Taping the third season of Flashpoint was a blur for Hugh Dillon. The way he looks at it, that's great news.
"I like it when it's a blur, because usually that means things are going well," Dillon said.
"It's the same as when I used to perform live. If you didn't remember the set when you were finished playing rock 'n' roll, it usually was a good gig."
Blurry memories notwithstanding, Dillon is confident the third season of the Canadian cop-drama Flashpoint -- which gets under way Friday, Aug. 6 on CTV and CBS -- will be a memorable one for the show's many fans.
"I really want these episodes to get out there, because they are so good, it really sets up the show up for another bunch of years," said Dillon, who plays Ed Lane, a member of Toronto's Strategic Response Unit (SRU). "The characters have so much guts now."
Flashpoint's formula -- high-stakes police action mixed with increasingly complex personalities -- has continued to attract consistent viewership on both sides of the border. In fact, CBS now finally has caught up with CTV in terms of scheduling, so Aug. 6 marks the beginning of a new run of episodes that will air in simulcast and have not yet been seen in either country.
Dillon said one of the most intriguing aspects as Flashpoint evolves is the quality of the guest stars the series now is attracting, due to the show's reputation and consistency. Guest stars for the third season include Victor Garber (Alias), Lauren Holly (NCIS), Kelly Rowan (The O.C.), Erin Karpluk (Being Erica), Douglas Smith (Big Love), Rachel Blanchard (Flight of the Conchords) and Yannick Bisson (Murdoch Mysteries).
"In addition to everything else, our writers now seem to have the wicked ability to write for these great guests we're getting," Dillon said. "Everybody rises to the occasion to be on that great hockey team.
"You see these heavyweight actors, all of a sudden they come in, these guests who are fairly high profile, and they're fans of the show. It makes it all the more exciting to get into it."
Understandably, Dillon's views about real-life policing have undergone an adjustment due to the things he has been exposed to on Flashpoint. However, Dillon said he was in Europe during the G20 summit in Toronto last June, so he didn't witness any of those protest controversies at close range.
"I'm way more prepared now to cut police in general a lot more slack, because I realize the job is the pinnacle of, 'Damned if you do, damned if you don't,' " said Dillon, 47.
"I mean, I played in a punk rock band (the Headstones), you know? I had a very general view of police, and a very uninformed and uneducated view, I guess is the best way to put it.
"For the most part, these guys are trying to do the right thing and trying to do the best they can with what they've got, and that includes budgets and red tape. It is an incredibly thankless job. I have way more empathy."
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