ON- DEMAND TELEVISION BILLY’S CARDINAL RULES

get chills watching Cardinal, thanks to its snow- powdered mix of murder, mischief and mystery.

The Canadian crime drama, part of SBS On Demand’s new Crime Time line- up, follows Detective John Cardinal as he reopens a cold case in Algonquin Bay, Ontario. The series is based on Giles Blunt’s award- winning mystery novel Forty Words for Sorrow. “It follows very much in the spirit of the novels,” star Billy Campbell tells Play. “There had to be some departures because it’s just a different format.”

Billy, best known for Dynasty and Once and Again, originally turned down the role to spend more time with his family — he became a dad for the first time at 55.

“I have a tendency when I read something to picture myself as the casting director or producer,” he says.

“I think, ‘ Do I see myself in the part? Would I cast myself in the role?’ and if the answer is no, which, you know, fairly often it is, then I can’t even think of doing the thing, it’s very difficult for me to even audition for it. But this I saw myself immediately in the part and it excited me terribly. I turned it down initially because I promised my wife I would be there for her during her last year of architectural studies ... but she read it and said, ‘ I think you should do this.’”

Detective Cardinal is a tortured, brooding man who was removed from the homicide squad after going overboard in his investigation of a missing First Nations girl. When the girl’s body turns up, he is reassigned to the case.