Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent
Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent is a Canadian police procedural drama television series that is based on the American series Law & Order: Criminal Intent.[1] The series is set in Toronto, Ontario, and centres on crime stories "ripped from the headlines", in the style of the original Law & Order.[2]
| Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | |
| Created by | Dick Wolf (American series) |
| Developed by |
|
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Steven Zirnkilton (opening only) |
| Opening theme | "Theme of Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent"
|
| Country of origin | Canada |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 20 |
| Production | |
| Producers |
|
| Running time | 45 minutes |
| Production companies |
|
| Original release | |
| Network | Citytv |
| Release | February 22, 2024 – present |
| Related | |
| Law & Order franchise | |
The series premiered on February 22, 2024, on Citytv,[3] and became the #1 prime-time drama of the year in Canada by attracting 1.1 million views on the first episode.[4] The first season ran for 10 episodes;[5] in June 2024, it was renewed for a second and third season.
Premise
editA psychological thriller wrapped in a criminal investigation, the series follows a squad of detectives from the Specialized Criminal Investigations Unit, a major case squad in the fictional Toronto Police Department. These detectives investigate high-profile homicides and corruptions in metro Toronto.[6]
In Toronto's war on crime, the worst offenders are pursued by the detectives of the Specialized Criminal Investigations Unit. These are their stories.
Cast
editMain cast
edit- Aden Young as Detective Sergeant Henry Graff
- Kathleen Munroe as Detective Sergeant Frankie Bateman
- K. C. Collins as Deputy Crown Attorney Theo Forrester
- Karen Robinson as Inspector Vivienne Holness
Recurring cast
edit- Nicola Correia-Damude as Dr. Lucy Da Silva
- Araya Mengesha as Mark Yohannes
- Tammy Isbell as Detective Alice Riley
Notable guest stars
edit- Noam Jenkins as Councillor John Graham
- Amanda Brugel as Lee Cole
- Tim Rozon as Roman Rush
- Keshia Chanté as Deja
- Diana Leblanc as Verena Follows
- Rachael Crawford as Susan Wright
- Rachelle Lefevre as Ellen Stewart
- John Ralston as Christopher Parsons
- Jake Epstein as Andrew
- Laura Vandervoort as Jessica Cartwright
- Richard Harmon as Curtis
- Currie Graham as Jack Walding
- Ted Dykstra as Jay Diaz
- Christine Horne as Lina Henkel
Episodes
edit| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 10 | February 22, 2024 | May 16, 2024 | |
| 2 | 10 | February 20, 2025 | May 15, 2025 | |
Season 1 (2024)
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title [7] | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate [7] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Key to the Castle" | Holly Dale | Tassie Cameron | February 22, 2024 | |
|
Graff and Bateman investigate the disappearance of a crypto investor when he vanishes on Lake Ontario, along with hundreds of millions of his clients' dollars. | ||||||
| 2 | 2 | "Good Neighbours" | Peter Stebbings | Sam Godfrey | February 29, 2024 | |
|
A shooting at a condo building leads Graff and Bateman to a twenty-year-old cold case that they must solve in order to catch the killer. | ||||||
| 3 | 3 | "The Real Eve" | Holly Dale | Jillian Locke | March 7, 2024 | |
|
When a beloved art professor, Eve Kinwood, is killed, the team must use her art to find the Real Eve and her killer. | ||||||
| 4 | 4 | "Crack Reporter" | David Wellington | Sherry White | March 14, 2024 | |
|
A stabbing on a crowded transit walkway throws the detectives into the middle of a heated mayoral race as they investigate the murder of a local journalist. | ||||||
| 5 | 5 | "Bleeding Heart" | Sudz Sutherland | Annmarie Morais | March 21, 2024 | |
|
When a murder leads Graff and Bateman to a global crime syndicate, they must weave through a complex maze of criminals and victims to find the killer. | ||||||
| 6 | 6 | "Minnow and the Shark" | Rachel Leiterman | Aubrey Nealon | April 11, 2024 | |
|
The death of an executive at a major grocery chain sends the detectives into the cutthroat business of selling food and corporate corruption. | ||||||
| 7 | 7 | "The Sound of Silence" | Winnifred Jong | Tassie Cameron & Noelle Carbone | April 18, 2024 | |
|
The discovery of a young woman's remains leads the detectives to the toxic workplace from which she was wrongfully dismissed. | ||||||
| 8 | 8 | "Boys Will Be Boys" | David Straiton | Noelle Carbone & Annmarie Morais | May 2, 2024 | |
|
When a local hockey star is found dead on the ice, Graff and Bateman must untangle a hazing scandal that led to the star player's suspension just days before his death. | ||||||
| 9 | 9 | "Three Points" | Holly Dale[8] | Tassie Cameron | May 9, 2024 | |
|
The death of a prominent rapper-turned-producer sends Graff and Bateman on the tail of a frenzied serial killer at large in the city. | ||||||
| 10 | 10 | "Cul-De-Sac" | Sharon Lewis | Sam Godfrey & Jillian Locke | May 16, 2024 | |
|
The neighbours of a respected defence attorney become the prime suspects in her murder. | ||||||
Season 2 (2025)
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title [7] | Directed by | Written by | Original airdate [7] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | "White Squirrel City" | Peter Stebbings | Tassie Cameron | February 20, 2025 | |
|
When an unhoused man is stabbed to death in a downtown park, Graff and Bateman are called to investigate as attention turns to his various neighbours. | ||||||
| 12 | 2 | "Digital Lipstick" | David Wellington | Jillian Locke | February 27, 2025 | |
|
A stabbing in the PATH leads Graff and Bateman to one of the most scandalous data breaches in Toronto's history. | ||||||
| 13 | 3 | "Fool's Gold" | Winnifred Jong | Sam Godfrey | March 6, 2025 | |
|
When an airport worker is found dead of an apparent suicide, Graff and Bateman quickly deduce he has been murdered and may be responsible for a crime of his own. | ||||||
| 14 | 4 | "Hoggs Hollow" | Sudz Sutherland | Aubrey Nealon | March 20, 2025 | |
|
The team is called to investigate when a young wife is killed in her Hoggs Hollow home, and they uncover a secret hidden within the home and the police department. | ||||||
| 15 | 5 | "Face Value" | Sharon Lewis | Stephen Cochrane | April 3, 2025 | |
|
A well-liked couple is murdered at their place of business, and while all clues point to a robbery, Graff and Bateman soon discover the murder was a targeted hit. | ||||||
| 16 | 6 | "Disposable People" | Peter Stebbings | Seneca Aaron | April 10, 2025 | |
|
The death of a prison inmate takes Graff and Bateman to a maximum-security detention centre to investigate. | ||||||
| 17 | 7 | "The Man in the Stadium" | Sudz Sutherland | Sam Godfrey | April 17, 2025 | |
|
Graff and Bateman are called into the Rogers Centre when a famous Canadian stand-up comic drops dead during a rehearsal on stage. | ||||||
| 18 | 8 | "Canadian Dream" | Chloé Robichaud | Tassie Cameron & Rory Diamond | May 1, 2025 | |
|
Graff and Bateman investigate when a prominent tech CEO is shot to death in a parking lot alongside an unlucky young delivery driver who happened to be cycling by. | ||||||
| 19 | 9 | "Bitter Pill" | Renuka Jeyapalan | Seneca Aaron & Jillian Locke | May 8, 2025 | |
|
When a billionaire pharmaceutical CEO and his philanthropist wife are found dead in their home, Graff and Bateman are called to investigate. | ||||||
| 20 | 10 | "Tango Romeo" | David Wellington | Tassie Cameron | May 15, 2025 | |
|
Graff and Bateman investigate the death of a seemingly unremarkable middle-aged travel agent when he is found dead outside his split-level house in Mimico. | ||||||
Production
editIn June 2023, it was announced that Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent had been given a 10-episode series order, based on the original series created by Dick Wolf and René Balcer for Universal Television.[6] The series is produced by Lark Productions and Cameron Pictures.[9] Directors include Holly Dale who directed the 1st, 3rd and 9th episodes, as well as David Wellington, Peter Stebbings, Sudz Sutherland, Rachel Leiterman, Winnifred Jong, Sharon Lewis and David Straiton.[9][8]
The episode "Crack Reporter" was partially inspired by the crack cocaine scandal that involved former Toronto mayor Rob Ford in 2013.[10]
The series was renewed for a second and third season in June 2024.[11]
Broadcast
editOn February 22, 2024, Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent began airing on Citytv on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET. This addition to the Law & Order Thursdays lineup moved Law & Order, which regularly aired in simulcast with NBC, to air an hour earlier at 7 p.m. ET with SVU and Organized Crime remaining at 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. ET respectively.[3] Season 2 was given a new timeslot moving to Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET, the former timeslot of Found, which moved to 7 p.m. ET, airing 3 hours earlier than NBC.
The CW has acquired American broadcasting rights to the series for the first two seasons.[12] The first season is scheduled to premiere on September 24, 2025, and the second season in 2026.[13]
Awards
edit| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canadian Screen Awards | 2025 | Best Drama Series | Erin Haskett, Tassie Cameron, Amy Cameron, David Valleau, Alex Patrick, Tex Antonucci, Wanda Chaffey | Won | [14] |
| Best Leading Performance in a Drama Series | Kathleen Munroe | Nominated | |||
| Aden Young | Nominated | ||||
| Best Supporting Performance in a Drama Program or Series | Karen Robinson | Nominated | |||
| Best Performance in a Guest Role in a Drama Series | Blessing Adedijo | Nominated | |||
| Amanda Brugel | Nominated | ||||
| Sydney Meyer | Nominated | ||||
| Best Make-Up | Lynda McCormack, "Three Points" | Nominated | |||
| Best Hair | Lydia Pensa, "The Key to the Castle" | Nominated | |||
| Best Costume Design | Nicole Manek, "The Key to the Castle" | Nominated | |||
| Best Production Design/Art Direction in a Fiction Program or Series | Oleg Savytski, "Cul-de-Sac" | Nominated | |||
| Best Casting, Fiction | Sharon Forrest | Nominated | |||
| Best Photography in a Drama Program or Series | David Greene, "The Key to the Castle" | Nominated | |||
| Best Editing in a Drama Program or Series | Wendy Hallam Martin, "The Key to the Castle" | Nominated | |||
| John Nicholls, "The Minnow and the Shark" | Nominated | ||||
| Best Sound in a Fiction Program or Series | Martin Lee, Ella Melanson, Martin Gwynn Jones, Rob Warchol, Joe Mancuso, Zenon Waschuk and John Elliot, "The Sound of Silence" | Won | |||
| Best Direction in a Drama Series | Holly Dale, "Three Points" | Nominated | |||
| Sharon Lewis, "Cul-de-Sac" | Nominated | ||||
| Best Writing in a Drama Series | Tassie Cameron, "The Key to the Castle" | Won | |||
| Best Stunt Coordination | John Stead, "The Key to the Castle" | Nominated |
References
edit- ^ Kelly Townsend, "Citytv's Law & Order Canadian spinoff gets underway". Playback, October 16, 2023.
- ^ "Citytv touts all-Canadian cast for spinoff Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent". The Globe and Mail, October 16, 2023.
- ^ a b Osobe Waberi, "'So excited for this,' Here's a first look at Law & Order Toronto premiering next month". Now, January 3, 2024.
- ^ Mirza, Taimur; Sikander. "In Brief: Law & Order Toronto debut attracts 1.1 million viewers". Playback. Retrieved 2024-03-15.
- ^ Beaudette, Teghan (22 February 2024). "With Law & Order spinoff, Toronto finally gets its big break — as itself". CBC News. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
- ^ a b Nellie Andreeva (June 5, 2023). "'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' Gets Canadian Version As Vincent D'Onofrio Has Been Lobbying For US Revival". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
- ^ a b c d "Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent – Listings". Zap2It. Retrieved February 13, 2024.
- ^ a b Dowling, Amber (October 16, 2023). "'Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent' Announces Cast on First Original International Franchise Adaptation (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved January 30, 2024.
- ^ a b Greg David, "Casting announced for Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent coming to Citytv Spring 2024". TV, eh?, October 16, 2023.
- ^ Ben Okazawa, "'Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent' Dramatizes Rob Ford's Infamous Crack Video". Exclaim!, March 15, 2024.
- ^ Vardhan, Harsh (2024-04-18). "Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent Renewed For Season 2 at Citytv". The Cinemaholic. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
- ^ Maas, Jennifer (May 13, 2025). "'Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent' Picked Up at the CW (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved May 14, 2025.
- ^ Petski, Denise (July 1, 2025). "'Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent' Gets Season 1 Premiere Date At The CW". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved July 1, 2025.
- ^ "Canadian Screen Awards: Television Program Categories". Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, March 26, 2025.
