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Crystal Balint brings music and morality to The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco

As all actors know, auditioning can be a heartbreaking experience. You connect with a character, feel you’re perfect for the part, knock it out of the park in the casting session … and then get told you’re not what the project is looking for.

So, it’s natural to develop coping mechanisms, especially if, like actress Crystal Balint, you’ve been working in Canadian and American television for more than 17 years.

“I tend to keep a little bit of distance from characters—even if I fall in love with them—because you just never know,” she says. “But this was one I couldn’t help but fall in love with right out of the gate.”

Balint is speaking of jazz pianist and former cryptologist Iris, one of four co-lead characters in the new mystery series The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco. “As soon as I saw the script and read the pages I was sent, I immediately felt I had a connection with Iris,” she says. “I felt this was someone I could bring justice to.”

Luckily, showrunner Michael MacLennan and the series’ other producers agreed, showing great “excitement” and “enthusiasm” for her two auditions. She was exactly what this project was looking for.

In late January, just three weeks after her first reading, Balint landed the part. “I was just thrilled,” she says. “I had been a fan of the original series, so I was really eager to see where we were going to go with this one.”

The show is a spin-off of UK series The Bletchley Circle, which ran for two seasons and focused on four former Second World War codebreakers who solved crimes in their spare time. Last Friday’s premiere episode on Citytv saw original series characters Millie (Rachael Stirling) and Jean (Julie Graham) travel to California to investigate a murder that appears similar to one that occurred in London during the war. Once in the Bay Area, the amateur—but brilliantly skilled—detectives meet up with former U.S. military members Iris and Hailey (Chanelle Peloso), who agree to help them with the case, thus, forming a new circle of sleuths.

Balint, who has previously appeared in The L-Word, Supernatural, The Good Doctor and Mech-X4, phoned from Vancouver to tell us what she loves about Iris, what it was like working with Rachael Stirling and Julie Graham, and what viewers can expect from this new iteration of The Bletchley Circle.

This spin-off features two original cast members, but also two new leads and a brand new setting. How did that play out on set? Did it feel like you were joining an established show or kicking off something brand new? 
Crystal Balint: You know, I think both Julie Graham and Rachael Stirling came in with very open minds and open hearts, and they came in with so much excitement and so much enthusiasm for what we were endeavouring to do with this spin-off. I never got the sense from either of them that there were any sort of hang-ups that they were feeling or any sort of reluctance to try any of the new directions that we were heading. They both came in really open-minded and very supportive to the vision that Michael [MacLennan] had for this particular spin-off of the show.

They, of course, in carrying that torch of The Bletchley Circle storyline for their two characters, worked very closely with Michael and made sure that they thought their storylines had been honoured from the original series. But I didn’t feel in any way that they were stifling or that they weren’t willing to also play. In fact, they were the opposite. They were really eager to explore what might happen to Jean and Millie in America, and they were really excited to do that both with Michael and with me and Chanelle Peloso, and just explore where this goes in a completely different setting. We looked to them for some guidance in some areas, but we were all sort on this fresh new ship with this show. It was really wonderful.

Your character, Iris, introduces Jean and Millie—and the audience—to the Fillmore, the neighbourhood of San Francisco where multiple murders are taking place. Did you do a lot of research into the area?
When I was invited onto the project in January, I had approximately seven weeks to prepare before we went to camera, which was late March. And I’m sort of a history nerd, which is why I was a fan of the original show, so I was really excited and really eager to start digging and learning about both the time period and the women that actually did this job and also the area in which the show takes place. Like I do with a lot of projects, if there is some kind of reference for me to glob onto, I will generally go full hog into that. I will just go as deep as I possibly can.

So I went down to San Francisco for a weekend and sort of hit the pavement and met with people in the Fillmore who were knowledgeable about the history of the [area], particularly in that time period. I also visited the area where the Presidio was and spoke with some individuals there, and I just sort of walked the streets to get an idea of the [places] and of the streets that we mention on the show. Even though, of course, they’re completely different now.

I felt it was really important for me to get a sense of just what that city felt like, because if you’ve ever been to San Francisco, it’s a very vibrant city, and that area has so much life and so much history. I spent a fair bit of time sort of rooting Iris and her family and her experience, so it gave me some foundation when I started to build who she was.

Did you do the same with the history of American codebreakers?
CB: I did, yes. There’s an excellent book written by an author named Liza Mundy called Code Girls that was released sort of serendipitously last fall. It covers in great detail the amount of input that the American female workforce put into the Second World War, once the U.S. joined the war after Pearl Harbor. And even before that, she goes into great detail about codebreaking efforts that were in place that led to this mass explosion once the U.S. entered the war. That’s something that not a lot of people knew about. We knew about Bletchley Park, of course, and that’s being featured in lots of movies and also television shows like The Bletchley Circle, but there has not been a ton of information available to us about what happened on our side of the pond, in the U.S. and Canada.

I think I got about three-quarters of the way through the book before I had to start shooting, but I tried to absorb as much as I could. Not so much the logistics of codebreaking, because I’ll be totally honest, I don’t have a mathematical mind and those who do, I bow down to. It’s an incredibly complex art form, I would say. But I did want to understand what it was like to be a woman in the 40s when it was not something that came every day, the opportunity to really save lives, in a really abstract sense but in a very important sense. And then what it was like to be snatched up out of what you’re expected to do as a woman, asked to carry this incredible task and then released and sort of forgotten about—which is really what we talk a fair bit about in both series of The Bletchley Circle.

Iris is a jazz pianist, and in real life, you’re a singer. Did that shared love of music help you better understand her character?
CB: Yes, absolutely. When I was asked to read for the project, that was another thing that really stuck out for me. It doesn’t happen often in film and TV, at least for me, that there is a crossover. Music is a big part of my life. I’ve been singing since I was quite young, and I play a couple of instruments. I’m not a pianist, but I’ve dabbled. Music, in general, is a big part of my life, so wherever I find any opportunity, it gets me a little bit jazzed up—no pun intended.

It was really lovely to incorporate those elements into breathing life into Iris because music can be very mathematical. Those who do particularly jazz, from my understanding of it—and again I don’t have formal training in it, but from my understanding of jazz and its complexities—there is a very sort of mathematical, rhythmic thing that occurs there. So just me being a fan of music and being a lover of music, it was really nice to be able to just have that be a part of who Iris was.

And we had an incredible composer working on this show. It was just so lovely to have those pieces be, not just a part of Iris’ life, but part of the world that we find these women in. Jazz is sort of like another character in this San Francisco environment. So it really did help me. I listened to a lot of music. I listened to old jazz, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday. Just every time I was in my car driving anywhere, doing any errands, walking, I was listening to jazz, and I was really trying to get that in my body.

What else really drew you to Iris?
CB: I really love Iris’ fortitude. She has a really strong sense of who she is. I wouldn’t say it was rare in that time period for a woman of her ilk, an African American woman living and working in a city like San Francisco, but there is something really grounded about that and really inspiring about that. I think one of the things I loved most about the way she was written—and the way I perceived her to be and I tried to bring to life—is that she had such a strong moral core because she knows exactly who she is, and she’s not willing to budge on that. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t have moments of doubt, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t sort of struggle with things, but at the end of the day, I think Iris sleeps well. Because she knows in every day, she ‘s done her best.

That’s why when we meet Iris in that first episode, it really throws her off her game, because she knows what she should do, but then there’s this life that she’s put together, and she knows in her heart of hearts what is required of her and what’s necessary and what her instincts are telling her to do. But she struggles, like all of us, like every person.

I love her love of her family. I mean that’s always an appealing quality when you find characters like that. I call her a lioness. She fights for her family, and through the course of the series, you start to find that she incorporates these other women into that, and realizes that that’s also a part of who she is.

What do you think viewers will most enjoy about this version of the show?
CB: I think what people will enjoy most about this show is that it’s a fun kind of romp. I mean, there’s some serious stuff that we tackle, to be sure. We cover a whole range of serious issues that were taking place in the 50s. You know, the civil rights movement hasn’t quite started yet, but things have happened, and women’s rights are beginning, and gay rights are starting to become a thing, and there is stuff going on with the Cold War—but nothing has quite blossomed yet.

So, what’s lovely about that is that we got this opportunity to play in this environment where there are serious things, but there’s also some life to it. There is life, there is colour. It’s different from the first series, where Britain’s a very different time after the war. There were rations. But there’s just a different energy in San Francisco. So, I think what viewers will really love that this is California in the 50s in this hotbed of change, and it’s colourful and it’s fun and amidst all of this, there’s some great humour. And at the core of it, these fantastic relationships with these women that just grab you. It makes you think about the relationships in your own life. Do I stand up for what I believe in? Do I fight for my people? There’s something lovely about that.

The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on Citytv.

Images courtesy of Omnifilm Entertainment

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Preview: The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco

When ITV’s The Bletchley Circle premiered in the UK in 2012, it was a clever spin on a British specialty: the period whodunit.

Instead of Sherlock or Father Brown or Detective Foyle outsmarting murderers and villains, we had four female cryptographers who used to work at Bletchley Park. Feeling bored and boxed in by their post-Second World War lives, the women dusted off their code-breaking skills to outwit a London serial killer. Along the way, they also had to outplay many of the men around them—including homicide detectives and their own husbands—who were prevented by secrecy laws from knowing what they did during the war and wanted them to simply go back to who and what they were before the bombs started falling.

Many of those qualities are still present in the new eight-episode, four-mystery spinoff series, The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco, which premieres on Friday, Sept. 14, at 8 p.m. ET on Citytv. However, a change of location and some intriguing new characters shake it up enough to make it feel fresh and worthwhile. Set in 1956, three years after the original series ended, sleuthing codebreakers Millie (Rachael Stirling) and Jean (Julie Graham) set off for the Bay Area to investigate a death that has shocking similarities to the murder of a young Bletchley Park colleague in 1942. Once there, they meet up with former American servicemembers Iris (Crystal Balint) and Hailey (Chanelle Peloso) and convince them to help track down who’s responsible for the killings.

Like the women in the original series, Iris and Hailey have struggled to find satisfaction in the post-war era. Jazz pianist and former codebreaker Iris now works in obscurity as a research assistant at Berkeley, while former weapons designer Hailey is desperate to find a new outlet for her mechanical genius. In learning about their lives, viewers also get a look at some of the social issues percolating in 1950s San Francisco. For instance, the first episode, “Presidio”— written by former Bitten executive producer Daegan Fryklind—gives viewers a taste of the historic Fillmore District, an area known both for its bustling jazz scene and for being targeted by various gentrification efforts. In an early scene, Iris’ son sets off to protest a plan to drive African Americans from the neighbourhood, and later, Iris’ former Presidio colleague laments that her Japenese American family was also driven out of the area.

Iris, in particular, breathes new life into the codebreaker conceit of the show, giving viewers a peek into the little-known history of black women in the Signal Intelligence Service. On that front, Calgary-native Balint gives a strong performance as a woman who has much to lose by going along with a couple of Brits who show up in her jazz club one night. Meanwhile, Vancouver-born Peloso is irresistibly plucky as eager go-getter Hailey. And what more can you say about Stirling and Graham? They were great in the first series and they’re great here. Graham is particularly good in a London-set scene where she learns her age and gender mitigate her smarts in the eyes of a young Foreign Service Office agent.

Speaking of London—and of San Francisco, for that matter—this series wasn’t produced in either location. It was filmed in Vancouver. However, there are enough shots of trolleys and Victorian houses to give it a convincing Northern California feel. There’s also a splash more colour and light in the production design when compared to its UK predecessor, highlighting both the change in climate and the contrasting post-war conditions of bomb-riddled London and unscathed San Fransisco.

As for the wisdom of transplanting a British show into an American setting and then shooting it in Canada, showrunner and executive producer Michael MacLennan points out that Canadians are “uniquely qualified” to act as translators of British and American sensibilities. And based on the screeners, he appears to be right. Produced by Omnifilm Entertainment in association with BritBox and World Productions, who made the original, the series retains its British pedigree while shining a light on some infrequently explored—and still painfully relevant—American stories. And it offers up some solid mysteries and compelling female camaraderie along the way.

The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on Citytv.

Images courtesy of Omnifilm

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Roger Petersen named co-host of Breakfast Television Toronto

From a media release:

Citytv announced today that Roger Petersen has been named co-host of Toronto’s longest-running morning show, Breakfast Television. Starting today, Petersen officially joins co-host Dina Pugliese, along with fellow newcomer Stella Acquisto, and the rest of the celebrated BT family of Frank Ferragine, Winston Sih, Melanie Ng, Tammie Sutherland, and Kerry Prunskus to wake-up the Greater Toronto Area and beyond. Breakfast Television airs weekdays from 5:30 to 9 a.m. ET on Citytv.

Petersen is a familiar face to Citytv audiences having covered some of the largest stories to unfold in his hometown – from the horrific van attack earlier this year to the G20 and G8, SARS and the Papal visit. Petersen joined the Toronto Citytv team in 1999, undertaking a variety of roles including reporter, anchor and host of the car show Autoshop. Petersen then moved to Vancouver to anchor CityNews at 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., before moving back to his hometown as a CityNews Toronto reporter and anchor. Petersen began his broadcasting career in radio, having studied Radio & Television at Seneca College.

In addition to his broadcast career, Petersen also volunteers his time to many causes, including Cardiac Health Foundation and Victim Services, and is a proud father to son McKenna.

A member of the Citytv family since 2011, Stella Acquisto also joins the BT Toronto family as the community correspondent. A first-generation Canadian, Acquisto was born in Toronto where she studied Journalism at Seneca College and earned a Political Science and Communications Studies degree from York University.

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Hollywood Suite mourns the death of founder Jay Switzer

From a media release:

Canadian media industry legend and Hollywood Suite co-founder, Jay Switzer, died peacefully in Toronto on January 29, 2018 with his family at his side, after a too short, but courageous battle with brain cancer.

Jay was beloved and respected in both his business and personal life, and a dedicated, loyal, and loving husband, son, son-in-law, brother, and friend to many.

Jay was born to a life in television, raised with his dear sisters by two loving parents, both of whom were legends in the Canadian TV industry. Jay’s first introduction to the business came when his mother Phyllis asked her 13-year-old son to attend a CRTC hearing in Trois Rivières and bring back a report for her regulatory newsletter. When Phyllis co-founded Citytv in September 1972, 16-year-old Jay’s first full-time job was on the station’s switchboard. This was followed by regular Saturday nights as floor director assembling the boxing ring with his high school classmates on Citytv’s live “Fight Night” broadcasts. The pay was $1.50 an hour but he got to clean George Chuvalo’s spit cup.

After getting his MBA from the University of Western Ontario, Jay returned to Citytv on a full-time basis as Program Manager, the job that was truest to his calling, and one he never really let go of. His passion for great TV and film was contagious, and led to Citytv, and its offspring MuchMusic, Bravo!, FashionTelevision and many other CHUM channels, expanding across Canada and around the world. Jay rose through the ranks at CHUM over the years, ultimately being appointed CEO in 2002.

In 2010, Jay co-founded Hollywood Suite, where he served on the Board of Directors as Chair of the Canadian independent, privately owned broadcasting company.

Jeff Sackman, Hollywood Suite co-founder and current Chair of the Board of Directors says: “Jay defined friendship, loyalty, fairness, selflessness, and basic human decency. He will be proud to know that these traits have been passed on to so many others who will pay it forward, ensuring that Jay’s legacy is intact and the world will be a better place. Thanks for all you did for me! Love!!”

Catherine Tait, Hollywood Suite co-founder and Director says: “Amongst Jay’s many qualities was his unwavering support to women in an industry which has often turned a blind eye. He tirelessly promoted and encouraged so many of us – and we hold him in our hearts forever, in gratitude.”

David Kines, Hollywood Suite co-founder and President says: “On behalf of the staff, directors and investors of Hollywood Suite, we want to express our most heartfelt condolences to Jay’s wife, Ellen Dubin, and the Switzer family. Jay was a supportive and encouraging leader whose commitment and belief in the mission and people of Hollywood Suite never faltered, despite the many headwinds facing the broadcast business. His certainty in our success will be sorely missed by both myself and the staff and our industry.”

Jay’s quiet contributions and commitment to community and country have been recognized with awards including the Friend of Women in Film and Television (Toronto) Award (1994), the Queen’s Jubilee Medal (2002), and the Human Relations Award (2005) from the Canadian Centre for Diversity. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in December 2017.

Jay is recognized by his peers as a media business and cultural leader, leading major broadcasting entities, mentoring emerging talent—both individuals and organizations—and advancing the quality and success of the Canadian broadcasting sector. As a mentor to countless independent producers and creators of Canadian works for the screen, Jay is celebrated as a champion of independent Canadian feature film and television production having supported more than 200 projects throughout his career.

Jay was an active board member serving organizations including the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the Banff Television Festival, the National Association of Television Program Executives, and the Toronto Film Board. He served as Chair of the board of GlassBOX Television from 2009-2011, and most recently served on the boards of: OUTtv; Shaftesbury Films Inc.; and Comweb Corporation. He was also a long-time supporter of Ryerson University, serving on the Advisory Board for the Faculty of Radio and Television Arts since 2012.

Funeral service details will be available here: http://www.benjaminsparkmemorialchapel.ca/. A public Celebration of Life will take place in the spring. Details will be announced at a later date.

Donations in Jay’s memory may be made to The Canadian Film Centre (http://bit.ly/CFCSwitzer or call 416-445-1446, x227) or to The Phyllis Switzer Memorial fund at Ryerson University (http://bit.ly/RyeUniSwizer or call 416-979-5000, x6516).

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Rogers Media expands CityNews across Canada

From a media release:

Building on its commitment to deliver more local news to even more Canadians, Rogers Media will expand its award-winning news program, CityNewsâ„¢, across Canada, beginning September 4. Currently seen in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, the expansion ofCityNews will now include local versions of CityNews produced locally and airing daily on City, in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Montreal.

The one-hour newscasts will broadcast seven days a week with CityNews at Six at 6 p.m., and CityNews Tonight at 11 p.m. local time. Newscasts in Edmonton and Winnipeg will debut Monday, Sept. 4 at 6 p.m. local time. CityNews will expand into the Vancouver, Montreal and Calgary markets in Winter 2018.

Debuting in Toronto in 1975, the multi-award winning CityNews has been globally recognized as a trailblazer for news innovation, earning accolades for its local coverage including the esteemed RTDNA National Bert Cannings Award for Best TV Newscast in a Large Market in 2016. Late last month, CityNews reporter Cynthia Mulligan won the national RTDNA Adrienne Clarkson Award for Diversity in Reporting for her in-depth series on Danica Rain – a transgender Ontario woman who underwent gender reassignment surgery at a clinic in Bangkok.

Adding regional and national perspectives, complementary stories from Rogers Media’s sister brands such as Maclean’s, Breakfast Television, and Sportsnet will also be featured in the broadcasts. Viewers will also see news content delivered across all platforms, with each CityNews team engaging with audiences through their respective local websites and social media channels.

Additional programming details and on-air news talent will be announced in the coming months.

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