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ѻýIѻýll be PVRѻýing itѻý: Mayor, others enjoy CBCѻýs new Surrey-set police drama ѻýAllegianceѻý

Party at city hall held ahead of TV and streaming debut tonight
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People at a launch party for CBCѻýs new ѻýA𲵾Գѻý police drama at Surrey City Hall on Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2024. The new series is set and filmed in Surrey. (Photo: Tom Zillich)

People filled Surrey City Hall Tuesday (Feb. 6) during an invite-only launch party for ѻýAllegiance,ѻý .

A night before its TV and streaming debut tonight (Feb. 7), the first episode of the series was screened in Centre Stage theatre and adjacent room for an overflow crowd, followed by food and drinks.

stars Supinder Wraich and Enrico Colantoni attended the evening party, along with fellow actors, the showѻýs creative team, politicians, business leaders and others.

Airing Wednesdays at 9 p.m., the series stars Wraich as ѻýSurrey girlѻý Sabrina Sohal, a rookie police officer who fights to exonerate her politician father, played by Stephen Lobo. The first woman in her trailblazing Punjabi-Canadian family to become a Canadian Federal Police Corps officer, Sohal patrols Surrey alongside veteran officer Vince Brambilla, played by Enrico Colantoni.

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke said she was impressed by the pilot episode, which sees Sohal graduate from the police academy and, on her first day on the beat, work to find a missing child while coping with the arrest of her father, Minister of Public Safety.

ѻýI loved it,ѻý Locke said. ѻýHow they showcased Surrey was great. I teared up at one point and I jumped another time. I was blown away how good it was.ѻý

Locke said she met with the series producers last spring.

ѻýThey came to say they wanted to do this in Surrey and I said, ѻýYeah, what can we do to help?ѻý Some of it was filmed here at city hall, and you can see Surrey all over the place. Iѻýll be PVRѻýing it.ѻý

ѻý RELATED: .

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Supinder Wraich (as the character Sabrina Sohal) salutes in a scene in CBCѻýs new Surrey-set police drama, ѻýAllegiance,ѻý to debut Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024. (Photo: Darko Sikman via CBC/Lark Productions)

First-season episodes of ѻýA𲵾Գѻý involve a deadly batch of drugs hitting the streets, high-tech car thefts linked to an international crime ring, Surreyѻýs gangland culture and more.

Surrey Coun. Doug Elford said he enjoyed the moving script and pace of the pilot episode.

ѻýI had a lot of different feelings watching it, emotions built into it, very riveting,ѻý he said. ѻýItѻýs well-produced, and I love to see Surrey, the backgrounds, just fantastic. I was really proud to see that, and they got into the cultural component too, which is really important. The show truly reflects the diversity of our city. Iѻým going to recommend everybody have a look at it.ѻý

Vancouver Police Const. Kal Dosanjh, Surrey resident and , said ѻýA𲵾Գѻý rings true to him.

ѻýIt was neat to see policing from a visible minority perspective, with the focus on a South Asian police officer and her experiences,ѻý Dosanjh said.

ѻýThereѻýs a cultural diaspora element to it as well, because sheѻýs trying to balance eastern and western cultural values at the same time, which was exactly my experience. I came from a very traditional Sikh family, and when I first got on the job I was full Sikh, with a turban, and it wasnѻýt an easy experience, being on the street and dealing with suspects making racial insinuations, a lot of discrimination and prejudice.

ѻýI share a lot of those story elements in my own life, what (Sabrina) is going through in the show. I saw a lot of myself in her, just what she has to deal with on the job and in her life.ѻý

Documentary filmmaker Baljit Sangra said she loved Wraichѻýs lead character.

ѻýSeeing her father get arrested at her police graduation, that was interesting,ѻý said Sangra, who is currently working on a documentary/biopic of jazz singer , a Black-South Asian musician from Edmonton.

ѻýI think itѻýs lovely to have a series anchored in Surrey, so Iѻým looking forward to more episodes where they get into the community, other cases that inspire stories. I imagine there will be gang storylines, politics. Iѻýll be watching.ѻý

With a Surrey policing transition still a very hot topic in the news, the ѻýA𲵾Գѻý creative team says the timing of the series launch is coincidental.

ѻýThe CFP is a fictionalized police force and not meant to really represent the RCMP or the Surrey Police,ѻý Wraich underlined during a recent interview on Zoom alongside Colantoni, series creator Anar Ali and co-showrunner Mark Ellis.

ѻýOf course weѻýve always been aware that this was happening with the RCMP and the police,ѻý Ali added, ѻýbut itѻýs nothing that we necessarily address in our show, which is this fictional world.ѻý

Last fall, until just before Christmas, the first season of ѻýA𲵾Գѻý was filmed in Surrey and parts of Langley.



Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news for Surrey Now-Leader and Black Press Media
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