By: Brittany Feazell

What do you get when you cross a vampire who wants to do good with a gritty police detective intent on always solving his current murder cases? Twilight meets Law & Order? No! What you get is Forever Knight, a-long-since-canceled early ’90s CBS show that seriously paved the way for what we’re seeing everywhere now. It was such a unique idea in its time, mixing centuries-old vampire lore and mythology with modern crime dilemmas, like street gangs, drug rings, and organized crime. You got a hefty dose of vampires and their problems in each episode, along with a well-played crime mystery.

So what exactly was the deal? Nicholas “Nick” Knight (Geraint Wyn Davies) was “brought across” in 1228 by his master Lucien Lacroix (Nigel Bennett). They, along with Janette (Deborah Duchene), Lucien’s other “child” and Nick’s now vampire sister, took Europe by storm, reveling in their power, money and general wickedness. But somewhere along the way, Nick saw the light and decided he didn’t want to be bad anymore. He gave up his evil ways and vowed to never drink human blood again, instead opting for animals. Totally not fair for the animals, I know.

Nick left his undead family and chose to keep busy with many human jobs in his long life span, but his favorite was being a cop. You see, he couldn’t just declare that he was good now; he had to make up or atone for his past life – and what better way to give back to the world than protecting it from the very scum he used to be?

Nick and his vampire sister are reunited in present day Toronto, and while she still enjoys a good wine glass of O+, she doesn’t outright kill like she used to. But, unlike Nick, she has no respect for mere humans and regards them with nothing but utter disdain, believing they are entirely beneath her. She has to earn a living, though, and runs a popular underground nightclub. It’s a heaven for the local vampire population and mortals who couldn’t care either way. Nick often visits her when he needs the kind of info only a centuries-old vampiress can provide. While she scoffs at her bother’s desire to be “good” and encourages him to revert back to his old way, she still cares deeply for him and they are often very affectionate. You see, when living with their master, they were not only “brother and sister” but lovers as well.

Though we think Lacroix is gone for good in the second part of the two-part series premiere, he surprises us all in the second season and comes back to Toronto. He is disgusted with Nick’s desire to be good and does everything in his considerable power to keep him from achieving his goal.

I hate to give anything away because I thoroughly encourage everyone to go out there and give this show a look. All three seasons are available on DVD and are so very worth having. Nick’s quest isn’t only to repay society for his past sins but to find some miracle “cure” to become human again — only then can he be redeemed. I’ve always thought the show had a really good message mixed with the murders and mayhem, which is no matter what we do or how bad we were, forgiveness is always out there. We just have to seek it out.

Adding liberal doses of humor in a somewhat dark-themed show was Nick’s partner Don Schanke (John Kapelos). Though he never found out Nick was a vampire, he became close with his partner, and their relationship was definitely a high point of the show.

While Nick and Janette had, well, whatever they had, someone else complicated things a bit. Medical examiner Natalie (Catherine Disher), who knew Nick’s secret and guarded it with her life, was hopelessly in love with him. He cared very much for her as well, and the Janette-Nick-Natalie dynamic was interesting to watch, to say the least.

If all this sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because this was a similar concept used by Joss Whedon in his Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off, Angel. In Whedon’s show, his main vampire wanted to be good and atone for his past deeds, he was a detective, and he even drove a convertible like Nick Knight did! I was (and still am) an insanely huge Buffy and Angel fan, but I have to give it to Nick Knight because, after all, he did it first.

With shows like True Blood and Moonlight, it seems like vampires are making a resurgence in popular culture. Just go to any local Hot Topic and I guarantee you’ll see a gaggle of girls spending their parents hard-earned money on as much Twilight stuff as they can carry. Vampires are back (did they ever really leave, though?), and now would have been a great time for Forever Knight to grace our TV screens. But, like the vampires we’re all watching with such interest these days, Forever Knight is timeless, immortal and will live on in this fan’s heart forever.