Virginie is a French-language Canadian television series that aired Monday through Thursday on Radio-Canada (the French-language CBC television network). It debuted in 1996. The show examined the public and private lives of teachers, students, and families at the fictional Sainte-Jeanne-d'Arc high school. It frequently dealt with controversial social topics, such as teen drug use, ethnic prejudice, divorce, and other subjects touching on contemporary Quebec life. "Virginie" was a téléroman-style drama that often used "cliffhangers" in the storylines. It aired 120 episodes per year of 30 minutes each.
The series was produced and largely written by Fabienne Larouche. Virginie ended in December 2010 after 15 years on air; the last episode aired on December 15, 2010. The final episode drew more than 807,000 viewers in Quebec, or about 200,000 more than its average viewership for a typical episode. The program maintained a high level of popularity throughout its television run.
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Current main characters
Virginie Charest (Stéphanie Crête-Blais, 2007–2010) is a physical education teacher at the school.
Frédéric Perreault (Maxime Denommée), boyfriend of Virginie Charest, is a member of the Canadian Army's Royal 22e Régiment and currently based in Afghanistan. The 2009 season finale cliffhanger suggested that the character died on duty.
Stéphane Lessieur (Peter Miller), former boyfriend of Virginie Boivin and father of her two children. He is currently a police officer with the Sûreté du Québec. He dated the sexologist of the school, Véronique. He is now dating Virginie Charest
Bernard Paré (Jean L'Italien)
Pierre Lacaille (JiCi Lauzon)
Hercule Bellehumeur (Martin Larocque) He is an overweight gym teacher. He is dating Agathe, who is also a gym teacher. Hercule is always on a diet...but loves food and eating too much to resist!
Péneloppe Belhumeur (Sonia Vachon) She was a teacher at Ste-Jeanne D'arc. She is the sister of Hercule Belhummeur, the gym teacher. She used to date Lacaille, and had a child with him.
Hugo Lacasse (played by Patrice Bissonnette before the 2002 season, then by Fabien Dupuis)
Michel Rivest (Marcel Leboeuf)
Ghislaine Cormier (Louise Deschâtelets)
Monique Rivest (Annick Bergeron)
René Ouellet (Michel Forget)
* Bobby Rajotte (Hubert Proulx)
Pierre-Paul Laporte (Benoit Langlais)
Other current characters
“Toutoune” Laporte (Eric Hoziel)
Cathie Laurendeau (Joëlle Morin)
Juge Pringle (Réjean Lefrançois)
Agathe Sirois (Geneviève Néron)
Sylvain Lajoie (Cédric Pépin)
Véronique Gagnon (Christine Beaulieu)
Past characters
Virginie Boivin (Chantal Fontaine, 1996–2008) was the main character until 2008 when she left the series. She was a physical education teacher at the school, who left to live in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean with her two young children.
Maurice Ladouceur (Jean-François Mercier) Maurice was killed by a drunk driver.
Louise Pouliot (Pascale Desrochers) Louise left after giving birth to her child.
Patrick Labbé as Gary Lamothe
Monique Chabot as Cécile Boivin
Claude Blanchard as Pierre Boivin
Anne Dorval as Lucie Chabot
Jean-François Pichette as Daniel Charron
Marie-Joanne Boucher as Claudie Paré
Julie Vincent as Dominique Latreille
Frédéric Angers as Guillaume Tremblay
Michel Daigle as Édouard Lirette
Katerine Mousseau as Mireille Langlois
Jacques L'Heureux as Julien Constantin
Nathalie Gascon as Andrée Constantin*
Véronique Bannon as Karine Constantin
Patrice Godin as Marc Dubuc
Pauline Martin as Suzanne Simoneau