Corner Brook writer Jane Maggs creator of new CBC drama
Bellevue stars Anna Paquin, Allen Leech and Shawn Doyle
The new mystery drama Bellevue is scheduled to hit the airwaves on CBC-TV in winter 2017, and it's the creation of Corner Brook writer and actress Jane Maggs.
Maggs said the experience of growing up in a small city like Corner Brook helped provide some inspiration.
"The small town-ness of it, absolutely, I drew on … the camaraderie of a small town is definitely there," Maggs said.
"[But] in my town, in this fictional town, it's a bit of a repressed set in its ways small town, which I wouldn't call [Corner Brook] … I draw on Corner Brook and I totally fictionalize it."
It's a small town mystery, a sort of edgy, eerie-toned mystery.- Jane Maggs
The show set in this fictionalized blue-collar small town follows an intense cop who's sometimes at odds with her hometown.
"It's a small town mystery, a sort of edgy, eerie-toned mystery, led by a very complicated and very beautifully-flawed female detective who's going to be played by Anna Paquin," said Maggs.
Paquin, an Oscar winner best known for True Blood and the X-Men films, will play the main role in the show, and Maggs credits the shows producers for landing the big name talent.
"I just wrote the scripts and they did all the magic of wooing Anna," she said.
Irish actor Allen Leech (Downton Abbey, The Imitation Game) and Wabush's Shawn Doyle (House of Cards, Fargo) were also wooed by that magic.
Maggs said the three are not just star talent, they are also the perfect actors for the show.
"It's really a dream trio of actors to have. We're incredibly lucky, everyone is talented ... but [are] also just so perfectly suited for the roles," she said.
Show in production
Maggs said she had the seed of an idea for the show for a while, and was a fan of the work of Back Alley Films and Muse Entertainment. She did much of the writing on the show and worked together with Back Alley's Adrienne Mitchell.
"I wrote four scripts before they ordered the series and it's only eight episodes," Maggs said.
"We went in to the production part of development with half of the series written."
Bellevue is now in pre-production and will begin shooting in Montreal in mid-September, but there's still plenty of work to be done.
"We're making decisions every day, we're finishing with the casting, we're finalizing scripts - which are never really final, I guess. It's just so many details," said Maggs.
And despite being a trained actor, having studied at Grenfell Campus of Memorial University, Maggs said she won't likely be appearing on the show any time soon.
"I think I'll leave that to other people, they're much more at ease than I ever was."
With files from the Corner Brook Morning