OMNI touts original crime drama to woo audiences in Mandarin, Cantonese

TORONTO – A new Vancouver-set crime drama will be available in Mandarin, Cantonese and English.

OMNI Television, which has five stations in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, says its half-hour original series “Blood and Water” will debut Nov. 8.

The eight-part series follows an ambitious young detective chasing the killer of a Vancouver billionaire’s drug-addicted son.

Steph Song stars as Jo Bradley, a homicide investigator recently diagnosed with cancer.

The homegrown show joins OMNI’s lineup of “ethnocultural programming,” which includes international series, Bollywood hits, Asian cinema, and Italian and Portuguese telenovelas.

Colette Watson, vice president of television and broadcast operations at OMNI’s parent company Rogers, says there’s so much confidence in “Blood and Water” that a second season has already been ordered.

“We are so proud to be the first Canadian broadcaster to bring a homegrown mainstream Chinese crime drama series to our audiences,” Watson said Wednesday in a release.