsty USA, which ended shockingly with the annexation of Canada by its neighbour. Having attracted an array of awards, including the 2005 Monte Carlo TV Festival award for best actor in a mini-series for Paul Gross, who stars as Tom McLaughlin, the last Prime Minister of Canada, a sequel was always on the cards ... read more.

Bill Harris, Sun Media

• Trojan Horse sees Canada vote to join U.S.
  Canada votes to join the United States. The maple leaf comes down, the stars-and-stripes goes up, and Canada is redrawn into a half-dozen states. Far-fetched? Canadian Paul Gross isn’t necessarily an advocate of such an occurrence. But with international borders becoming less relevant in the 21st century, Gross doesn’t mind stimulating the conversation in the dramatic setting of The Trojan Horse ... read more.

Gayle MacDonald, The Globe and Mail

• Gross, point-blank
  Don't be fooled by his genial, boy-next-door good looks. Folks who are in actor/writer Paul Gross's inner circle know full well that the pretty packaging is simply a handy cover for a guy whose caustic wit and droll (some might say twisted) sense of humour is rarely kept in check. In CBC Television's upcoming political thriller, The Trojan Horse, Gross mirthfully takes on the absurdities of politics - and the people who thrive in that bizarre milieu. ... read more.

Michael Roberds, Surrey Now

• Trojan Horse carries top talent
  Like last month’s The Englishmen’s Boy, the CBC is producing top quality entertainment that has the look and feel of a U.S. production (this is a compliment) that should keep the masses happy, while never losing the subject matter or top-drawer talent that help hold on to its Canadian content credits ... read more.

Alex Strachan, Canwest News Service

• Paul Gross returns to CBC with political thriller
  There’s the public Paul Gross, known to countless Canadian TV viewers as Const. Benton Fraser the hit ’90s TV show Due South, and to others as temperamental stage actor Geoffrey Tennant in the multi Gemini Award-winning Slings & Arrows. And then there’s the side of Gross few viewers see - the writer, the dream weaver who sits at home and creates fictional characters out of the ether ... read more.

Joshua Ostroff, Eye Weekly

• Past Due South
  If one wants to make a political point, the “what if…?” narrative device can be fantastically effective. Even Marvel Comics used it to wonder what might have been if third-party candidate Captain America defeated Reagan and Carter to become president. For Canadians, the biggest question is: what if we joined the United States? In CBC’s new miniseries The Trojan Horse we have our answer (or, rather, one possible answer) ... read more.

Lee-Anne Goodman, Canadian Press

• Paul Gross's 'The Trojan Horse' a top-notch political thriller
  The Trojan Horse, a political thriller written by and starring Paul Gross, opens with a scenario that could arguably be considered every Canadian’s worst nightmare - a union with the United States following a squeaker of a referendum. Gross's idealogue character, former Canadian prime minister Tom McLaughlin, is so utterly horrified by the result that he embarks upon a grand and global mission to bring some left-leaning Canadian sensibilities to the dangerously imperialistic new mega-nation ... read more.

Robert Cusham, The National Post

• Ah, the North Toronto desert
  Our subject is Gross hypocrisy. I mean that in the nicest way. In Slings and Arrows, Paul Gross played a decent and talented artist haunted by the suspicion that he was a fraud. In The Trojan Horse, the new two-part thriller on CBC, he's a politician whose idealism masks unscrupulous ambition: the same persona turned inside out ... read more.

John Doyle, The Globe and Mail

• A wild ride on the rollercoaster of Canadian politics
  Whither Canada? Now there's a question that, on the surface, seems unlikely to fire up an idea for a political thriller. But it can be done, and done in the mad, fast-paced style that an entertaining political thriller demands ... read more.

Antoine Bertrand, The Canadian

• CBC-TV's mini-series Trojan Horse is a very clever warning to Canadians about the North American Union agenda
  The destruction of Canada depicted in Trojan Horse, was shown to lead to an inherently more dangerous world of growing political intrigue, desires for retribution, violence, and a context for perpetuated war. Any Canadian who seeks to appreciate what is at stake in the current North American Union conspiracy, may wish to educate him/herself by taking time to watch the unfolding Trojan Horse prophetic political thriller. ... read more.

Editorial, Globe and Mail

• Fun, verging on paranoia
  If someone had written down a large number of items of folklore about American politics on little pieces of paper, thrown these up into the air, randomly reassembled them and added a Canadian angle, the result would have been very like the four-hour CBC miniseries The Trojan Horse, which concluded on Sunday. Paul Gross is the co-writer (with John Krizanc) as well as the star who plays the title role, as the horse: a Canadian elected as the president of the United States ... read more.

Our visitors' comments ( )

• "Great show. I loved the plot twists, the intrigue and the suspense. Keep up the great work." - Doug
• "I followed the 2 episodes though I was somewhat dissatisfied. The going back and forth between plots was confusing and the ending, well .... I hope that he'll give more mini-series, hopefully, more enjoyable." - Lise, Québec
• "What a gripping nail biting series televised over two weeks - makes one think long and hard of where we as Canadians hold a fragile balance in the world's future! Paul Gross and the cast are to be highly commended to make these concerns real and make us all think what would happen...? When I reflect on this in today's world it still makes me realize how much as Canadians we have to do our part in the world to protect our fresh water and other natural resources." - Sandra

H2O: The Trojan Horse garnered five Gemini Nominations.

1. Best Direction in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series
   Charles Binamé
   
2. Best Writing in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series
   Paul Gross, John Krizanc
   
3. Best Photography in a Dramatic Program or Series
   Derick Underschultz
   
4. Best Production Design or Art Direction in a Fiction Program or Series
   John Dondertman
   
5. Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic
   Program or Mini-Series
   Saul Rubinek