Frankie Drake Mysteries

Frankie Drake Mysteries is a Canadian drama that ran on CBC Television from November 6, 2017 to March 8, 2021. The series stars Lauren Lee Smith and Chantel Riley as Frankie Drake and her partner Trudy Clarke who run an all female private detective service in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in the 1920s.

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.

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
 * Mac Fyfe as Sebastian West (season 4), Frankie's neighbour, a carpenter, who has a passing interest in Frankie

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

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.

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."