EMMY®-winning Canadian Luke Kirby Rings The ‘Bell’ as an Agoraphobic Southerner and Amateur Detective in PANHANDLE

By BILL HARRIS Special to The Lede   Canadians are used to dealing with raccoons, coyotes, beavers, and even polar bears from time to time. But in the new series PANHANDLE, the character played by EMMY® Award-winning actor Luke Kirby has a pet alligator. So how close did Kirby, a Canadian, get to a live alligator during the filming of PANHANDLE, which debuts Thursday, Oct. 6 at 9 p.m. ET on CTV Drama Channel? This would seem to be the reason that stunt doubles were invented. “You’re not wrong,” Kirby said, “A stunt double was very important and integral to this assignment. I did, however, get fairly close to our dear little alligator friend, while keeping the right amount of distance. I didn’t want my smell to rub off too distinctly. So I never spent too much time alone with it. I wanted there to be other options around.” Speaking of options, PANHANDLE is an intriguing one for viewers seeking a show that’s part mystery, part comedy, part drama, and part ghost story. It allows Kirby to display all his considerable skills, alongside co-star Tiana Okoye (THE GOOD PLACE). Following a family tragedy five years ago, the eccentric and agoraphobic Bellwether “Bell” Prescott (Kirby) hasn’t left the decaying, once-magnificent Florida property he shares with his mother. When Bell discovers a dead body in his azaleas, he suspects it might be connected to the previously mentioned case that impacted him personally. Bell, who has been working as an armchair detective from the comforts of his own garage, pesters the only cop left in their bankrupt town – Cammie Lorde (Okoye), known locally as the “speed-trap queen” – into helping him investigate. Of course, neither of them has the authority to do so, but thus begins their unlikely, tense, and often amusing partnership. Example: at one point Cammie complains, “I do not have time to run around playing Nancy Drew.” To which an exasperated Bell replies, “Nancy Drew was far more talented than you – and she was a fictitious child from the 1930s.” “I love brutally honest characters,” said Kirby, who won his EMMY® for his role as legendary comedian Lenny Bruce in THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL. “I mean, they’re hard to contend with in reality, for sure. Although I will say that some of those people sometimes have been my saviour. Just because something is painful to hear in the moment doesn’t mean it’s entirely wrong to tell the truth. And I like that about Bell. There’s this kind of dying-breed aspect to this character, which I wanted to relish.” If Bell is a dying breed, the state of his Southern estate certainly reflects that. “There is great satisfaction, I think, derived from watching a once-thriving thing kind of have to change,” Kirby said. “It’s an empire robbed of its theatre. And Bellwether is the arbiter of this crumbling empire. He has to now contend with reality, which means, getting back to being a person in the world, with people. For generations, his family probably didn’t really have to do that, but now he’s the one burdened with that responsibility.” Bell can be overcome by a lot of things in PANHANDLE, both real and imagined. To be blunt, he gets woozy and falls down a lot. So how is Kirby handling that from an acting perspective? “I’m doing better, thanks for asking,” Kirby said. “There’s a price to pay, I will say that. I’m still working on it, and just trying to get as much sleep and rest as I can, floating in the pool, massages, whatever I need to do. When I first read the script, I thought there was room for that kind of physicality, and that it would be really fun. And then, of course, on the fourth day you start to think, ‘what have I done?’ And you know, time chips away. None of us becomes more limber as we get older.” Just stay limber enough to keep one step ahead of the pet alligator.   billharristv@gmail.com @billharris_tv