Over the first five episodes of CTV detective series The Detail, Detective Kyle Price (David Cubitt) has had his eye on two people: former girlfriend Stevie (Angela Griffin) and long-time murder suspect Alvin Flowers (Hume Baugh).
Though Kyle loves one and hates the other, he is focused on both because he feels they each got away. Stevie left him without explanation to marry her husband Jono (Matthew Edison), and Flowers eluded arrest for a series of brutal murders—a situation that drove Stevie’s dad, Kyle’s mentor, to take his own life.
Both of these situations come to a head in Sunday’s new episode, “When One Door Closes,” when the body of a woman thought to be Flowers’ latest victim washes up on a local beach. To get us ready for the big episode, veteran actor David Cubitt (Van Helsing, Bates Motel, Medium) joined us by phone to give us some insight into his character and preview where Kyle and Stevie’s relationship may be headed.
How did you become involved with The Detail?
David Cubitt: I had been a fan of the original British show, Scott & Bailey. I loved it. And then I heard that CTV was casting for a show inspired by it, and I was really excited about that. But in the original show, really all the interesting characters were women. All the primary characters were female. But in the Canadian version—I think being sort of the apologists that we are in Canada—we wouldn’t fully do that. So, I had the good fortune of getting one of the male parts that they beefed up a little bit for the Canadian version. And Kyle is a really interesting character, so it’s worked out well.
Was there something about Kyle that you particularly related to or were drawn to right off the bat?
First of all, the show deals with the personal lives of the characters in a way that a lot of procedurals don’t, so that was interesting in and of itself. But Kyle himself has an interesting history that goes back to working with Stevie’s father and a case that was very devastating for the father and for Kyle, who left homicide altogether because of it. And he also has a romantic past with Stevie, and his coming back to her place of work at this homicide division is very complicated.
Kyle and Stevie’s relationship is definitely complex, and he still seems to be pining for her. Is he ever going to be able to move on?
He alludes to the fact that part of the reason he came back was to resolve that flame that’s still sort of burning in him for her. So even though she’s married, he seems to be willing to confront his feelings from the past and to figure out what that is.
As you mentioned, Kyle is also haunted by the Alvin Flowers case. He’s been watching the guy even though he’s been told to stay away from him. Why is that case eating at him so much?
Because he was a serial killer and strung the police along, and they just were never able to pin him down and figure out who it was. And it drove Stevie’s father to suicide, and he was very close with Kyle, so that just wrecked Kyle’s life there for a while. So now when this Brooke Dodson case shows up, with a similar M.O. to the murder scenes from the Alvin Flowers case of the past, it brings all the history back to him.
And all that comes up again in this Sunday’s new episode. What can you hint about that?
I can say that there’s a nice twist at the end as well as going further into Kyle and Stevie’s romantic situation. We go a little deeper there and learn a little bit more about that relationship.
What else can viewers expect in the second half of the season?
We go very deeply into Jack’s [Shenae Grimes-Beech] personal life, which is an absolute mess, a total disaster. And I think it’s really refreshing television to see a cop who has such a complicated personal life holding it together at work and falling apart at home.
What do you look for in an acting role? What piques your interest the most?
Personal storyline mostly. So many roles, especially in a lot of the stuff that I do, are purely procedural where you’re basically just moving the plot along. So, as soon as there’s a serious interest in a personal storyline, then there’s actually something to do as an actor.
TV revivals are everywhere right now. Looking back at all the series you’ve worked on, what one would you most like to see brought back?
I did this really fantastic pilot in New York—well, it probably wasn’t a fantastic pilot because it never got picked up—called Mysteries of 71st Street. It was a Woody Allen-ish quirky couple solving crime kind of inadvertently, and it was really fun. And I also did a show in London called The American Embassy, and that was fantastic, with shooting in London and the political intrigue. Those are two good ones.
The Detail airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on CTV.
Images courtesy of Bell Media.
