Evil lurking beneath the veneer of suburbia is the theme of Durham County, a thriller series now shooting in Montreal with Muse Entertainment and Toronto’s Back Alley Films.

The 6 x 60, in production Sept. 11 to Nov. 12, tells the story of a detective (Hugh Dillon of Hard Core Logo) who moves his young family to the titular and seemingly idyllic bedroom community outside Toronto, only to learn that a serial killer (Justin Louis of Trump Unauthorized) is brutally murdering local women. Jean-Nicolas Verreault and Laurence Leboeuf also star.

Producer Janis Lundman says the idea came to screenwriter Laurie Finstad-Knizhnik while they were working on the Back Alley series Bliss.

‘We were throwing some ideas around about a series. She had this idea about a suburban wasteland, combining it with a police genre,’ recalls Lundman. She describes the series as ‘very moody,’ but ‘there is also room for some humor.’

The $6.5-million budget means that ‘things are very tight,’ she adds. ‘It’s extremely hard to do this on such a limited budget, but I’m amazed at how great the shoot is going. The rushes have been extremely impressive.’

Lundman and Adrienne Mitchell exec produce for Back Alley, with Michael Prupas of Muse and Noel Hedges of Granada International in the U.K., which will distribute internationally.

Durham County is written by Finstad-Knizhnik and directed by Holly Dale (Absolution, Cold Case) and Mitchell (Bliss, Drop the Beat).

Steve Cosens (The Tracey Fragments, Flower & Garnet) is the cinematographer.

The show will premiere on The Movie Network and Movie Central in the spring, following editing at Montreal’s Station 29. Global will air it in spring 2008.

Muse is also coproducing the MOW Tipping Point with Ottawa’s Sound Venture Productions.

The $2-million shoot wrapped earlier this month in Ottawa and is described as a ‘white-knuckle thriller,’ in which a young medical student (Katheryn Winnick) tries to alert others about a series of murders. No one believes her because she’s schizophrenic.

Michel Poulette (Agent of Influence) directs, with David Patterson and Jesse Prupas of Muse and Neil Bregman of Sound Venture producing. Prupas also exec produces with George Stelzner of West Egg Studios in L.A. and Robert Green of Granada. Tipping Point will air on Citytv and Lifetime Television in the U.S. Granada is distributing outside North America.