Road to Avonlea was a television series which was first broadcast in Canada and the United States between 1990 and 1996. It was created by Kevin Sullivan and produced by Sullivan Films (later Sullivan Entertainment) in association with CBC and the Disney Channel, with additional funding from Telefilm Canada

Telefilm Canada

Telefilm Canada or Téléfilm Canada is a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Canada.It is the primary federal cultural agency dedicated to the development and promotion of the Canadian audiovisual industry....

.

It was adapted from the following books by L.M. Montgomery (author of Anne of Green Gables

Anne of Green Gables

Anne of Green Gables is a bestselling novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery published in 1908. Set in 1878, it was written as fiction for readers of all ages, but in recent decades has been considered a children's book...

, which Sullivan had previously adapted as Anne of Green Gables in 1985 and Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel

Anne of Avonlea (1987 film)

Anne of Avonlea is a 1987 television film. It is a sequel to the 1985 Anne of Green Gables film. The film dramatizes material from several books in the eight-novel "Anne" series by L. M. Montgomery; they are Anne of Avonlea , Anne of the Island and Anne of Windy Poplars...

in 1987): The Story Girl

The Story Girl

The Story Girl is a 1911 novel by Canadian author L. M. Montgomery. It narrates the adventures of a group of young cousins and their friends who live in a rural community on Prince Edward Island, Canada....

, The Golden Road

The Golden Road (1913 novel)

The Golden Road is a 1913 novel by Canadian author L. M. Montgomery.-Background:As a child, Montgomery learned many stories from her great aunt Mary Lawson. She later used these in The Story Girl and The Golden Road....

, Chronicles of Avonlea

Chronicles of Avonlea

Chronicles of Avonlea is a collection of short stories by L. M. Montgomery, related to the Anne of Green Gables series. It features an abundance of stories relating to the fictional Canadian village of Avonlea, and was first published in 1912....

and Further Chronicles of Avonlea

Further Chronicles of Avonlea

Further Chronicles of Avonlea is a collection of short stories by L. M. Montgomery and is a sequel to Chronicles of Avonlea. Published in 1920, it includes a number of stories relating to the inhabitants of the fictional Canadian village of Avonlea and its region, located on Prince Edward Island.-...

.

Some episodes of the show were turned into the independent books by different authors. There have been around 30 titles released.

In the United States, its title was shortened to simply Avonlea, and a number of episodes were re-titled and re-ordered. When the series was released on VHS and DVD in the United States, the title changed from Road to Avonlea to Tales from Avonlea.

The series is set in the fictional small town of Avonlea

Avonlea

Avonlea is a fictional community located on Prince Edward Island, Canada, and is the setting of Lucy Maud Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables, following the adventures of Anne Shirley, as well as its sequels, and the television series Road to Avonlea.Montgomery drew much of her inspiration for...

, Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island is a Canadian province consisting of an island of the same name, as well as other islands. The maritime province is the smallest in the nation in both land area and population...

, in the early 20th century (1903–1912). There, 10-year-old Montreal heiress Sara Stanley (Sarah Polley

Sarah Polley

Sarah Polley is a Canadian actress, singer, film director, and screenwriter. Polley first attained notice in her role as Sara Stanley in the Canadian television series, Road to Avonlea...

) is sent by her wealthy father to live with her two maiden aunts, Hetty and Olivia King, to be near her late mother's side of the family. The show's focus shifted over the years from Sara's interactions with her new-found relatives, to stories about the King family. Later seasons of the show focused more on residents of Avonlea who were connected to the King family, and Sarah Polley left the show to focus on academics, returning for one guest appearance in the 6th season and one in 7th season.

Following the series proper, a reunion movie called Happy Christmas, Miss King (aka An Avonlea Christmas) was produced in 1998.

Major characters

• Sara Stanley (played by Sarah Polley
  Sarah Polley
  Sarah Polley is a Canadian actress, singer, film director, and screenwriter. Polley first attained notice in her role as Sara Stanley in the Canadian television series, Road to Avonlea...
  
  ) - Sara is an adventurous eleven-year-old girl used to fine living, including a nanny, in Montreal
  Montreal
  Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
  
   who must learn to adjust to the simpler life in Avonlea. Her mother was Ruth King, sister to Hetty, Alec, Roger and Olivia, who died of TB
  Tuberculosis
  Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
  
   when Sara was a toddler. When Sara's father runs into trouble, he arranges to have Sara and her Nanny Louisa stay for a time in Avonlea. Sara stays without her nanny and lives with her single aunts Hetty and Olivia at Rose Cottage. In seasons 3-5, Sara mostly concerns herself with matchmaking in Avonlea. This causes much controversy within the conservative hamlet of Avonlea. In season 6, both Nanny Louisa and Aunt Hetty start planning her future without consulting Sara. Sara, on the other hand, has plans of her own. She yearns to become a writer and has applied to a prestigious writing school in Paris. In the end, Nanny Louisa and Aunt Hetty agree to Sara's wishes to attend school in Paris. She later returns for her cousin Felicity King's wedding.
• Henrietta "Hetty" King (played by Jackie Burroughs
  Jackie Burroughs
  Jacqueline "Jackie" Burroughs was an English-born Canadian actress.-Life and career:Born in Lancashire, England, Burroughs acted in live theatre at Ontario's Stratford Festival...
  
  ) - Hetty is the staid, humourless, middle-aged schoolteacher of Avonlea and the head of the King family as she was the oldest. She resides at Rose Cottage with her sister, Olivia, and her niece, Sara. In the later seasons, Hetty stops teaching to write. While Sara is in Europe with her nanny, Hetty takes in Mrs. Lynde and the twins Davey and Dora Keith.
• Olivia King (played by Mag Ruffman
  Mag Ruffman
  Mag Ruffman is a Canadian comedian, actress and television host.She has played roles in films such as Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea and TV series Road to Avonlea....
  
  ) - Olivia is Sara's more affectionate, younger aunt and the youngest of the King siblings. She later marries Jasper Dale and leaves Rose Cottage. Before her marriage Olivia begins working as a reporter for the local paper. It is through this job that Olivia becomes close to Jasper Dale. This is because he does the photography for her stories, continuing to do so after their marriage. Jasper and Olivia have a son named Montgomery and later adopt Alicia, a baby girl from one of their employees at the cannery.
• Alec King (played by Cedric Smith
  Cedric Smith (actor)
  Cedric Smith is a British-Canadian actor and musician. He played Alec King in the CBC television series Road to Avonlea and was the voice of Professor X in the X-Men TV series.-Music:...
  
  ) - Alec is Hetty's and Olivia's brother, the firstborn son, and Sara's uncle. He is a farmer and lives with his family next door to Rose Cottage at King Farm.
• Janet King (played by Lally Cadeau
  Lally Cadeau
  Lally Cadeau is a Canadian actress. An accomplished stage and television actress, she has been a mainstay with the Stratford Festival since 1998. She is best known for her role as Janet King in the CBC Television series Road to Avonlea...
  
  ) - Janet is Alec's loving but independent-minded wife. She is mother to Felicity, Felix, Cecily and Daniel King. She has a sister, Abigail.
• Felicity King (played by Gema Zamprogna
  Gema Zamprogna
  Gema Zamprogna , is a Canadian actress. She best known for her role as Felicity King on Road to Avonlea and Mackie "Mac" Daniels in The Challengers.- Personal life :...
  
  ) - Felicity is the elder daughter of Alec and Janet. She often insists on taking on adult responsibilities and feels superior to her younger siblings and her cousin Sara. She accepts Gus Pike’s proposal of marriage - only to learn that he is lost at sea. Over the course of the series, Felicity wants to be a wife, a teacher, and a doctor, but eventually runs the Avonlea Foundling Home.
• Felix King (played by Zachary Bennett
  Zachary Bennett
  Zachary Bennett is a Canadian actor and musician in Toronto, Ontario, who is best known for playing Felix King in Road to Avonlea. He also co-starred in the 2006 TV film Jekyll + Hyde.He was born in London, Ontario...
  
  ) - Felix is Alec's and Janet's older son. He is mischievous and often gets into trouble. Felix befriends Izzy (Isolde), the daughter of the new widowed school teacher Mr. Pettibone who takes over after Hetty retires. In the later seasons, there is the beginning of a romance between Felix and Izzy.
• Cecily King (played by Harmony Cramp and later by Molly Atkinson) - Cecily is the quiet, younger daughter of Alec and Janet. The actress switch occurs after Cecily becomes ill with tuberculosis and goes to a sanitarium in the United States. She is more interested in the farm work than her brother, Felix, and Alec considers leaving the farm to her.

Secondary characters

• Rachel Lynde (played by Patricia Hamilton
  Patricia Hamilton
  Patricia Hamilton is a Canadian actress, perhaps best known as "Rachel Lynde" in Anne of Green Gables, its sequels: Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel, Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story, and Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning and several Anne of Green Gables related films...
  
  ) - Rachel is the local busybody and self-appointed moral guardian of Avonlea. Her character originally appeared in Anne of Green Gables
  Anne of Green Gables
  Anne of Green Gables is a bestselling novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery published in 1908. Set in 1878, it was written as fiction for readers of all ages, but in recent decades has been considered a children's book...
  
  . In the beginning of the series Rachel lives with her best friend, Marilla Cuthbert, at Green Gables. After Marilla's death, Rachel suffers a stroke and moves in with her friend (and sometimes enemy) Hetty King and they raise Davy and Dora Keith.
• Gus Pike (played by Michael Mahonen
  Michael Mahonen
  Michael Mahonen is a Canadian actor, director and screen writer.-Biography:As a child Michael did not have a particular interest in acting and looks back on his first acting experience as something he wasn’t the least bit interested in or inspired to do. “It was some sort of Charlie Brown show in...
  
  ) - Gus is a young vagabond who grows to earn the respect of the townsfolk. (Seasons 2-5) He is known to the viewers for his use of Maritimer English
  Maritimer English
  Canadian Maritime English or Maritimer English is a dialect of English spoken in the Maritime provinces of Canada. Quirks include the removal of pre-consonantal sounds, and a faster speech tempo...
  
  . Gus is also a sailor and he leaves Avonlea for a time to find his mother, who he thought had died long ago. After word of a hurricane, he is presumed dead, but is found by Felicity and Hetty along the eastern shore of the United States. When they find him he is blind and they bring him back to Canada for surgery to restore his sight. After the surgery, Gus marries Felicity.
• Eliza Ward (played by Kay Tremblay
  Kay Tremblay
  Kay Tremblay was a Canadian film actress, also appearing on television and theatre. She was best-known for her Gemini Award-winning role of Great Aunt Eliza on Road to Avonlea....
  
  ) - Great Aunt Eliza is aunt to Janet and Abigail. Eliza came to King farm for several visits and proved to be eccentric and overbearing. Later in the series Eliza moves in with the Kings and becomes a more permanent fixture of King Farm, where her wit and wisdom become indispensable to the King family.
• Jasper Dale (played by R.H. Thomson) - Jasper is a shy, stammering photographer and inventor who eventually marries Olivia. Jasper and Olivia buy the local cannery in the later seasons, which in the final season catches fire and burns down.
• Marilla Cuthbert (played by Colleen Dewhurst
  Colleen Dewhurst
  Colleen Rose Dewhurst was a Canadian-American actress known for a while as "the Queen of Off-Broadway." In her autobiography, Dewhurst wrote: "I had moved so quickly from one Off-Broadway production to the next that I was known, at one point, as the 'Queen of Off-Broadway'...
  
  ) - Marilla is Rachel's more tolerant best friend. She is also a character brought back from Anne of Green Gables. After raising Anne Shirley, she decides to adopt the children of her distant relative, Mary Keith, when she dies. Though Rachel is initially opposed to the decision, Davy and Dora Keith find a home with Marilla at Green Gables. (Seasons 1-3: character passes away after the actress's death in 1991)
• Davy Keith (played by Kyle Labine
  Kyle Labine
  Jonathan Kyle Labine is a Canadian actor. His brothers Tyler Labine and Cameron Labine, also work in the entertainment industry.- Filmography :-External links:...
  
  ) - Davy is Marilla's orphan nephew who, along with his sister Dora, comes to live at Green Gables. Davy is wild and rambunctious, often getting into trouble. Later he, Dora and Rachel move in with Hetty after Marilla's death and Rachel's stroke.
• Dora Keith (played by Ashley Muscroft, Lindsay Murrell) - Dora is Davy's sister and Marilla's orphan niece who comes to live at Green Gables with Marilla and Rachel. Unlike Davy, Dora is well behaved and sweet natured.
• Muriel Stacy Pettibone (played by Marilyn Lightstone) - Muriel Stacy is a schoolteacher, recently promoted to superintendent, and a rival of Hetty. The two women are true polar opposites. Her character also originally appeared in Anne of Green Gables
  Anne of Green Gables
  Anne of Green Gables is a bestselling novel by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery published in 1908. Set in 1878, it was written as fiction for readers of all ages, but in recent decades has been considered a children's book...
  
  . Later in the series, Muriel moves back to Avonlea permanently where she takes over the General Store from the Lawsons and marries Clive Pettibone.
• Clive Pettibone (played by David Fox
  David Fox (actor)
  David Fox is a Canadian actor.Fox was born in Swastika, Ontario. He is best known for his role as schoolteacher Clive Pettibone in Road to Avonlea, and for a variety of roles on television...
  
  ) - Clive, a widower, moves to Avonlea with his three children to take over teaching duties at the Avonlea public school from Hetty. He is a former colonel, so he initially is extremely strict with discipline-oriented activities. Soon after arriving in town, he and Hetty are both revealed to be successful novelists writing under pseudonyms. He is later promoted to superintendent and marries Muriel Stacy.
• Isolde "Izzy" Pettibone (played by Heather Brown) - Izzy is Clive's tomboy daughter and the youngest of his children. She quickly befriends Felix King and eventually becomes his romantic interest. As a child, she aspires to be like her father and has ambitions to become a general in the British army. She has two older brothers, Morgan and Arthur.
• Arthur Pettibone (played by Zachary Ansley
  Zachary Ansley
  Zachary Ansley is a Canadian actor and lawyer born on 21 January 1972 in Vancouver, Canada. He has been acting professionally since he was eleven years old. He was the winner of the first YTV Acting Award...
  
  ) - Arthur is eldest of Clive's children and much older than his brother and sister. He initially resents his father for his mother's death, but their relationship gradually improves after the Pettibone family moves to Avonlea. For some time, he is a rival to Gus for Felicity's affection. A sombre, intellectual, and eccentric young man, Arthur studies to become a veterinarian.
• Clara Potts (played by Maja Ardal) - Clara is one of the main town gossips, she is very fond of Felicity, who is her daughter Sally's rival. Clara is quite often seen with Eulalie Bugle.
• Eulalie Bugle (played by Barbara Hamilton
  Barbara Hamilton (actor)
  Barbara Hamilton was a Canadian actor in film, television and theatre.After studies at Brockville Collegiate Institute, she attended the University of Toronto where her early performances were featured at the Hart House Theatre. She is known for roles in films and television series such as Road to...
  
  ) - Eulalie is one of the town gossips, she is introduced in the first episode of season 3, she is most often seen with either Clara Potts or Rachel Lynde.
• Andrew King (played by Joel Blake) - Andrew is another King cousin sent to live on King Farm at the same time as Sara in Seasons 1 and 2. His father is Roger King, Hetty and Alec's younger brother. Roger and Ruth were born one year apart, to the day.
• Peter Craig (played by Miklos Perlus
  Miklos Perlus
  Miklos Perlus is a Canadian actor and screenwriter. He played Peter Craig on Road to Avonlea and later was co-winner of a Canadian Screenwriters Award for an episode of Degrassi: The Next Generation.- Filmography :...
  
  ) - Peter is a hired hand about Sara's age. The son of Maud Craig, he works at the farm in the first season.
• Peg Bowen (played by Susan Cox) - Peg is a recluse and herbalist who is thought of as the witch of Avonlea.

Guest stars

Through all seven seasons of Road to Avonlea, many big name actors made an appearance on the show, some multiple times. Among them:

• Frances Bay
  Frances Bay
  Frances Bay was a U.S.-based Canadian character actress, best known for playing quirky, elderly women on film and television...
  
  
• Bruce Greenwood
  Bruce Greenwood
  Bruce Greenwood is a Canadian actor and musician. He is generally known for his roles as U.S. presidents in Thirteen Days and National Treasure: Book of Secrets and for his role as Captain Christopher Pike in the 2009 Star Trek film...
  
  
• Christopher Lloyd
  Christopher Lloyd
  Christopher Allen Lloyd is an American actor. He is best known for playing Emmett Brown in the Back to the Future trilogy, Uncle Fester in The Addams Family and Addams Family Values, and Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He played Reverend Jim Ignatowski in the television series Taxi and more...
  
  
• Christopher Reeve
  Christopher Reeve
  Christopher D'Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, author and activist...
  
  
• Diana Rigg
  Diana Rigg
  Dame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg, DBE is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service....
  
  
• Dianne Wiest
  Dianne Wiest
  Dianne Wiest is an American actress. She has had a successful career on stage, television, and film, and has won two Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Wiest has also been nominated for a BAFTA Award.-Early life:...
  
  
• Eugene Levy
  Eugene Levy
  Eugene Levy, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, television director, producer, musician, and writer. He is known for his work in Canadian television series, American movies, and television movies. He is the only actor to have appeared in all eight of the American Pie films, as Noah Levenstein...
  
  
• Faye Dunaway
  Faye Dunaway
  Faye Dunaway is an American actress.Dunaway won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Network after receiving previous nominations for the critically acclaimed films Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown...
  
  
• Jaimz Woolvett
  Jaimz Woolvett
  Jaimz Woolvett is a Canadian actor. He was born on April 14, 1967 in Hamilton, Ontario in Canada. Woolvett's highest-profile role was The Schofield Kid, a near-sighted, aspiring gun-fighter in Clint Eastwood's Academy Award-winning Western Unforgiven . He has a younger brother, Gordon Michael...
  
  
• John Neville
• Jonathan Crombie
  Jonathan Crombie
  Jonathan Crombie is a Canadian actor. He is best known for playing Gilbert Blythe in CBC Television's 1985 telefilm Anne of Green Gables and its two sequels. He was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for his role in the Canadian Stage Company's 1997 production of Tom Stoppard's play Arcadia...
  
  
• Kate Nelligan
  Kate Nelligan
  Patricia Colleen "Kate" Nelligan is a Canadian BAFTA award winning stage, film and television actress.-Early life:Nelligan, the fourth of six children, was born in London, Ontario, the daughter of Josephine Alice , a schoolteacher, and Patrick Joseph Nelligan, a factory repairman and municipal...
  
  
• Madeline Kahn
  Madeline Kahn
  Madeline Kahn was an American actress. Kahn was known primarily for her comedic roles in films such as Paper Moon, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, What's Up, Doc?, and Clue.-Early life:...
  
  
• Maureen Stapleton
  Maureen Stapleton
  Maureen Stapleton was an American actress in film, theater and television.-Early life:Stapleton was born Lois Maureen Stapleton in Troy, New York, the daughter of Irene and John P. Stapleton, and grew up in a strict Irish American Catholic family...
  
  
• Meg Tilly
• W.O. Mitchell
• Michael York
  Michael York (actor)
  Michael York, OBE is an English actor.-Early life:York was born in Fulmer, Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, the son of Florence Edith May , a musician; and Joseph Gwynne Johnson, a Llandovery born Welsh ex-Royal Artillery British Army officer and executive with Marks and Spencer department stores...
  
  
• Ned Beatty
  Ned Beatty
  Ned Thomas Beatty is an American actor who has appeared in more than 100 films and has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain and a Golden Globe Award; won a Drama Desk Award....
  
  
• Peter Coyote
  Peter Coyote
  Peter Coyote is an American actor, author, director, screenwriter and narrator of films, theatre, television and audio books. His voice work includes narrating the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics and Apple's iPad campaign. He has also served as on-camera co-host of the 2000 Oscar...
  
  
• Robby Benson
  Robby Benson
  Robby Benson is an American film and television actor, television director, educator and singer.-Early life:Benson was born Robin David Segal in Dallas, Texas, the son of Freda Ann , a singer, actress, and business promotions manager, and Jerry Segal, a writer...
  
  
• Ryan Gosling
  Ryan Gosling
  Ryan Thomas Gosling is a Canadian actor and musician. He first came to public attention as a child star on the Disney Channel's Mickey Mouse Club and went on to appear in other family entertainment programmes including Are You Afraid of the Dark? , Goosebumps , Breaker High and Young Hercules...
  
  
• Sheila McCarthy
  Sheila McCarthy
  Sheila McCarthy is a Canadian film, stage, television actress, and singer. She is one of the most honoured actors in Canada, having won two Genie Awards , two Gemini Awards , and two Dora Awards among multiple nominations. As of 2007, she can be seen on the Canadian television series Little...
  
  
• Shirley Douglas
  Shirley Douglas
  Shirley Jean Douglas, OC is a Canadian television, film and stage actress and activist. Her acting career combined with her family name has made her recognisable in Canadian film, television and politics.-Personal life:...
  
  
• Stockard Channing
  Stockard Channing
  Stockard Channing is an American stage, film and television actress. She is known for her portrayal of First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series The West Wing; for playing Betty Rizzo in the film Grease; and for her role as Ouisa Kittredge in the play Six Degrees of Separation and its...
  
  
• Treat Williams
  Treat Williams
  Richard Treat Williams is a Screen Actors Guild Award–nominated American actor and children's book author who has appeared on film, stage and television...
  
  
• Zoe Caldwell
  Zoe Caldwell
  Zoe Caldwell, OBE is an Australian-born actress.-Early life:She was born as Ada Caldwell in Melbourne, Australia and was raised in the suburb of Balwyn in Yongala Street. Her father, Edgar, was a plumber and her mother, Zoe, was a taxi dancer. Caldwell's mother, Zoe, had a Peugeot of 1950 vintage...
  
  
• Wayne Robson
  Wayne Robson
  Wayne Robson was a Canadian television, film and stage actor best known for playing the part of Mike Hamar, an ex-convict and sometime thief, on the Canadian sitcom The Red Green Show from 1993 to 2006, as well as in the 2002 film Duct Tape Forever.Robson was born in Vancouver, British Columbia...