• Richard Strong (
Rick Mercer), the central character, is an ambitious, machiavellian employee trying to navigate, scheme and backstab his way to the CEO's chair; in the first episode, he makes his way from junior
script reader to television producer by having his boss (and brother-in-law) Ray Drodge fired. Ruthless and amoral, he is better at his job than most of his colleagues. Richard has had relationships with Veronica Miller, Lisa Sutton and Siobhan Roy, but generally as an opportunity to manipulate rather than out of love. The character was partially inspired by
Ian McKellen's performance in the 1995
film adaptation of
Shakespeare's Richard III. He personifies human vice, unfettered by ethics. • Alan Roy (
Peter Keleghan), the firm's , is a charismatic but intellectually-questionable womanizer who often succeeds more by accident than skill and, much more often, fails miserably. He is frequently mystified that his management style – a combination of bad production ideas, offbeat health fads and half-understood slogans from management books – does not rouse office morale. Alan's career was launched with his first film,
Prom Night at Horny High, which was a commercial success despite being lowbrow and indecent. (Keleghan had an early starring role in the 1983 sex comedy
Screwballs.) Keleghan described the character as a cross between
Alliance Communications head
Robert Lantos and
The Simpsons Mr. Burns. Producer
Michael Donovan joked that Alan reflected the showrunners' impression of him. • Veronica Miller (
Leah Pinsent) is the firm's chief operating officer. Although she is generally overworked, doing the jobs of several other employees, she is still forced to do idiotic and degrading tasks for Alan. Veronica occasionally becomes fed up with her poor treatment and sabotages a project or event, which usually spurs Alan to improve her working conditions and meet her demands. The office problem-solver, she is generally an ally of Richard's in making the best of Alan's decisions but will double-cross him if necessary. • Victor Sela (
Dan Lett) is head of Pyramid's film division and a general office sycophant, willing to do almost anything Alan asks of him (no matter how demeaning). He is usually very positive about Alan's schemes. In a test, however, Victor is the least loyal. • Wanda Mattice (
Jackie Torrens), Alan's assistant, uses her influence in the day-to-day workings of the office to obtain power beyond her role in the corporate hierarchy and knows when it is to her advantage to act less intelligent. Although she frequently dresses strangely and appears frumpy, Alan is attracted to her and they frequently have sex in the office. • Lisa Sutton (
Janet Kidder) is a producer and Victor's girlfriend. Richard considers her a threat to his power, and Alan dislikes her for ignoring (or spurning) his attempts to seduce her. • Raymond Drodge (
Ron James) is a producer. Formerly the head of television development, he is fired in the pilot after Richard and Siobhan frame him for sexually harassing Siobhan. He is later rehired in a much lower position after Richard gets his old job. Due to Richard's manipulation, Raymond's marriage falls apart and he begins to believe that he is an alcoholic. • Michael Rushton (
Alex Carter) is the dimwitted, egotistical star of
The Sword of Damacles. • Siobhan Roy (
Emily Hampshire), Alan's daughter, is one of the stars of
Beaver Creek. Fully aware that being the boss's daughter gives her job security, she freely schemes and manipulates to get whatever she wants. • Brian Switzer (
Chas Lawther), nicknamed "Network Brian", is an executive with the television network which airs
Beaver Creek and its main liaison with Pyramid.
Notable guest stars Most people employed in Canadian television enjoyed the programme, which created a stir in the industry and attracted a number of guest stars: •
Gordon Pinsent as Walter Franklyn, star of
Beaver Creek and "Canada's most beloved actor". Pinsent returns in the last episode as a dairy mogul who buys the company. Mercer considered Pinsent's work to be a major influence on his career, and was extremely pleased to have him in the cast; during the series' production, Mercer narrated a biography of Pinsent. •
Peter Blais as Geoff, an actor who
comes out and subsequently wants Parson Hubbard (his character on
Beaver Creek) to be gay • Andrew Bush as a young method actor who plays Blind Jimmy on
Beaver Creek •
Mary-Colin Chisholm as an actor who plays Nurse Melissa on
Beaver Creek •
Maury Chaykin as Captain McGee, a kiddie entertainer who is caught in a sex scandal •
Andy Jones as Fritz Hoffman, a German TV executive who believes that
Beaver Creek is a sexier version of ''
Dawson's Creek'' •
Sarah Polley as the head of the Church of cult •
Shirley Douglas and
Margot Kidder appeared as fading Hollywood actresses making guest appearances on
Beaver Creek. •
Megan Follows (the real-life star of
Anne of Green Gables) as Mandy Forward, the former "Adele of Beaver Creek", who returned for a reunion movie and discovered that after her previous Beaver Creek movie, Alan kept the sets up to produce a
pornographic knockoff. •
Mark McKinney as Dean Sutherland, a released convict who wants to sell his story •
Don McKellar as Adam Kalilieh, an independent art film director •
Joe Flaherty as a mayoral candidate who hires Pyramid to smear his opponent •
Cynthia Dale and
C. David Johnson as a husband-and-wife motivational team •
Colin Mochrie as Frank Roy: Alan's mentally-handicapped brother who, as part of an elaborate tax dodge orchestrated by Alan, is revealed as the actual Pyramid CEO. Several Canadian media personalities made cameos as fictionalized versions of themselves, including
Nicholas Campbell,
Ann-Marie MacDonald,
Moses Znaimer,
Kiefer Sutherland,
Evan Solomon,
Peter Gzowski,
Ann Medina and
Gino Empry. ==Development and writing==