Canada’s CBC Reveals New & Returning Series for 2020-21 Season

At CBC’s 2020 virtual upfront presentation, the Canadian public broadcaster revealed its 2020-21 slate of original programming, with a fall schedule that features 1,300 new hours.

New series coming to CBC include Enslaved, sold by Fremantle, a blue-chip documentary series led by Samuel L. Jackson and directed by Canadian filmmaker Simcha Jacobovici (The Naked Archaeologist) that charts the history of slavery through underwater archaeology; Orangeville Prep, a character-driven factual series that offers an inside look at the competitive, high-pressure world of basketball’s most successful preparatory program; and The Sounds, a relationship-driven thriller set in New Zealand.

Trickster, based on the best-selling novel Son of a Trickster by Eden Robinson, has already been renewed for a second season. CBC will offer the exclusive Canadian premiere of the new War of the Worlds, written and created by BAFTA award winner Howard Overman (Misfits, Crazyhead, Merlin), based on the story by H.G. Wells and starring Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment), Elizabeth McGovern (Downton Abbey) and Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People).

Returning shows for the fall include Baroness von Sketch Show (in its final season), Battle of the Blades, Catastrophe, Dragons’ Den, Family Feud Canada, The Great British Baking Show and Still Standing, among others.

Winter 2021 will see the addition of Lady Dicks, about two radically different female detectives in their early 40s, and Arctic Vets, following the team at Assiniboine Park Arctic Animal Hospital in Manitoba. Returning shows on the slate include Coroner, The Fifth Estate, Frankie Drake Mysteries, The Great Canadian Baking Show, Heartland, Kim’s Convenience and Murdoch Mysteries.