Cardinal tops at Canadian Screen Awards

The CTV crime drama Cardinal was the big winner during the third night of presentations for this year’s Canadian Screen Awards. The series, based on Giles Blunt’s novels, won seven drama trophies including best supporting actress (Kristen Thomson), best lead actress (Karine Vanasse), best lead actor (Billy Campbell) and best drama series.

Cardinal edged out CBC’S riches-to-rags comedy Schitt’s Creek, which snagged six awards. Among them: best supporting actress in a comedy (Emily Hampshire), best lead actress in a comedy (Catherine O’hara), best lead actor in a comedy (Eugene Levy) and best comedy series.

Hampshire also won hardware for best lead performance in a web program or series, for her work in the first-responder anthology show Save Me.

Two CBC series earned five awards each — Baroness Von Sketch Show, which this week announced its upcoming fifth season will be its last, and the Anne of Green Gables adaptation Anne with an E.

Several other series took home two trophies each, including Global’s medical drama Mary Kills People, small-town Crave comedy Letterkenny, CBC’S Kim’s Convenience, History’s period drama Vikings, and How to Buy a Baby and Save Me, both streaming on CBC Gem.

The Golden Screen Award for TV drama/comedy went to two shows: CBC’S long-running turn-of-thecentury detective series Murdoch Mysteries and Global’s dramedy Private Eyes, starring Jason Priestley and Cindy Sampson as private investigators.

Wednesday’s online presentation covered categories that fell under the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television’s general groupings of “crafts in scripted programs” and “scripted programs and performance.” The CSA winners are being announced from Monday to Thursday this week, with the final presentation dedicated to the cinematic arts. The full list of winners is at academy.ca.