CTV kicks off its spring drama slate Sunday night with the series premiere of The Detail, a police procedural with a twist that follows the work and home lives of two Toronto detectives, Stevie Hall (Angela Griffin) and Jacqueline ‘Jack’ Cooper (Shenae Grimes-Beech).
[Warnng: General spoilers ahead.]
Stevie’s been on the job for over 15 years and is married with two children. She’s balancing an unofficial third child of sorts in Jack, her probationary candidate whose solid investigative instincts sometimes get lost underneath the hot mess of her off-the-clock behavior. Staff Inspector Fiona Currie (Wendy Crewson) isn’t wholly ready to formally hire Jack because of the latter, but Stevie makes the case that Jack’s worth riding out the bumps.
The pilot episode finds Jack in a spiral after a personal disappointment goes from bad to worse. Stevie gets her own shock when former boyfriend and fellow detective, Kyle Price (Van Helsing and Siren‘s David Cubitt) turns up as a transfer into the group. Both women’s personal predicaments are further exacerbated by similarities to a new case involving a murdered mom.
The cast is rounded out with Matthew Edison (The Girlfriend Experience) as Stevie’s husband, Jono, Al Mukadam (Second Jen) as Detective Aaron Finch, and Rookie Blue‘s Matt Gordon as Detective Donnie Sullivan. Rookie Blue‘s Ben Bass is a district attorney with a connection to Jack.
The first episode was written by series creator and executive producer Ley Lukins and directed by Gregory (now going by Greg) Smith. The former Rookie Blue team of Ilana Frank and Linda Pope executive produce with fellow alumni Sonia Hosko, Sally Wainwright (Last Tango in Halifax), Nicola Shindler (Trust Me), and Jocelyn Hamilton (Cardinal).
The premiere paints a solid portrait of women at three separate personal and professional milestones. We don’t yet follow Fiona home, and I do want to see her backstory. It’s an interesting look at how the line blurs between both worlds when you can’t completely disengage from either of them. It’s pretty close to Rookie Blue territory in that respect, this time with detectives instead of uniformed officers.
I love having Crewson back on TV in a series role and as an investigator — her stint as Detective Joanne Kilbourn in the Criminal Instinct films is still one of my favorites. And I’m glad to have Cubitt playing a good guy who’s perhaps a bit of a shit disturber.
The Detail premieres Sunday at 9pm ET on CTV and CTV GO. Here are a few sneak peeks.
Photos and Videos Courtesy of CTV
