CBC Unveils Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 Lineup

This afternoon, we got a sneak peek at CBC’s plans for the Fall 2020 and Winter 2021 seasons. The entire line up is available here, but we’ll hit the ones we’re excited about.

First up, Coroner has been renewed for a third season next Winter, and with an additional two episodes! It’s also been picked up by Channel 4 for airing in the UK, and the CW in the United States.

Fan favorites Workin’ Moms, Frankie Drake Mysteries, and Baroness von Sketch Show will also be back for their fifth, fourth, and fifth (final) seasons, respectively. Long-timers Murdoch Mysteries and Heartland were renewed for their 14th seasons. All are set for Winter, given pandemic-interrupted production schedules.

War of the Worlds, the British/U.S. co-production that aired earlier this year on PBS and last Fall in the U.K., will have its Canadian premiere this Fall on CBC. Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment), Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey), and Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People) star in the new take on the H.G. Wells classic. And Pure, which began on CBC and then jumped to Super Channel for its second season, will now have those episodes air on CBC this Fall.

Three new dramas definitely piqued our interest:

The Sounds (set for Fall) is an eight-episode mystery drama that shot in New Zealand. It’s directed by Peter Stebbings, who helmed the entire series The Disappearance a couple of years ago, and returned to Killjoys to direct a pair of episodes in its final season. A Canada/New Zealand co-production from Shaftesbury and South Pacific Pictures, the series is described as, “a striking take on the relationship-driven thriller.”

Here’s the logline: Welcome to Pelorus Sounds, New Zealand – the sleepy settlement where nothing, including the visiting Cabbotts, is quite what it seems. Grieving wives, cheating husbands, epic embezzlement and historic crime all collide to weave a complicated web stretching through the Sounds’ hidden valleys and deep waters. It was created by New Zealand-based author Sarah-Kate Lynch and stars Rachelle Lefevre (Mary Kills People) and Matt Whelan (Narcos).

Trickster (set for Fall) is a six-episode supernatural drama based on the novel Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson. Newcomer Joel Oulette stars in the adaptation created by Michelle Latimer (RISE) and Tony Elliott (Orphan Black), and directed by Latimer.

Here’s the logline: Oulette plays Jared, an Indigenous teen struggling to keep his dysfunctional family above water, holding down an after-school job and selling ecstasy to support his partying mom, Maggie (Crystle Lightning), who self-medicates an undiagnosed mental illness, and his unemployable dad, Phil (Craig Lauzon) and his new girlfriend. But when Jared starts seeing strange things — talking ravens, doppelgängers, skin monsters — his already chaotic life is turned upside down.

Additional cast includes Kalani Queypo (Jamestown), Anna Lambe (The Grizzlies), Joel Thomas Hynes (Little Dog), Gail Maurice (Cardinal) and Georgina Lightning (Blackstone). It’s already been renewed for a second season.

Lady Dicks, coming this Winter, is the newest project from the powerhouse Mary Kills People team at Cameron Pictures. It’s described as, “a fun and honest portrayal of two radically different female detectives in their early 40s”

Here’s the logline: The buddy cop drama series follows Guns and Gangs detective, Samantha (Meredith MacNeill, Baroness von Sketch Show) and Drug Squad detective, Kelly (Adrienne C. Moore, Orange is the New Black), who by day are true action heroes in their own particular way: skilled, tough, determined, and ruthless. But by night, they’re both grappling with loneliness, dysfunctional families, screwed-up love lives, and a sense that their professional ambitions may not be totally in line with their personal needs. Their friendship could help to balance each other out, if only they didn’t drive one another utterly insane. Tassie Cameron (Mary Kills People) co-created with Sherry White (Little Dog).

Which series are you most excited about?

Photos courtesy of CBC