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The next time you go to work, look around and ask yourself if you would be willing to put your life in the hands of the person sitting next to you.

As a member of a strategic response unit, you don’t have much choice but to trust your coworkers.

Inspired by the Toronto Emergency Task Force, “Flashpoint” is a fictionalized depiction of the high-pressure lives of a group of specially trained police officers. The series premieres Friday, July 11 on CBS and CTV.

These real-life heroes do much more than enforce traffic laws and apprehend suspects.

Members of this elite team constantly put their lives on the line in order to save others -- everything from dismantling bombs and talking down suicidal people to rescuing hostages and scaling buildings to save victims.

Moving beyond the traditional baton or even standard-issue handgun, these officers are highly trained in state-of-the-art weaponry such as sniper rifles, Tasers and grenades. This is the crew that gets called in when negotiations fail and all other options have been exhausted.

Actually filmed in Toronto, “Flashpoint” incorporates the changing pace of the city to provide an ever-changing line of plot twists and character development.

SimilartoSWATteams,thereal Toronto Emergency Task Force constantly faces challenges that only specially trained personnel can handle.

New recruits must have at least five years’ experience in the police force before even being considered for the team.

Each individual endures a strict physical regimen: they are trained to scale buildings, carry victims and run long distances. To assist them, the ETF has armoured cars, helicopters and canine units at its disposal within a moment’s notice.

The Strategic Response Unit in“Flashpoint”has all of the skills and equipment that the Toronto force has, plus the added drama of the intertwining relationships between characters.

Enrico Colantoni stars as Sgt.

Gregory Parker, the tough and hard-to-please leader of the SRU team. Colantoni perfected his comedic acting when he starred in the NBC sitcom“Just Shoot Me” as the womanizing photographer.

He also starred in“Veronica Mars” as main character Veronica’s father, Keith.

Colantoni will be returning to familiar soil, as he was born and raised in Toronto before moving to L.A. for his career.

Other members of the team include Ed Lane (Hugh Dillon), Julianna Callaghan (Amy Jo Johnson), Sam Braddock (David Paetkau) and Mike Scarlatti (Sergio di Zio).

Dillon, a fellow Canadian actor and a successful musician, didn’t have to move to Los Angeles as Colantonidid.Dillon’smostrecent role has been in the Canadian mini-series “Durham County,” playing the lead character, Det.Mike Sweeney.

Johnson’s most recognizable role was back in the ‘90s, when she starred as Kimberly the Pink Ranger on the original “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.” Since then, Johnson has moved on to more serious roles, such as passionate college student Julie in“Felicity”and a vicious vampire in the indie film “Cold Hearts”(1998).

Paetkau starred in another CTV production, titled “Whistler,” as well as a number of film appearances, including roles in“Alien vs. Predator -- Requiem” (2007) and “Final Destination 2”(2003).

Unlike several of his co-stars, di Zio has made his mark in more movies than television series, appearing in “Cinderella Man” (2005),“The Boondock Saints”(1999) and“The Lookout”(2007).

This latest addition to the CBS lineup follows the recent trend of major American networks taking on Canadian-based shows. Since the Writers Guild strike ended last winter, many networks are still on the mend and need sufficient time to produce new scripts and come up with new ideas. With growing TV markets and new demographics constantly emerging, networks have headed north of the border to fill the gaps.

Last month, Fox signed on with CBC to air an adaptation of the comedy “Little Mosque on the Prairie.”In addition,CBC has sold the broadcast rights to two other series, “Sophie” and “MVP,” to ABC and Soapnet. Another CTV production, “The Listener,” was picked up by NBC last February and is tentatively scheduled as part of the peacock network’s 2008-09 season.

There have been,however,several other Canadian series that became popular in the U.S. in the past.“Due South” was a CTV original series until CBS decided to pitch in funding and move production to Chicago -- though the plot still focused on the career of a Canadian Mountie who was trying to adjust to a new job on the Chicago police force.The “Degrassi”franchise has also been a big success in the U.S., even though casting and production for all three instalments of the series --“Degrassi Junior High,” “Degrassi High” and “Degrassi: The Next Generation” -- were completed inToronto.