If you came across an ad for Frankie Drake Mysteries in the last couple of months and dismissed the show as the female version of Murdoch Mysteries, you’re missing out on something wholly unique.
Sure, Frankie Drake Mysteries, like Murdoch Mysteries, is a period drama set in Toronto. Sure, Frankie Drake is produced by some of the key creative talents behind Murdoch. And, sure, both have “mysteries” in their titles, and both occupy prime real estate on CBC Television.
And, sure, Frankie Drake has a female protagonist, and Murdoch has a male in the top spot. And – yes – Frankie Drake only premiered this fall, and Murdoch’s entering its 11th season.
But Frankie Drake Mysteries is very much its own show, thank you very much, and represents a concept long missing from Canadian television: fun feminist fare for the whole family.
It’s 1921, and Frankie Drake (portrayed by Vancouver actress Lauren Lee Smith, who co-starred on CBC family drama This Life) is a motorcycle-riding, pants-wearing, Turkish coffee-swilling private investigator in Toronto – all of this a couple of years after most Canadian women got the vote, and still a few years before they were legally considered persons (that would come in 1929, with the Persons Case).
It’s thematically intersectional in a way that doesn’t feel like an experiment: smart and stylish (cloche hats and beaded dresses!); educational (Canada had its own brief brush with Prohibition! 1920s women wore pants!) and, yes, entertaining.
Frankie Drake Mysteries acknowledges facts often lost in Canadian period dramas and textbooks: in the 1920s, Canadian women were – gasp! – flawed! Women pursued careers! Women had secrets! Our cities were – gasp! – populated by more than white British settlers! And getting the vote, and entering the workforce in large numbers, didn’t solve everything for Canadian women. Not by a long shot.
Frankie is joined in her weekly whodunits by four dynamic women: Trudy (Chantel Riley), her partner in the PI firm who happens to be a woman of colour; Mary Shaw (Rebecca Liddiard), a morality officer determined to follow in her cop dad’s footsteps, even though women aren’t allowed on the force; Flo (Sharron Matthews) a war widow turned morgue assistant; and Whiskey Wendy (Grace Lynn Kung), who runs the local speakeasy.
“We have all of these amazingly strong, independent, forward-thinking women in this timeframe that was so interesting for women,” says Smith in a recent phone interview.
It’s not that men aren’t on the show – but when they do appear, they’re in guest star or supporting roles. “It’s sort of like every male character throughout the season is the disposable character, if you will, which is so rare,” Smith marvels, noting that, on other shows, “usually it’s the women who come who have a time limit or play the love interest, but for us, it’s the opposite.”
Although Frankie Drake Mysteries is set nearly 100 years ago, it’s also timely; the first few episodes touched on workplace harassment, racism, classism and sexism. And it’s all mixed with a sense of action and playfulness that makes the show “like a female Indiana Jones,” says Smith.
Smith even got her motorcycle licence for the show. “It was something that I never imagined myself doing. I never had the desire to do,” says Smith. “But Frankie rides a motorcycle, and it’s badass, and I wanted to be able to get on and off and make her look a little bit cool, in that sense.”
Frankie represents a new frontier of role for Smith: the strong and self-assured protagonist. “In my 20s, I really enjoyed playing damaged characters, because it’s fun and you get to sink your teeth into that world in a very different way,” says Smith. But after welcoming her daughter Tula into the family in 2016, “I took a step back and said, ‘I want to make stuff that my daughter would be proud of and is good, quality television about female empowerment.’”
When Smith spoke with Reel People in 2016 about her work as 30-something hot mess Maggie Lawson on This Life, she talked about her 17-year lucky streak. One year later, her lucky streak remains unbroken.
“It continues. I’m knocking on wood as we speak,” she laughs. “Honestly, it’s crazy. I was literally wiping the tears from my face when I found out that This Life was not going to go for a season three when my phone rang, and it was [executive producer] Christina Jennings saying, ‘Hey, I have this really interesting project that I’d love you to read.’ Cut to 10 minutes later and I’m five pages in and I call her back and say, ‘Oh my god! I’ve read five pages, but yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, we need to make this happen.’”
Lucky for her, and lucky for viewers: Frankie Drake Mysteries airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on CBC Television.
