Tag Archives: Allan Hawco

East Coast dramedy Moonshine set to return for Season 2 on CBC next fall, with Allan Hawco joining the cast

From a media release:

Following last week’s Season 1 finale of original east coast Canadian family dramedy series Moonshine (8×60), CBC is revealing casting and production details for Season 2. Created by Sheri Elwood (Lucifer, Call Me Fitz) and produced by Six Eleven Media and Entertainment One (eOne), the series follows the Finley-Cullens, a dysfunctional clan of adult half-siblings battling for control of their family business – a ramshackle summer campground called The Moonshine. Production on the eight-episode second season recently wrapped in Nova Scotia and is set to premiere on CBC in fall 2022, with the entire first season now available to stream on CBC Gem.

The new season will see renowned Canadian star, Allan Hawco (Republic of Doyle, Caught, Frontier, Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, Another Life) join the cast as biker Gale Favreau, following his steamy meeting with Lidia (Jennifer Finnigan) in the Season 1 finale. Picking up where the first season ends, Season 2 will include epic dance routines, dirty bingo, snow crab-jacking and a high stakes turf war with a band of outlaw bikers. Fate will manifest very differently for the entire family, with characters fighting their destiny tooth and nail as Lidia goes to extremes to save the business from financial ruin.

Moonshine stars Jennifer Finnigan (Salvation), Anastasia Phillips (Reign), Emma Hunter (Mr. D), Tom Stevens (Wayward Pines), Alexander Nunez (Avocado Toast), Corrine Koslo (Anne with an E), Peter MacNeill (This Life), Erin Darke (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), Farid Yazdani (Suits), Allegra Fulton (The Shape of Water), James Gilbert (Salvation), Celia Owen (A Small Fortune), and Calem MacDonald (Umbrella Academy).

Guest stars rounding out the cast in Season 2 include Jonathan Silverman (Weekend at Bernie’s), Shelley Thompson (Trailer Park Boys), Jonathan Torrens (Mr. D), Leigh Ann Rose (The Young and the Restless), Ernie Grunwald (Call Me Fitz), Joe Cobden (The Sinner), and Kirstin Howell (Diggstown).

A CBC original series, Moonshine is produced by Six Eleven Media and eOne. Created by Sheri Elwood, who is also showrunner, the show is executive produced alongside Six Eleven Media’s Charles Bishop. Jocelyn Hamilton serves as executive producer for eOne. For CBC, Sally Catto is General Manager, Entertainment, Factual & Sports; Trish Williams is Executive Director, Scripted Content; Sarah Adams is Executive in Charge of Production; and Gosia Kamela is Executive in Charge of Production, Drama. The series is produced with the assistance of the Government of Nova Scotia, Nova Scotia Film & Television Production Incentive Fund. Additionally, funding comes from the Canada Media Fund, Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit and the Canadian Film or Video Tax Credit. Moonshine is distributed internationally by eOne.

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CBC and Lionsgate reunite with Andrew Barnsley and Project 10 for Mark Critch’s original comedy Son of a Critch

From a media release:

CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster, and global content leader Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B) are partnering with “Schitt’s Creek” Emmy® and Golden Globe® winning producer Andrew Barnsley and comedian-actor-writer Mark Critch to bring “SON OF A CRITCH” (13×30) to audiences in Canada, the U.S. and around the world. Created by Critch and Tim McAuliffe (“The Office,” “Last Man on Earth,” and the upcoming “MacGruber” series) and based on Critch’s award-winning, best-selling memoir Son of a Critch: A Childish Newfoundland Memoir, the CBC original series will premiere on CBC TV and CBC Gem in Canada in January 2022, with Lionsgate handling U.S. and international distribution rights.

“Son of a Critch” is the hilarious and very real story of 11-year-old Mark coming of age in St. John’s, Newfoundland in the 80’s. It’s a heartfelt window into the life of a child – much older inside than his 11 years – using comedy and self-deprecation to win friends and connect with the small collection of people in his limited world. With production starting today in St. John’s, Newfoundland, the comedy stars Mark Critch as his father and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (Pinocchio) as young Mark. Ainsworth can currently be seen as one of the leads in the limited series “The Haunting of Bly Manor” for director Mike Flanagan on Netflix, and stars as Pinocchio opposite Tom Hanks in Walt Disney Pictures’ upcoming live action remake of Pinocchio for director Robert Zemeckis. Additionally, Claire Rankin (Molly’s Game) has been cast as Mark’s mother, Mary, alongside newcomers Sophia Powers and Mark Rivera, who are cast as classmates of young Mark. Golden Globe nominee Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) to star as Pop.

The project is a very personal one for both Critch and McAuliffe, as the two have been friends dating back to working on “This Hour has 22 Minutes” together.

A CBC original series, “Son of a Critch” is an inter-provincial co-production between Barnsley’s Project 10 Productions Inc. and Newfoundland-based Take the Shot Productions in association with CBC and Lionsgate Television, and executive produced by Critch, McAuliffe, Barnsley, Ben Murray and Allan Hawco. Renuka Jeyapalan and Anita Kapila serve as co-executive producers with Jeyapalan directing the first four episodes of the series.

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CBC’s The Detectives shows “this can happen to you, to someone in your family”

One of the most compelling series on CBC is The Detectives. The documentary series is heading into Season 3 on the public broadcaster, revisiting true crimes in this country, the families involved and the law enforcement officers who capture the killers who commit heinous acts.

Returning Thursday at 9 p.m. with a visit to New Brunswick, viewers recall the death of a woman and her son, and the lengths former RCMP detective Gerry Belliveau (played in re-enactments by Allan Hawco) goes to solve it. Produced by Montreal’s WAM Media GRP Inc.—who also make the U.S. counterpart Real Detective, available on Netflix—we spoke to showrunner and executive producer Petro Duszara about the series and Season 4.

You’ve been working professionally in TV and film since 1998. How did you get into the TV and film industry? 
Petro Duszara: I actually studied anatomy and some biology at McGill. And in my last year, I shocked my parents and said I was quitting, and applied to communications at Concordia, and did communications studies there and then started working in TV after that. I’d definitely had a change of course. My whole background was science, science, science, science, science, and then I knew I always wanted to do TV and made the decision a little late in the game. Not too late, I guess.

Biology and science really play a part in The Detectives, because it’s all about the forensics, and DNA in a lot of these cases. 
PD: True. I never thought of it that way, but you’re absolutely right. There is definitely that link. And I find what I’ve really liked, and the team has really liked, in terms of doing the shows is, you really need to piece things together, for detectives reading these things together. And I find that’s very scientific as well. And then, of course, the human drama.

How do you go about choosing the stories that you’re going to cover?
PD: It’s a multi-pronged approach. We’re looking always for cases that represent across the country. You don’t want to stay centric in a particular city. We’re looking for stories that will hold an hour of television. There are a lot of excellent cases that are open and shut, or there isn’t as much investigative work that has to be done, so we’re looking for stories that we can last.

You’re looking for detectives that are emotionally connected to the story, and also eloquent enough to share their story, and they have the charisma to carry a story onscreen. You have to find cases where there is a really solid and important reason to tell that case, to reopen those wounds. We’re looking for landmark cases that changed things in the legislature, or how policing works, or open the eyes to a department, in terms of seeing things in their blind spot. So that’s a critical part.

And then, the linchpin is you look for stories where we speak to the families. We make sure the families know what we’re doing, and are supportive of what we’re doing. And then, once all of those boxes are all checked off, then we go ahead with the story.

The season premiere takes place in New Brunswick. I’m learning more about the country through this show.
PD: Our researchers love that too. Because we travel to these locations, when we meet these detectives, and we’ll often meet the families as well. And so, you’re seeing different parts of the world that you’re trying to capture and share with the rest of the country. So it’s neat.

Part of the storytelling is done through reenactments and some details are altered. Why? 
PD: There are different reasons why things are altered. Sometimes details are altered to protect the identity of people that, although they were specifically involved in their case, their names have never been published and made public. Sometimes in an investigation, an investigator will interview five or 10 different witnesses, who’ll give them one bit of information each. Rather than having five or 10 different scenes with five or 10 different people, we’ll create a composite character who provides all those tips in one shot. The same thing happens with investigators.

Often, in reality, you don’t have necessarily a partner working a homicide case with you. You’ll have a variety of people on a team. So sometimes, we create a composite character that represents several of the officers that worked on the team with the lead investigator, that kind of stuff. And then, there are some instances where there are some police techniques that were used in the investigation, that they’d rather keep confidential.

When people are tuning in to watch the show, what do you want them to take away from it? Do you want them to see these police officers and the heroes that they are? Do you want it to be the community, the families?
PD: This is really a show about the consequences of violence. You’re seeing how that violent act affects the family of the victim, how it affects the community, that whole thing. So when we watch the shows we look at it as, ‘This is what happens when violent crime happens in the community. It affects the detective, it affects the family, it affects the whole community. And this can happen to you, and this can happen to someone in your family, it can happen down the street.’

The Detectives airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

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Archie Panjabi and Christopher Plummer lead Global’s new original event series Departure now in production

From a media release:

Global announced today that it has commissioned a new Canadian original six-part event series, Departure. Produced by Shaftesbury and Greenpoint Productions Ltd., the thrilling drama is directed by Canadian Screen Award Winner T.J. Scott (Orphan Black, Star Trek: Discovery), with Malcolm MacRury (Saving Hope) joining as showrunner, and created by Vincent Shiao (Ransom, Aftermath). With principal photography now underway in Toronto, the Canada/UK co-production will also shoot in London, England. The project was developed by Shaftesbury in association with Corus Entertainment and Red Arrow Studios International.

Slated to join Global’s 2019 primetime schedule, the high-octane conspiracy series follows the mystery of a passenger plane that vanishes over the Atlantic Ocean. Featuring an all-star cast, the series stars Emmy® winner Archie Panjabi (The Good Wife) and Oscar® winner Christopher Plummer (All the Money In the World). The adrenaline-fueled serialized thrill ride also includes an impressive supporting cast with Kris Holden-Ried (Vikings), Claire Forlani (Hawaii Five-O), Rebecca Liddiard (Frankie Drake Mysteries), Shazad Latif (Star Trek: Discovery), Tamara Duarte (Longmire), Peter Mensah (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Kristian Bruun (Orphan Black), Allan Hawco (Caught), Dougray Scott (Snatch), Sasha Roiz (Grimm), Mark Rendall (30 Days of Night), Dmitry Chepovetsky(Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), Paris Jefferson (Sunset Contract), and more.

Departure is a six-part event series that follows the shocking disappearance of Flight 716, a passenger plane that vanishes over the Atlantic Ocean. Kendra Malley (Panjabi), the recently widowed, brilliant aviation investigator, is called in by her former boss and mentor Howard Lawson (Plummer) to investigate the mysterious crash. With the whole world watching, Kendra and her team race to pinpoint the missing aircraft and locate possible survivors. They must battle through a host of suspects and motives – pilot suicide, terrorism, politically motivated murder, systems failure – to determine what really happened to Flight 716… and to stop it from happening again.

This newly greenlit series is the final original series commissioned by Global for the 2019 broadcast year joining Nurses, Ransom, Mary Kills People, Private Eyes, and Big Brother Canada.

Departure is a Canada/UK treaty co-production produced by Shaftesbury (Canada) and Greenpoint Productions Ltd. (UK) in association with Corus Entertainment.

Departure is executive produced by Christina Jennings, Scott Garvie, Malcolm MacRury, and T.J. Scott. Creator Vincent Shiao is co-executive producer; Patrick Cassavetti, Tina Grewal are producers, with Julie Laceyserving as Shaftesbury’s producer.Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail