theme

Fallen Catholic balances dark comedy and heartfelt sincerity, capturing the absurdity of blind faith through the innocent eyes of a child. The tone is warm yet unsettling — nostalgic moments of quiet panic and moral confusion.

origin

Based on the first book of tragicomic memoirs by David Robert Loblaw published in 2018.

​genre

​Dark comedy / coming-of-age / period series

​synopsis

​The story starts with David, a Bible-loving Catholic school child, whose tidy world unravels when he realizes the adults around him truly believe every word of the Bible — from a talking snake, a global flood, a guy inside a whale, and angels sleeping with human women to create giants.

At first, David is confused. Then he gets terrified. Surely, they can’t be serious. The Catholic Catechism is just wonderful, exciting stories, but as he looks around him, he finds himself alone in his thoughts. With his intense love of the stories and his total lack of faith in their supposed divine origin, there must be something wrong with him.

format

30-40 minute television series of 8 episodes with 1 season arc

characters

Major:

• David G, 8 year old boy
• Sister Margaret, traditional nun in full habit
• Ape, David’s big brother, 12 years old
• Mom, David’s mother, late-thirties
• Yvette, David’s big sister, 17 years old

Minor:

• Classmates, overflowing classroom of eight year olds
• Father Holler, traditional priest
• Louis, David’s big brother, 18 years old
• Church-goers, large families
• Movie-goers, hundreds of wild children

episodes

​Pilot: Sister Margaret

• David is horrified to meet the infamous nun, but soon eagerly awaits her end of-day strappings.

Episode 2: Jesus Christ in our Gym

• His brother tries to make Christ appear by blowing out the Sanctuary Lamp.

Episode 3: First Communion

• David receives the Body of Christ in his mouth for the first time and is shocked how dry it is.

Episode 4: Lying to a Priest in Confession

• Flustered at his First Confession, David commits the sin of lying.

Episode 5: There Ain’t No Saint Bob

• His big sister is pressuring him to choose Bob (Dylan) as his Confirmation Name.

Episode 6: My First Drink of Blood

• He gets to witness the miracle of wine turning into blood but misses the big moment.

Episode 7: Limbo and Playing with Yourself

• David is saddened when he learns babies who die without Catholic baptism are tortured forever.

Episode 8: Get Into Heaven Free Card

• Going to Mass and Confession for nine consecutive weeks earns him a ‘Heaven Holy Card.’ 

visual style

​The goal is to create a world that looks comforting but feels off-kilter, reflecting the story’s moral and psychological unease – as if reality were filtered through the boy’s anxious imagination.

comparable

• The Wonder Years - nostalgia and narration (with a touch of existential dread)
• Angela’s Ashes – the funny parts
• After Hours - existential anxiety

setting

​Mid-to-late 1960s in a small community on the Canadian prairies.

sets / locations

​Major:

• Grade school in 1960s Canada: classrooms, gym, and playground
• Low-income housing project: interior of David’s home and outside play areas
• Small church in Regina Saskatchewan

Minor:

• Cathedral in Ponteix Saskatchewan
• Large, old cemetery 
• Hundred-year-old movie theatre
• Catholic summer camp

target audience

Boomers who were children in the 1950s and '60s, and were raised in a religious faith but never really believed. Skeptical and secular viewers who enjoy dark, nostalgic comedy examining belief, authority, and childhood innocence.

the writer

David Robert Loblaw grew up in small-town Saskatchewan, surrounded by people whose faith was absolute and whose curiosity was absent. Fallen Catholic is his attempt to revisit that world — not to mock it, but to understand it.

​Based on his first book of memoirs, this is emotional truth disguised as comedy — a way to laugh at the things that once terrified him, and maybe still do.

Series based on first book of memoirs by David Robert Loblaw published by Cameron House Media

David in back row, far right

Father Holler and David, First Communion, 1966

David's mom, First Communion, 1937

David's sister, First Communion, 1957.

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