TORONTO (CP) _ It was cancelled earlier this year but that didn’t stop the legal drama This Is Wonderland from capturing the most Gemini Award nominations Tuesday.

The CBC drama picked up 12 nods while bio-thriller ReGenesis was second with 10. The miniseries Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story and the Fifth Estate, both CBC productions, followed with nine apiece.

The Geminis, which honour the best in Canadian television, are hitting the road this year. For the first time in its history, the award show will be held outside Toronto, with Richmond, B.C., playing host to the 21st edition on Nov. 4.

Global will broadcast the ceremony.

This Is Wonderland’s nominations include best dramatic series as well as best director (Gail Harvey), best writing (George F. Walker, Dani Romain) and best actress (Cara Pifko) in a dramatic series.

Created by Walker, Romain and Bernard Zukerman, the critically acclaimed Wonderland starred Pifko as Alice De Raey, a young Toronto lawyer who has her eyes opened to the realities of practising law in the criminal courts of Old City Hall.

In February, CBC cancelled the series in its third season, citing low ratings. This Is Wonderland had been averaging 376,000 viewers when it was axed. The series finale aired on March 15.

Zukerman, who produced the show, said he wasn’t surprised it received 12 nominations.

"It was such a strong show with regard to performance," he said. "I knew there’d be a lot of nominations there."

Zukerman said he’s not bitter that the show was cancelled.

"I felt the three-year run was fine," he said. "I was never distraught or upset with CBC. I could understand from their position what the problems were."

In fact, Zukerman said he was torn about even submitting the show for Gemini consideration because he feels the Geminis should be about generating publicity for existing shows and getting people to watch them.

"That was only a quick dilemma," he said. "Ultimately, you develop an incredible loyalty to the people who work on your show."

It’s not the first time a cancelled program has hauled in the most nominations. Last year, The Eleventh Hour led the pack with 15 nominations after it had been pulled by CTV.

Cancelled shows were also among the nominees at Sunday’s Emmy Awards.

ReGenesis, which airs on The Movie Network, received a Gemini nomination for best dramatic series while Ken Girotti and Ron Murphy each received best director nods. Peter Outerbridge, who stars as molecular biologist David Sandstrom in the series, earned a best actor nomination.

The Movie Network’s Slings and Arrows is also up for best drama as is Moccasin Flats, which airs on Aboriginal Peoples Television and Terminal City, another Movie Network show.

Other contenders for best actor in a drama are Gil Bellows for Terminal City, Nigel Bennett for CBC’s At the Hotel, Nicholas Campbell for the cancelled CBC drama Da Vinci’s City Hall and Mark McKinney for Slings and Arrows.

In addition to Pifko, Martha Burns of Slings and Arrows, Martha Henry of At the Hotel, Erin Karpluk of the CHUM Television’s cancelled Godiva’s and Andrea Menard of Moccasin Flats are also in the running for best actress in a drama.

The nominees for best comedy series are CTV’s Corner Gas and Jeff Ltd., History Television’s History Bites, Showcase’s Kenny vs. Spenny and Naked Josh and CBC’s Rick Mercer Report.

CTV and CBC dominated the TV movie category with CBC’s Heyday and Intelligence and CTV’s Hunt for Justice: The Louise Arbour Story, Terry, and One Dead Indian all in the running.

But CTV is absent from the news categories this year after announcing in June it was no longer participating in that area of the awards.

The nominees for best news anchor are CBC’s Peter Mansbridge, Global’s Kevin Newman and Norma Lee MacLeod of CBC News at Six: Halifax.

CBC’s Marketplace and Fifth Estate, along with Vision TV’s 360-degree Vision are nominated for best news information series while CBC’s The National, CityNews at Six in Toronto and Global National are up for best newscast.

For a full list of nominees go to www.geminiawards.ca.