Calgary’s Joe Media is partway through the high-def redo of a holiday classic, and hopes to have the $5.8-million Secret of the Nutcracker ready for air this December on CBC. The shoot, under director Eric Till (72 Hours: True Crime, Duct Tape Forever), comes from the script by John Murrell, based on the 19th century short story, which – still with us? – was later adapted by the composer Tchaikovsky into the better-known ballet.

This version, however, is no song-and-dance number, according to a Joe Media spokesperson, even though it features dancers from the Alberta Ballet. It stars local rookie Janelle Jorde as a young girl living in 1940s Canada who longs to be reunited with her father, a POW in Germany. The arrival of a mysterious toymaker, Zodiac’s Brian Cox as Drosselmeyer, livens things up. Helene Joy (ReGenesis) and Tom Carey (Touch the Top of the World) also star. The dancers appear in a fantasy sequence.

The production house also recently shot the performance special The Fiddle & The Drum, on which Joni Mitchell worked behind the scenes, and saw its war doc The Battle for Baghdad air to some acclaim on CBC.