Unité 9 (or, in English, “Unit 9”) is a Québec television series broadcast from 2012 through 2019 on Radio Canada,[1] the CBC French-language service.
Marie Lamontagne, a mother of two, having been convicted for attempted murder, lives in Unit 9 of Lietteville, a federal penitentiary for women.
There she met several prisoners, whom she characterized as “intelligent, sensitive, extremely generous people, in the process of change.”[7] Series development began in earnest in 2008 with the TVA network's filming of two pilot episodes.
[3] By March 2010 the network had declined to commission more episodes, stating that they preferred targeting a more family-oriented audience.
[8] A year and a half later, she and screenwriter-producer Fabienne Larouche jointly turned to Radio-Canada to support the production, and gained the go-ahead from that network in January 2012.