- 📺 Private Eyes West Coast · the series starring Jason Priestley and Cindy Sampson, from 30 September 2026 on Global and STACKTV
- 🏨 Fairmont Empress · setting for the first episode, where the two detectives make a macabre discovery
- 🏛️ Opened in 1908 · designed by Francis Rattenbury, 464 rooms and suites following its renovation
- 📍 Victoria · British Columbia, on the Inner Harbour, opposite the Parliament Buildings
- 🎬 Other locations · Orca Spirit Adventures, the Pacific Institute for Sport Education, Fisherman’s Wharf
A romantic evening that goes wrong in the corridors of a luxury hotel: this is the scene that opens Private Eyes West Coast, the new series starring Jason Priestley and Cindy Sampson, airing from 30 September 2026 on Global and STACKTV. The setting is the Fairmont Empress, the 1908 hotel overlooking Victoria’s Inner Harbour in British Columbia.
A macabre discovery in the first episode
Shade and Angie, the two detectives played by Priestley and Sampson, are now married and parents. Their dinner at the Empress ends with the discovery of a body, the starting point of the series. The murder is fictional: no real-life news event is at the origin of the script, contrary to what may have been read.
The series is a spin-off of Private Eyes, which aired for five seasons between 2016 and 2021, this time transplanted to the Pacific coast. Filming took place in the summer of 2025 in Victoria, and a second season has already been confirmed.
◆ The Fairmont Empress in pictures
The hotel designed by Rattenbury
Opened on 20 January 1908 for the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Empress is the work of Francis Rattenbury, the architect who had already designed the British Columbia Parliament Buildings just opposite. Its ivy-covered façade and gabled roofs make it the most photographed building in the city. A $60 million renovation updated the 464 rooms and suites as well as the public spaces.
The Bengal Lounge, with its woodwork and animal skin, and the Empress tea time, served for over a century, remain its two signatures.
Where the series was filmed in Victoria
Beyond the hotel, the production filmed at Orca Spirit Adventures, the harbour’s whale-watching operator, at the Pacific Institute for Sport Education in Saanich, transformed into a university for the second episode, as well as at Fisherman’s Wharf, at Barb’s Fish and Chips, the Victoria Butterfly Gardens and the Boom and Batten restaurant. The city plays itself, which is rare for a Canadian production often filmed in Vancouver.
A hotel used to the cameras
The Empress has already hosted kings, presidents and film crews, and its lobby regularly serves as a period set. For Victoria, the exposure is strategic: the provincial capital relies on tourism, and the series showcases it to a national audience just as the season ends.
Photos: © Fairmont Empress.
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