It's meaty subject matter, and particularly relevant in a country whose intelligence activities are regularly questioned in the media. Though he's not aiming to take storylines from yesterday's headlines, he said "we're writing parallel to events that are in the public consciousness."
Intelligence is the culmination of years of research based on Haddock's interest in the world of intelligence, "both as a genre of drama and also because of my personal interest in the daily events of the intelligence in the world abroad."
"I've done a great deal of research on my own but I also have a very good advisor, who's run intelligence operations and has done that kind of large-scale police work," Haddock continued. "He's able to tell me the legal ramifications and the practical ramifications and the overall dramatic reasonableness."
A series centred partly around a sympathetic, compelling drug runner might seem contentious, but Haddock says CBC and everyone involved have embraced the material. "They're all quite excited, because it seems to be so contemporary, and it seems to be unique, and it seems to come out of a true place," he said, while acknowledging that "there's a certain taboo about this. It's been prohibited to talk about drugs on television for a while."
Intelligence may not be completely PC – thank goodness – but it's very BC, representing a darker side of the province than its usual granola-crunching reputation. Personally, I moved to Vancouver because I fell in love with the pretty surroundings and casual but vibrant city. Haddock has a slightly different take. He calls the home of BC Bud, of the gritty streets of Intelligence, "a far-flung outpost, so people hide out here, do things in a clandestine manner here. It's just one of those overlooked spots where there's a lot of action."
Pointing to the area's history of involvement in liquor and now drug smuggling, Haddock has provided Reardon's family with that same history. A third-generation shipping magnate and smuggler, "Jimmy's carrying on the family tradition, both the good and the bad."
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