Frankie Drake Mysteries

Overview

Lauren Lee Smith portrays the fictional Frankie Drake, the first female private detective in 1920s Toronto, with Chantel Riley as her crime solving partner Trudy Clarke. Frankie and Trudy are often assisted on their cases by Mary Shaw (Rebecca Liddiard), a morality officer in Toronto's police force, and Flo Chakowitz (Sharron Matthews), a morgue attendant at the Toronto City Morgue.

Cast and characters

Main

Lauren Lee Smith as Frankie Drake, Toronto's first female private detective and the owner of Drake Private Detectives

Chantel Riley as Trudy Clarke, Frankie's partner and friend

Rebecca Liddiard as Mary Shaw, a morality officer in Toronto's police force who often helps Frankie with her cases

Sharron Matthews as Flo Chakowitz, a morgue attendant at the Toronto City Morgue who provides information to Frankie

Recurring

Wendy Crewson as Nora Amory, Frankie's mother, a con artist

Karen Robinson (seasons 1–3; guest season 4) as Mildred Clarke, Trudy's mother, a good Christian woman who is not afraid to speak her mind when needed

Grace Lynn Kung (seasons 1–3) as Wendy Quon, the owner of Quon's Cafe, a speakeasy in the Ward that is frequented by the main cast

Romaine Waite as Bill Peters, a friend of Trudy's who works at city hall and helps the women out with information at times. At the beginning of season four, was engaged to Trudy. He had a job offer in Ottawa, which caused Trudy to break off the engagement

Emmanuel Kabongo as Moses Page (seasons 1 & 3), Frankie's boxing instructor with whom she has a casual romantic relationship

Steve Lund as Ernest Hemingway (season 1), a writer and reporter for the Toronto Star

Richard Walters (seasons 1–3) as Tickles Malone, a musician who Frankie bumps into at different clubs around Toronto

Anthony Lemke as Detective Grayson (season 2), recently transferred to the Toronto police and a thorn in Frankie's investigations

Johnathan Sousa as Alessandro Contento (season 4), a European race car driver who is Frankie's boyfriend

Ben Sanders as Steven Reid (season 4), a journalist for the Worker's Gazette and Mary's boyfriend

Patrick Garrow as Harvey Lyle (season 4), a detective in Mary's precinct, who suspects Mary is smarter than she lets on and tries to catch her snooping

Guest

Jonny Harris as George Crabtree (season 1), who has retired from the Toronto police and was a successful investor

Derek McGrath as Abraham Amory (season 1)

Romane Portail as Coco Chanel (season 2), who hires Frankie to determine who shot at her in Toronto

Honeysuckle Weeks as Agatha Christie (season 3), whom Frankie meets in England

Dillon Casey as Jack Drake (seasons 3 & 4), Frankie's younger half brother

Geraint Wyn Davies as Ned Drake (season 4), Frankie's dead father, who she discovers is alive and well

Amalia Williamson as Lena

Episodes

Production

The series was created by Carol Hay and Michelle Ricci; both women also served as writers and producers on Murdoch Mysteries. It is produced by Shaftesbury Films.

On April 5, 2018, the show was renewed for a second season. On March 25, 2019, the show was renewed for a third season. The third-season premiere was filmed in England, with Honeysuckle Weeks playing the role of British author Agatha Christie. On May 27, 2020, Frankie Drake Mysteries was renewed by CBC for a fourth season. On February 28, 2021, CBC announced the show would not be renewed for a fifth season.

In May 2020, an animated spinoff for kids called Mary and Flo On the Go! was reported as being in production; the web series was released in March 2022.

Broadcast

Alibi in the United Kingdom aired the second season starting January 21, 2019, with the third season aired in 2020. Ovation in the United States aired seasons one and two back to back, beginning on June 15, 2019, and started airing season three on April 4, 2020. The fourth and final season premiered on October 2, 2021, following the broadcast of the new special titled Frankie Drake Mysteries: Music at Midnight, and the series concluded on December 4, 2021. Co-produced by Ovation in conjunction with the Toronto Sympathy Orchestra and Shaftesbury Films, this special features interviews and performances from series stars Chantel Riley, Sharron Matthews, and more. The special wasn't aired in Canada, instead released onto YouTube by Shaftsbury on their channel earlier in February 2021, and premiered on Ovation on September 25, 2021 at 7PM ET/4PM PT. Additionally, PBS has started broadcasting the show and offering it on-demand through its membership program, Passport. The show was further picked up in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. In Greece the show airs in ERT3 under the title "Frankie Drake" (Φράνκι Ντρέικ) on Saturdays and Sundays at 20:00pm. The show was not so successful like Murdoch Mysteries (Ντετέκτιβ Μέρντοχ) in the past.

Reception

The series has received generally positive reviews from critics since its release. John Doyle of The Globe and Mail remarked "it's a hoot and as silly as all get-out," and concluded that "thanks to its charm and the frocks, skirts, suits and, well, the gorgeous furniture, it's frightfully good entertainment." Johanna Schneller of the Toronto Star wrote that "the messaging in CBC series sometimes hits you over the head, but it's fun to watch women run their own show." Hanh Nguyen of IndieWire wrote "inclusive casting opens up the world in a way that hasn’t been seen previously in shows set in that era. Through this lens, 1920s Toronto feels fresh and modern, a setting where almost anything can happen. ... The series holds back from crossing into didactic moralizing, but instead approaches history from a different angle, enough to be stimulating and to inspire curiosity."