To see your way clear to a new spin on a cop show is not easy. Sisters Karen Troubetzkoy and Nikolijne Troubetzkoy, series creators who’ve proven themselves on hits such as Orphan Black and Transplant, looked within themselves for inspiration.
Karen, or Kat, has struggled with vision loss requiring multiple surgeries since her twenties. It started suddenly after she was slam-dancing and her vision went black. Her ophthalmologist told her not to move; within an hour surgeons were working on both eyes. Slowly, her vision was restored, although she still has periodic bouts of vision loss.
Her frightening experience, and a radio report on surrogate vision apps, led Kat and Niko to come up with a unique angle: what if a homicide detective suddenly became clinically blind? Could she team up with a remote, seeing eye partner to continue solving cases?
That’s the premise behind Sight Unseen, premiering Sunday, January 21 on CTV. The Vancouver-based drama stars newcomer Dolly Lewis as homicide detective Tess Avery. When her sight becomes badly clouded in the middle of a police chase, she relies on an app that links her to a remote seeing eye guide who lives 3000 miles away named Sunny (Agam Darshi). Together, they make a surprisingly effective team.
Co-starring on the series is Daniel Gillies as Tess’s confused police partner Jake Campbell; and two former brioux.tv: the podcast guests: Roger Cross (The Coroner) as Tess’s former police boss and Ennis Esmer (Children Ruin Everything) in an upcoming role as one of Sunny’s few contacts on the outside.
Sight Unseen, which moves to Monday nights on CTV (and eventually The CW), is a surprisingly suspenseful series. Kat and Niko explain how it all came about in this equally edge-of-your-seat podcast episode!
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