Cynthia Dale returns to Street Legal role 25 years after original

Canadian stage and screen star Cynthia Dale is returning to what she calls “the best job in Canada.”

On Monday, nearly 25 years after it ended, CBC’s popular Canadian courtroom drama Street Legal makes a comeback, with Dale once again starring as steely lawyer Olivia Novak.

It’s a role that was outside Dale’s comfort zone when she first landed it in the late 1980s, she says, noting she was doing theatre in New York City at the time and “couldn’t even say ‘civil litigation,’ let alone know what the hell it meant.”

But the character — who blazed a trail on Canadian TV with an unusual mix of smarts, sexiness and unabashed confidence — quickly became a cherished one.

“I always said, for those seven years, I had the best job in Canada — way better than a prime minister, way better than anything. It was so fantastic to learn, to live and build that woman and live in who she was,” Dale said in an interview.

Olivia Novak at small upstart law firm

“And the fact that that gets to happen again at this point with these people — are you kidding? I’m the luckiest girl in Canada again. Really.”

Debuting on CBC-TV and the CBC Gem streaming service, the new Street Legal also finds Olivia outside her comfort zone, after the big Toronto law firm she works for disbands and she joins a team of young social-activist lawyers at a small upstart.

The cast also includes Cara Ricketts, Steve Lund, and Yvonne Chapman. Returning cast members include Eric Peterson and Anthony Sherwood.

CBC