''Pretty Hard Cases'' is a Canadian police comedy-drama television series that premiered on
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
on February 3, 2021. Originally announced with the working title ''Lady Dicks'', the series was created by
Tassie Cameron
Tassie Cameron is a Gemini Award-winning Canadian screenwriter who has contributed to numerous television shows and films. She was the head writer and executive producer on the Global Television Network/ABC series ''Rookie Blue'' and creator of ...
and
Sherry White
Sherry White is a Canadian film and television actress, writer and filmmaker, best known for her work as a producer and writer for the television series ''MVP'', ''Rookie Blue'' and ''Saving Hope'' In March 2021, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on January 5, 2022.
Amazon Freevee
Amazon Freevee is an American ad-supported video-on-demand (VOD) streaming service owned by Amazon, with original and licensed programming.
History
Amazon Freevee launched as a free, ad-supported video channel by the Amazon-owned online data ...
will become official co-producer from the second season. The second season released on IMDb TV on April 22, 2022. In June 2022, at CBC's upfronts announcement event, the show was renewed for a third season, with
Freevee
Amazon Freevee is an American ad-supported video-on-demand (VOD) streaming service owned by Amazon, with original and licensed programming.
History
Amazon Freevee launched as a free, ad-supported video channel by the Amazon-owned online data ...
still committed and on board to co-fund, co-produce and broadcast in the US. Season 3 is set to premiere on January 4, 2023 on CBC and CBC Gem in Canada and later on in US on Freevee starting around the spring, mostly likely in April again like with the second season if the series follows the same release pattern for episodes.
Premise
The series follows two detectives in their early 40s: Sam, an uptight and by-the-book guns and gangs detective, and Kelly, a streetwise narcotics detective. Both are ambitious and accomplished in their own way excelling at work while struggling with their personal lives. They drive one another crazy, but also appreciate each other's strengths, and somehow manage to work together.
Cast
*
Meredith MacNeill
Meredith MacNeill (born 1975) is a Canadian actress and comedian.Adrienne C. Moore
Adrienne C. Moore is an American actress. She is known for her role as Cindy "Black Cindy" Hayes in the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019).
Life and career
Moore was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and grew up in ...
as Det. Kelly Duff
*
Karen Robinson
Karen Robinson (born February 29, 1968) is a British-Canadian film, television, and stage actress. She won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Performance in a Guest Role in a Drama Series at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019 for her appearan ...
as Unit Commander Edwina Shanks
*
Tara Strong
Tara Lyn Strong (née Charendoff; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian-American actress. She is known for her voice work in animation, websites, and video games. Strong's voice roles include animated series such as ''The New Batman Adventures ...
as Tiggy Sullivan (season 1)
*
Dean McDermott
Dean McDermott (born November 16, 1966) is a Canadian actor best known as a reality television personality with his wife, actress Tori Spelling, and as the host of the cooking competition ''Chopped Canada''. He played the role of Constable Renfi ...
as Det. Barry Hamm (season 1)
*
Al Mukadam
Al Mukadam (born Ali Mukaddam; April 6, 1984) is a Canadian actor. He is known for his performance as Ray Brennan in the Family Channel television series ''Radio Free Roscoe'' (2003–2005).
Career
Mukadam started his career very young and st ...
as Det. Taai Nazeer
*
Percy Hynes White
Percy Hynes White (born October 8, 2001) is a Canadian actor. He is known for his roles in films such as '' Edge of Winter'' and ''A Christmas Horror Story'', for his role in the television series '' Between'', and for his starring role as And ...
Kim Coates
Kim F. Coates (born February 21, 1958) is a Canadian–American actor who has worked in both Canadian and American films and television series. He has worked on Broadway portraying Stanley Kowalski in ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' and in the lead ...
as Bill Misiano (season 1)
*
Tricia Black
Tricia Black is a Canadian actress, writer and comedian.Glenn Sumi"How two East Coasters are changing Toronto’s queer comedy scene" ''Now'', June 12, 2019. She is most noted for her role in the 2020 web series '' Band Ladies'', for which she won ...
as Det. Tara Swallows
*
Miguel Rivas
''The Beaverton'' is a Canadian news satire television comedy series, which premiered on The Comedy Network in 2016. Based on the satirical online publication of the same name, the series follows the format of a mock television newscast,"New Ca ...
as Det. Dustin Chase
* Daren A. Herbert as DS Nathan Greene
* Ben Bass as DS Brad Michaels (season 2)
*
Laura de Carteret
Laura de Carteret is a Canadian actress from St. Catharines, Ontario. She is most noted for her recurring role as Janet in the television series ''Seed'', for which she was a Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Se ...
as Marley Briggs
Episodes
Series Overview
Season 1 (2021)
Season 2 (2022)
Season 3 (2023)
Production
Development
On February 11, 2020, CBC, along with NBCUniversal International Studios, announced that it had given the series, then titled "Lady Dicks" a series order. It was also revealed that Tassie Cameron and Sherry White would act as co-showrunners with David Wellington would direct the first episode. The launch of production was delayed by the
COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...
; during the summer, further, the racial protests associated with the murder of
George Floyd
George Perry Floyd Jr. (October 14, 1973 – May 25, 2020) was an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, during an arrest made after a store clerk suspected Floyd may have used a counterfeit twe ...
On February 11, 2020, it was announced that the series would star Meredith MacNeill and Adrienne C. Moore. On September 8, 2020, CBC announced that Karen Robinson, Tara Strong, Dean McDermott, Al Mukadam, Percy Hynes White, Katie Douglas, and Ronnie Rowe would be joining the cast.
Filming
Filming was set to begin in early spring, but was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. In September 2020, filming was underway in the Toronto area.
International broadcast
In the United States, the series premiered on September 10, 2021, on
IMDb TV
Amazon Freevee is an American ad-supported video-on-demand (VOD) streaming service owned by Amazon, with original and licensed programming.
History
Amazon Freevee launched as a free, ad-supported video channel by the Amazon-owned online data ...
. In the UK, the series premiered on 19 January 2022 on Alibi.