A retooled CBC dramedy Republic of Doyle has started production in Newfoundland.

Take the Shot Productions is shooting the comic drama in and around St. John’s, after an earlier half-hour pilot. Content-wise, the series will retain comic elements, but become more of an investigative crime drama as a mid-season one-hour for the CBC.

Cast changes for the 12 x 60 series include Irish actor Sean McGinley (Bleak House, Braveheart) coming on board in the role of Malachy Doyle, a gumshoe detective and father to his business partner Jake Doyle, played by series creator and Newfoundland native Allan Hawco.

New Brunswick-born actor Peter MacNeill played Malachy Doyle in the pilot.

The series’ producers say McGinley’s international popularity and appeal should make the series more sellable overseas.

The ensemble cast includes Lynda Boyd as Malachy Doyle’s girlfriend, Rachel Wilson is Jake Doyle’s tempestuous ex-wife and Krystin Pellerin plays his love-interest. Marthe Bernard will perform the role of Malachy Doyle’s rebellious teenage granddaughter, while Mark O’Brien appears as an apprentice investigator.

Malcolm MacRury co-wrote the pilot for Republic of Doyle along with Hawco and Perry Chafe, but is replaced on the series as showrunner by Denis McGrath (The Border, Across the River to Motor City). That move, supported by the CBC series producers, follows MacRury shifting to another of his series, Lawyers, Guns and Money from Whizbang Films, after it was greenlit by Global Television.

MacRury now gets a writer credit on the series alongside Chafe, Shelley Eriksen, Hawco, Matt MacLennan and Jesse McKeown.

John Vatcher, Hawco and Michael Levine will executive produce the series, while Rod Blackie and Ray Sager produce. Alan Magee produced the CBC pilot. Directors on the series include Jim Allodi, who lensed the pilot, Mike Clattenburg, Steve DiMarco and Phil Earnshaw.

The series received around $1.5 million in film equity funding from the Newfoundland and Labrador provincial government, and is set to reap around $3 million in provincial tax credit subsidies.

The Newfoundland government estimates the Republic of Doyle series will produce $11.3 million in spin-off benefits to the local economy.