‘Rookie’ star trades sword for gun [Peter Mooney]

‘Rookie’ star trades sword for gun
By Bill Harris ,QMI Agency
First posted: Monday, May 14, 2012 12:14 PM EDT | Updated: Monday, May 14, 2012 12:19 PM EDT

There were uniform considerations for Peter Mooney when he joined Rookie Blue fresh off his role in Camelot.

"They wouldn't let me keep a sword in my gun belt, for some reason," Mooney said. "I thought it would be kind of a cool character trait."

Nonetheless, the transition of skills from one job to another also is the issue for Mooney's character in Rookie Blue, which returns for its third season Thursday, May 24 on Global and ABC.

"Nick Collins comes in, he's the new rookie," Mooney said. "But it's an interesting dynamic with him, because in some ways he's more seasoned.

"He did a couple of tours in Afghanistan. He has seen more than any of the other young cops. But in other ways, he's completely green. And he's particularly green in how to integrate his experience into policing in Toronto.

"We already have seen rookies grow up. That has been the arc of the show in the first two seasons. For Nick the challenge is figuring out the way you are as a cop as opposed to the way you are as a soldier, because they're really different."

Rookie Blue, which is shot and set in Toronto, centres on five young police officers played by Missy Peregrym, Gregory Smith, Charlotte Sullivan, Enuka Okuma and Travis Milne. It can be described non-critically as a light cop drama, and it has done well as summer fare on both sides of the border since its debut in 2010.

The first episode of the third season, titled The First Day of the Rest of Your Life, is notable not only for the arrival of Mooney, but also because William Shatner appears in a guest-starring role.

Shatner plays Henry McLeod, a belligerent drunk driver who gets hauled to the police station following his involvement in a multi-vehicle accident. Henry is an angry, bitter mess, but upon closer inspection, there's more to his story than meets the eye.

As far as Mooney's character Nick goes, there's more to his story than meets the eye, too.

"Gail, Charlotte Sullivan's character, and Nick have a history," said Mooney, who originally is from Winnipeg. "So that helps bring Nick right into the middle of things, for better or worse.

"There are a lot of characters on Rookie Blue, but it's so well designed as an ensemble show, in that there's so much we all do together. So I'm definitely not bored. It's busy."

There obviously are a lot of police shows on TV, many of them centred on young cops who work hard, play hard, live hard and love hard, dammit. Mooney -- who played Sir Kay in Camelot, which was cancelled after one season -- was asked if he has a theory as to why Rookie Blue cuts through the clutter.

"I sensed as a viewer that there was real chemistry on this show, with every combination of people," Mooney said. "And now that I'm working on it, I actually see it."

If only Rookie Blue could slide in a little sword-play, Peter Mooney really would feel at home.