Vancouver: For those thinking the supper-hour news has had a sudsy tone of late – think Fornigate, for recent evidence – CBC Vancouver’s Broadcast One is taking the next step.

Independent producer David Paperny, famed for his Dr. Peter aids series, and coproducer Audrey Mehler are creating a kind of soap opera series to air during the newscast.

Brewery Creek, about the lives of the residents of a renovated building in Vancouver’s Strathcona neighborhood, is Canada’s first docu-soap. Issues such as finding a job, car theft, prostitution and pregnancy will be explored in the four-part series, which runs Mondays through March.

‘It’s an interesting way to look at real community,’ says cbc Vancouver spokeswoman Jennifer Young, noting that these kinds of series are popular in Europe.

The use of tiny digital cameras gives the producers ‘greater access and intimacy,’ she adds.

Brewery Creek will run in eight- to 10-minute installments on Broadcast One and will be repackaged for airing on the cbc’s National Magazine.

– DaVinci uncovered

Nicholas Campbell (cbc’s Major Crime) will star as forensic investigator Dominic DaVinci in DaVinci’s Inquest, the cbc’s flagship drama for next fall.

Coproduced and created by Vancouver’s Chris Haddock, the series begins production with a three-part opener directed by Anne Wheeler on Feb. 24.

Other cast members include Robert Wisden as the chief coroner, Ian Tracey and Donnelly Rhodes as detectives, and Sue Matthews as a pathologist.

No weekday slot is yet set for the series, which will air at 9 p.m. The first season is 13 episodes.

– Pride in ownership

At press time, Vidatron Entertainment’s Dead Man’s Gun was expecting a renewal for a second season, with preproduction scheduled for March. The show airs on wic in Canada and Showtime in the u.s.

Sister series First Wave, produced in association with Pearson Television International, is in preproduction now and will go before cameras in April.

In other Vidatron news, the public company has bought another downtown warehouse that will act as more studio space.

The 55,000-square-foot commercial/industrial building sits on one acre in the False Creek area, adjacent to Vidatron’s other studio facility. The new building will house production offices, post-production operations, set construction, wardrobe and storage.

– X-Files update

Amid reports of heated on-set arguments between The X-Files creator Chris Carter and star David Duchovny about the ultimate shooting locale for the top-rated show next season, the rumor mill is back predicting that the series will, surprise!, stay in Vancouver for seasons six and seven.

The verbal blowup – replete with phrases such as Expletive You! Expletive Vancouver! Expletive X-Files! – has sparked speculation that Duchovny will be released from the next two years of his contract. The actor did, after all, say he’d rather leave the show than shoot another season in Vancouver away from his wife.

More reports suggest Carter – an avid fan of Vancouver – is working on ways to keep the show in Vancouver where he has the team and locations that have contributed to the series’ success.

Vancouver actor Chris Owens has reportedly signed with the show for a prominent role as an fbi agent and the speculators – and there are a lot of those – believe he might be being groomed to take over where Duchovny leaves off, if the Mulder character joins his sister as an alien abductee.

Owens was featured as the young ‘Cancer Man’ in an episode last season.

According to sources within the industry, producers tried to assuage Duchovny – who launched a campaign to have the show moved to l.a. last year during the promotion tour for his failed feature Playing God – by scouting stage space ‘back home,’ but found the per-episode budget would expand from us$2.5 million to us$4 million, unprecedented for a u.s. series.

Late word is that Duchovny is going to relent and stay with the show.

So as the conspiracy theories continue to create more confusion, we await the final word from Fox, expected around month end. The truth, perhaps, is in the attractive dollar exchange.