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Page 2 June 22 - 28, 2015 ABC returns 'Rookie Blue' to summer patrol By Jay Bobbin © Zap2it Six television seasons into being a police officer, it's debatable whether you're a rookie anymore. With that said, the cops of "Rookie Blue" always are discovering something new — personally as well as professionally — and that's destined to remain the case as the sixth season of the Canadian-made drama starts its ABC run Thursday, June 25. As they were in 2014, the new episodes are being shown a month earlier in their native country, but spoilers for U.S. audiences were remarkably sparse last summer. "We were pretty careful about that," recalls Missy Peregrym, alias the series' Officer Andy McNally. "It was a little weird doing press, because I didn't want to say anything that would spoil it for America, either. We didn't really respond to a lot of stuff or put things out there, just so all the fans could enjoy it at the time they were able to see it." Having emerged from an explosion at the 15 Division precinct shaken but relatively unscathed, Andy now faces a fresh emotional crisis. After reuniting romantically with Detective Sam Swarek (Ben Bass) following his near-fatal shooting, she learns he's expecting a baby with fellow officer Marlo Cruz (Rachael Ancheril), who was Sam's flame while he and Andy had broken off their relationship. "It is obviously very dif- ficult," confirms Peregrym. "Things are starting to look up (for Andy and Sam), so we've gotta smack it down with something." The actress had input into how that went down: "I love our team so much, because I have the freedom to go and talk to somebody and say, 'I'm sor- ry, but this is how I feel like this would really go down. Can we work this out?' They're so open to that." Another major new "Rookie Blue" plot suggests last season's police-station bombing may have been, at least partially, an inside job. "You don't know who to trust anymore," Peregrym reflects. "Last season, the dynamic between Andy and Matt Gordon's character (Staff Sergeant Oliver Shaw) got roughed up; he was like the father figure to her, but their positions are changing, so what does that mean for their working together? Matt's such a great actor. He always brings so much to the table, and that extends into this season as well." With co-star Gregory Smith (the series' Officer Dov Epstein) again directing two episodes, Season 6 of "Rookie Blue" actually is the back half of a "super-sea- son" the cast and crew filmed through much of last year, beginning with the sto- ries that comprised Season 5. Traditionally, it's taken only a few weeks into a new season to learn if ABC will give the show another one, and Peregrym hopes that'll be the case again. Even if it does return, a key behind- the-scenes player will be absent, since executive pro- ducer and co-creator Tassie Cameron is moving on. "It'd be easier for us if we knew a little bit sooner, but at the end of the day, I can't believe we've even gone this long," Peregrym says. "It's such a blessing that we've been able to work together for so long, and honestly, I think Season 6 is even stronger than Season 5. The characters go through a lot of really great things, but who knows? We'll see what happens next." It hasn't happened often, but "Masterpiece" is updating its past again. The venerable PBS anthology series has revisited such classic dramas as "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "The Forsyte Saga," and it puts a fresh sheen on "Poldark" as a remake of the romantic adventure based on Winston Graham's series of novels begins Sunday, June 21 (check local listings). The role of Englishman and Revolutionary War veteran Ross Poldark goes to Aidan Turner, of the "Hobbit" movie trilogy, but original star Robin Ellis also appears as the clergyman in the Cornish town Poldark returns to. Already shown by England's BBC, the new "Poldark on Masterpiece" retains such elements as the hero finding his love (Heida Reed) engaged to his cousin (Kyle Soller) and discovering a new interest in Demelza (Eleanor Tomlinson), a servant he saves from a desperate home life. "It was a very popular show," Turner says of "Poldark's" first television incarnation, "but I just felt like it might not serve me in the way that I wanted it to. You can't un-know something when you've seen a series like that, and I wanted to find Ross myself. And he's a character that I really related to immediately, and I just wanted to see what I could come up with. So I steered clear of watching the (original) series." "Masterpiece" executive producer Rebecca Eaton notes "Poldark" is eyed as a revival that could last several seasons; in fact, the BBC already has ordered a Season 2. She reasons the saga encompasses "a love story, a love triangle, and a hero ... and there just aren't that many heroes around in drama, in American television. "Everybody is quite compromised, ambivalent as a hero, maybe a guy you love to hate. To have sort of a good old- fashioned, red blooded, do-the-right-thing, handsome dude would be a really good idea for 'Masterpiece,' so that's why we went back." Turner believes "Poldark's" endurance, 70 years after the first book's publication and almost 40 years after the first drama's U.S. television debut, is a "testament to Winston Graham's novels. The theme and the characters are so strong and so independent and so unique, I think it's a story that needed to be told again. It's hard to know sometimes why things are remade. I'm just glad I'm part of it, because I think we've done a really good job, and I'm really proud of it, and I think we've done Winston proud. I hope so, anyway." BY JAY BOBBIN 'Poldark' fights and loves anew in 'Masterpiece' remake Aidan Turner Missy Peregrym and Ben Bass return in "Rookie Blue" Thursday on ABC.

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