BBC Four acquires new Canadian crime drama Cardinal

BBC Four has announced the acquisition of new crime drama Cardinal. The six-part series will be the channel’s first Canadian drama and will air later in 2017.

Cardinal follows Detective John Cardinal (Billy Campbell, The Killing) and Lise Delorme (Karine Vanasse, Revenge) as they join forces to hunt down a killer in a small Northern Ontario town.

Demoted for a hunch about a case that he wouldn’t let go, John Cardinal is brought back to the Homicide Unit when the body of a missing teenager is discovered, proving his instincts correct. Back on the case, Cardinal’s search for the murderer soon becomes an all-consuming race to stay ahead of a serial killer.

Meanwhile, he must right past wrongs that threaten to derail the investigation and end his whole career – all whilst keeping a watchful eye on his new partner Lise. Does she have a secret agenda of her own?

Adapted from author Giles Blunt’s award-winning Forty Words for Sorrow, the first of the John Cardinal mysteries, Cardinal is written for television by Audrey Nealon and Russ Cochrane. The series was acquired by BBC Four from Entertainment One.

Cassian Harrison, Controller of BBC Four, said, “I’m delighted to expand BBC Four’s hugely popular international drama range with our first Canadian drama series, Cardinal. Further to the recently announced Spanish drama I Know Who You Are and returning hits such as Follow The Money, Inspector Montalbano and Spiral, BBC Four remains the home of high quality, high stakes international drama on British television in 2017.”

Sue Deeks, BBC Head of Programme Acquisition, added, “Set in the bleakly beautiful Northern Ontario winter landscape, Cardinal is a finely nuanced, atmospheric thriller which is completely gripping from beginning to end.”

“We’re thrilled to have secured the BBC as the UK home for Cardinal. BBC Four’s programming is ambitious and compelling which makes a perfect fit for this dark and haunting, edge-of-your-seat serialised crime drama”, said Stuart Baxter, President eOne Television International.

Cardinal is produced by Sienna Films and eOne in association with Bell Media’s CTV, with the financial participation of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation, the Canada Media Fund and the Cogeco Program Development Fund, and with the assistance of the Ontario Film and Television Tax Credit and the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit. Super Écran has commissioned the series for French-language Canadian broadcast. eOne distributes the series worldwide.

We can’t wait!