Jonas Chernick, Kenneth Welsh and Jodi Balfour are top-lining The Best Laid Plans, the six-part CBC drama that has started production in Ottawa.

Chernick plays a head speech writer for the leader of the opposition who tries to go back into academia.

The ensemble cast for the PDM Entertainment series includes Sarah Allen, Mark McKinney, Peter Keleghan and Eric Peterson.

Based on the political satire novel of the same name by Terry Fallis, The Best Laid Plans is produced by Phyllis Platt, Brian Dennis and Peter Moss.

The series, whose script was written by Susan Coyne and Jason Sherman, is due for a winter 2014 launch on the CBC.