WEEK 2 APRIL
Y
ou would likely recognise the face of
Lauren Lee Smith from her 22-episode
stint alongside Laurence Fishburne in
ratings hit CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
After 18 years in the industry, the Canadian
actress has hit the jackpot with the lead role
in Frankie Drake Mysteries. Sure, the genre
may not be that diferent from CSI – but the
era is! Set in 1920s Canada, Smith portrays
the titular adrenaline-junkie private detective
in the visually rich new series.
The heroine of this alluring drama goes
about her business with ease thanks to her
gender because, really, who would suspect
a female fighting crime back in the jazz age
of the Roaring Twenties? Certainly not the
bad guys, as Smith explains.
“Frankie is very much ahead of her time,”
the actress previews. “It’s 1921, women
across North America had only just been
given the right to vote a year earlier.
She opens up the only female private
detective agency in Toronto, along with
her crime-solving partner Trudy Clarke
(Chantel Riley, pictured far left with
Smith). They take on the cases that the
police don’t want to touch.”
With two strong women at the helm of
the production – and another three backing
them up – Smith says from the scripts to
filming, turning up to work every day felt
very much like a sisterhood.
“There’s a kinship between all these
women, who are so vastly diferent and
come from such diferent walks of life,” she
says. “To have a TV series where the first
five leads are female is pretty rare. We have
a few male recurring characters, but all the
series regulars are female.”
MUST WATCH
YOUR
UNMISSABLE
WEEKLY
HIGHLIGHTS
FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES
Tuesdays from April 10 at 8.30pm on
13th STREET [118] available in the DRAMA pack
DRAMA
Ladies in arms