Steve Lucas’ Blue Murder checks in this year with an impressive nine Gemini nominations, placing it between CBC’s venerable Da Vinci’s Inquest (11 noms) and CTV’s Cold Squad (six noms). The Global TV police drama is up for best dramatic series, best actor for Jeremy Ratchford and best actress for both Mimi Kuzyk and Tamara Hickey.

With all those nods, one could forgive Blue Murder creator Lucas for being a bit smug. Add the fact that the program’s ratings last year jumped 20% in its Wednesday 10 p.m. face-off against Law & Order (CTV/NBC), and Lucas could be forgiven for being downright boastful.

Instead, Lucas is simply pleased that Blue Murder has done so well in the dog-eat-dog cop show genre. And it is not only against its fellow Gemini nominees that Blue Murder is vying for viewers’ attention.

‘There are 19 cop dramas in primetime right now, so I’m just happy that we are competitive,’ Lucas says.

And as for surviving against Dick Wolf’s powerful franchise?

‘Law & Order’s three shows are the behemoth of commercial television. If I had my druthers, I’d be up against something else. So I’m happy that our average Ontario ratings alone are up well over a couple of hundred thousand viewers,’ Lucas says.

Lucas, who heads up Toronto’s North Bend Film Company, is one of Blue Murder’s two executive producers. The other exec is Laszlo Barna, whose Toronto-based Barna-Alper Productions also coproduces Da Vinci’s Inquest, while the show’s producer is Norman Denver.

‘Although we all work together, I tend to be the one who rides the scripts and the picture edits,’ Lucas explains. ‘Laszlo keeps the money coming in, while Norman keeps our various production trains running on time.’

Blue Murder grew out of the 1997 Gemini Award-winning miniseries Major Crime, which Lucas wrote and co-executive produced for CBC with Salter Street Films’ Michael Donovan.

‘I was working with writer/director Cal Coons [now Blue Murder’s executive story editor]. He had an idea for a show that I thought would end up being Major Crime II,’ Lucas explains. ‘Instead, we ended up pitching it to Global in early 1999. They were just wrapping up Traders and were in the market for a new show.’

Global liked Blue Murder’s concept and gave Barna-Alper/North Bend enough money to develop six scripts plus a show bible. From there, the show went into production and hit the airwaves in September 2000. Despite industry-wide funding concerns caused by Canadian Television Fund cutbacks, Blue Murder has never looked back.

‘In the run-up to season four, we were fortunate to be a priority for Global when it came to requesting CTF funding,’ Lucas explains. ‘Add the fact that Telefilm, thankfully, happens to like our show and we were able to pull through the funding crunch.’

Blue Murder has 39 episodes under its belt, with 13 more planned for its fourth season. Its 2003/04 time slot has not yet been chosen, however Lucas anticipates more sparring with Yankee titan Wolf.

‘I expect us to go up against Law & Order on Wednesdays at 10, or Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Fridays at 10, but it’s up to the network to decide,’ he says.

Since its 2000 launch, Blue Murder has evolved in many ways. Most notably, the ensemble cast has seen some changes, with a couple of the show’s nominated actors departing. Most recently, Kitchener, ON-born Ratchford was cast in CBS’ new Jerry Bruckheimer show Cold Case in the off-season.

‘Jeremy was with us for three years, and did a lot of good work for Blue Murder,’ Lucas says. ‘Tamara Hickey also had a great season last year, but she’s left to do live theater.’

Fortunately, Blue Murder has the same ensemble cast structure that has allowed Law & Order to thrive despite numerous cast changes. For season four, Ratchford and Hickey will be replaced by Kari Matchett (who won a Gemini for an earlier guest spot on the show) and Tracy Waterhouse (who has also guested on the show and appeared on The Eleventh Hour and Cold Squad). Matchett’s character will be teamed with Joel Keller (Det. Ed Oosterhius), while Waterhouse will be teamed with Benz Antoine (Det. Jim Weeks).

Blue Murder’s plot lines have also changed since 2000. ‘Thematically, the stories have become more refined,’ Lucas says. ‘We’ve also picked up the pace. When we started, we shot 50- to 54-page scripts and the show tended to lope along. Now we’re shooting 70-page scripts, and they really come at you.’

However, Lucas isn’t changing Blue Murder’s emphasis on the gritty, hard-hitting brand of storytelling that has helped the show garner 26 Gemini nominations over the years, which he has tracked closely.

‘The Geminis don’t influence whether you live or die, but they are a nice sign of respect from your peers,’ Lucas says. ‘I’m particularly happy for our actors, who have attracted 22 of those nominations since 2000.’

-www.bluemurder.tv