CBC greenlights Shaftesbury’s Frankie Drake

The female-led period detective drama, created by Murdoch Mysteries scribes Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci, goes to camera this summer in Toronto.

lauren-58CBC and Shaftesbury are partnering for another period crime drama – which to date has proven to be a consistent ratings driver for them in Canadian television.

The pubcaster has greenlit the Toronto-set period drama Frankie Drake (working title), created by Murdoch Mysteries writers Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci, about a female private detective played by Lauren Lee Smith (This Life, The Listener).

Filming on the 11-episode first season is scheduled to begin in Toronto this summer ahead of a fall 2017 launch.

Set in the 1920s, Frankie Drake follows Toronto’s only female detective as she takes on the cases that the police can’t, or won’t, handle. Using her own brand of rough justice, Drake and her partner Trudy welcome cases of all descriptions.

Creators Hay and Ricci are executive producing the series alongside Christina Jennings, Scott Garvie and showrunner Cal Coons. Jonathan Hackett and Julie Lacey serve as producers.

The hour-long CBC original is developed and produced by Shaftesbury with the financial participation of the CMF, the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit and the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit.

Shaftesbury is handling international distribution on the show.

The greenlight follows another season in which Murdoch proved its enduring appeal with CBC viewers, pulling in around 1.3 million (2+) viewers per episode during its season-10 run. The Yannick Bisson-starring series was subsequently renewed for season 11 last month.