Spotlight: The Women Behind the Scenes of “Mary Kills People”

The new dramatic series Mary Kills People will debut on the Canadian channel Global on Wednesday, January 25 while those of in the US will have to wait until April 23 when the show is expected to debut on Lifetime (supposedly paired with season 3 of UnReal).

Mary Kills People will consist of six episodes, focusing on Dr. Mary Harris (Caroline Dhavernas from Hannibal and the short-lived Wonderfalls) – an overworked single mother and ER doctor, who also moonlights as an underground angel of death, working outside the law to perform illegal, assisted deaths for patients who want to die on their own terms.

The cast includes Jay Ryan (Beauty and the Beast), Richard Short (666 Park Avenue), Lyriq Bent (Rookie Blue) and Greg Bryk (Bitten).

What is remarkable about Mary Kills People, besides its unprecedented and unique theme, is the plethora of women working behind the scenes, including the following:

Tara Armstrong
Creator/Co-Executive Producer

Tara is a recent graduate from the University of British Columbia’s Creative Writing Program and the Canadian Film Centre Prime Time TV Program. Since graduating, she has written for Global’s television series Private Eyes, and Showcase’s Travelers. In addition to creating and writing Mary Kills People, her original pilot High Touch recently sold to ABC Signature Studio.

Tassie Cameron
Executive Producer/Showrunner

Tassie is a Gemini and Canadian Screen Award-winning screenwriter, who has written for television series, movies of the week, mini-series, and feature films. She is currently the showrunner and executive producer of the show. Her new original series, Ten Days in the Valley, has just been ordered straight to series on ABC with Kyra Sedgwick set to star. Her other credits include the hit series Rookie Blue (for which she was co-creator, executive producer and showrunner), The Eleventh Hour and Flashpoint [among others].

Amy Cameron
Executive Producer

Amy is an award-winning journalist, author, TV series creator, broadcast executive and executive producer, who was the Executive in Charge of Production at CBC TV Drama for the critically acclaimed Book of Negroes. She also oversaw the award-winning series Heartland, and shepherded the eight-part limited series Shoot The Messenger through development and production.

NOTE: Amy and Tassie are sisters who have joined forces, creating their own production company in Canada.

Holly Dale
Director/Co-Executive Producer

Holly is one of Canada’s premiere film and television directors who has been generating award-winning television and cinema for the past 25 years. She has directed over 200 hours of US network and high-end cable programming including Dexter, The Americans, Taken, Falling Skies, Smash, Extant, Marvel’s Agents of the S.H.I.E.L.D, Cold Case, Grimm, Heroes, Flashpoint and Being Erica [among others].

Those aren’t the only ladies behind the scenes at Mary Kills People, though. Teeca Crosby and Jocelyn Hamilton serve as executive producers for eOne Television; Marsha Greene and Sherry White are series writers; sisters Sharon Forrest and Susan Forrest are casting directors and Ingrid Jurek is the production designer.

Let’s hope that this groundbreaking show – both in terms of storyline and quantity of women behind the scenes – is just the start of a great new trend on both sides of the border.

Again, Mary Kills People will premiere in Canada on Global on January 25 while the U.S. audience will see the show on Lifetime on April 23.

[Note: Thanks to the folks at Global and Corus Entertainment for all of the details.]