Photo gallery: CBC's Arctic Air red carpet premiere in Vancouver

To add glamour to the launch of the new TV series Arctic Air, CBC rolled out the red carpet for a special screening event at the Vogue Theatre last night (January 10).

The series follows Bobby Martin (played by Adam Beach), a Vancouver venture capitalist, back home to Yellowknife where he reconnects with people from his past and aspires to keep the titular airline aloft financially.

Pascale Hutton, who plays pilot Krista Ivarson (and Bobby's childhood friend), told the Straight in an interview at the CBC offices before the premiere that she went through flight training to prepare for her role. "My character's the hot shot head pilot of the show so I needed to at least look like I knew what I was doing. So fortunately, the show put us through extensive flight training. One of the planes that we use in Arctic Air a lot is the DC-3, which is kind of known in the aviation world as the workhorse of planes."

What's more, she added that the plane you see in the show isn't fake but the real deal.

"They brought an actual DC-3 up to our studio that's the real deal that we use on set, and they made it film friendly," she said. "Every time we film any flight sequence, there are pilots and flight experts on set with us, guiding us through the action of any flying sequence, so it's very accurate."

Beach praised the way the show is shot (it was filmed in both B.C. and the Northwest Territories).

"When you see the sequences that they put together for the show, it's so beautiful, it reminds you that growing up, everybody wants to fly. So we get to be in this imaginary world of creating this excitement of flying. It's kinda crazy."

Hutton also feels the show has a broad audience appeal.

"A lot of shows nowadays are pushed towards one demographic. It'll be pushed [for example] to males aged 18 to 25. And we've really lost that sense of the family unit sitting down together and watching it. And I feel like maybe our show could be that. I feel like the components are there: we've got action, we've got adventure, we've got this sense of family and community, and yet there's always a sense of fun throughout the series as well too. If we can be a part of that, that would be really great because I think that that's a good thing. Rather than media separating family units, [it's] bringing it together."

The show was screened to a full house at the Vogue, and was broadcast on CBC last night. The show airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on CBC.

The show is one of several premieres on CBC this week, including tonight's season premiere of Republic of Doyle, which features special guest star Russell Crowe.

You can follow Craig Takeuchi on Twitter at twitter.com/cinecraig.