New Chris Haddock spy thriller The Romeo Section starts tonight on CBC-TV

Acclaimed TV mastermind Chris Haddock returns to CBC television tonight with a new series called The Romeo Section.

Haddock created the popular show Da Vinci's Inquest and the critically acclaimed drama Intelligence. 

In the new series, he delves into the world of spies, but with a twist. The Romeo Section of the title is a covert intelligence operation that uses seduction for spying. The Romeo and Juliet spies are men and women recruited for their ability to extract information by getting intimately involved with their intelligence targets.

Rufus, played by Juan Riedinger, is one such Romeo. He is having a tumultuous affair with the girlfriend of a major Vancouver drug dealer in order to infiltrate that operation. And he's risking his life to pull it off.

"We're definitely pushing boundaries with the show in terms of subject matter," Riedinger told CBC News.

"The drugs, the swearing, the smoking, the sex — we're taking things to another level. It's an exciting place to be, because I think it's fairly cutting edge for Canadian television."

Riedinger, who divides his time between Los Angeles and Vancouver, is best known to TV audiences for his recent role in the first season of the Netflix drug cartel drama Narcos. He calls the reception Narcos has received as "a trip," especially since he had to act entirely in Spanish to play a real-life Colombian drug trafficker named Carlos Lehder.

While Narcos is getting him recognized in public, Riedinger calls The Romeo Section "a dream role" and notes that both series "deal with the dark underbelly of things that are happening."

Early reviews of The Romeo Section have been very positive, comparing the show to some of the dark, edgy dramas on HBO or Netflix. The Globe and Mail's TV critic John Doyle called it "a subtly sexy thriller for grown-ups."

In the series, there's a constant sense of intrigue and danger.

"It's like there's a vice constantly getting squeezed, and that's the idea of the show: the anxiety and pressure that all the characters are under" Riedinger said. 

Rufus's activities are under the watchful eye and tutelage of Wolfgang McGee, played by Canadian TV veteran Andrew Airlie. Audiences may recognize him from the movie Fifty Shades of Grey, where he played lead character Christian Grey's father.

Airlie has worked with Haddock before, but in smaller roles. "He is a master of his own story," Airlie said. "But he's a generous collaborator as well." 

In The Romeo Section, Airlie plays a university professor who also happens to manage the roster of Romeo and Juliet spies while being closely monitored by his superiors. Airlie compares the show to the work of popular English spy novelist John le Carré.

Airlie said it's "profoundly rewarding" to do a show set in Canada and called McGee "my favourite character ever I've had the opportunity to play."   

The Romeo Section airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC-TV.