Allan Hawco’s new show follows detective on French island near Newfoundland

Allan Hawco discusses his new detective show “Saint Pierre.”

Allan Hawco is the co-creator and star of “Saint Pierre,” a new television series blending mystery, drama, and comedy.

The show takes place on Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, a tiny territory of France in the Atlantic Ocean just off the coast of Newfoundland.

“I was over there on another thing and I just got struck with the notion of like, ‘Oh, okay, what if a cop had to come over here with some sort of cross-cultural exchange?’” said Hawco in an interview with CTV News Atlantic’s Katie Kelly.

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Hawco says the show follows him as Donny Fitzpatrick, a police officer with the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.

“The show is about my character, who is a police officer with the Wellness Constabulary, who is sent to Saint Pierre to lay low because he gets a lot of hot water with a local politician, the premier of Newfoundland. He meets up with the local police force there, which is a fictionalized police force in Saint Pierre, and he has to join their unit,” he said. “It’s got a real Brit Box Shetland European feel, but at the same time it also has like an East Coast quality to it,” he adds.

Hawco says the show follows a structure similar to a murder mystery of the week with both heavier and comedic moments. He adds the show even includes a cameo from current premier Andrew Furey.

“I didn’t want anyone thinking that I was taking a jab at any premier at the current or previous. So, I thought the best way to deal with that is to put Furey in as a background performer and he was into it,” Hawco said.

New episodes of Saint Pierre air Monday nights.

“It’s been extremely overwhelming and in the best possible way. It’s been, received very well. It’s been a dream,” he said.