Erica Durance hangs up her scalpel

“The surgical equipment is too much to take home,” laughs the 38-year-old, Calgary-born actress.

As for her famous Saving Hope scrubs and plastic surgical visor, the uniform she wore for five years?

“I’m never wearing those scrubs again; if I took them home I might have to burn them,” she laughs.

After five seasons of playing a surgeon at the fictional Hope Zion, Durance is hanging up her scalpel in the final season of the Toronto-shot medical drama, which premieres Sunday at 10 p.m. on CTV.

Thanks largely to the considerable charisma of Durance, Saving Hope was the most watched Canadian drama after its launch in 2011, averaging 1.7 million viewers per week. It also debuted on NBC but was dropped by the broadcaster after the first season. It now airs on Ion TV in the U.S.

As with most shows, the fourth season saw a dip to 1.3 million viewers but held on to the title of most watched Canadian drama series.

Durance is nominated for a Canadian Screen Award Sunday for her fourth-season portrayal of Reid in a strong field that includes Orphan Black’s Tatiana Maslany, Reign’s Megan Follows, Motive’s Kristin Lehman and Blackstone’s Carmen Moore.

The final season of Saving Hope promises to tie up major storylines, including whether Reid will finally settle happily ever after with fellow surgeon Dr. Charlie Harris (Michael Shanks).

“It was really bittersweet,” says Durance of the final taping. “It was difficult, but we finished in this one set that was a favourite of ours and the cast was in the final scene. I wasn’t sure how we would be able to end it at first. I did know we wanted to stay true to our characters. And I think it was written so beautifully, it was a fall to your knees moment.”

(The cast includes Wendy Crewson as Dr. Dana Kinney, Julia Taylor Ross as Dr. Maggie Lin and Huse Madhavji as Dr. Sharir Hamza.)

It’s tough finding a niche in the hospital drama genre where ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy remains the gold standard.

With Saving Hope, producers tried to combine elements of a hospital drama with a supernatural romance storyline as in the movie Ghost.

“There are a ton of medical dramas out there dealing with life and death. But that’s why I first wanted to do the show,” says Durance. “It asked the question about the human condition in a different way. It had this other piece of an in-between world, which allowed us to have the characters come back to life, die again and create all these scenarios that allowed us to never say never.”

In the first season, Charlie and Alex were about to be married and had a car accident, with Charlie ending up in a coma. He wandered around the hospital like the proverbial Ghost of Christmas Past and talked to fellow spirits.

That conceit worked well enough in the first season. But after Charlie woke up, the problem in subsequent seasons became structural. Alex remained the main character while Charlie, the secondary star, was off talking to ghosts. It’s as if Lois Lane were the one with the superpowers, not Superman.

Still, it wasn’t as if Durance didn’t have enough to do on and off the screen, where she is both the lead and the producer of the series. She also gave birth to two sons over five seasons with actor David Palffy. The couple live in Vancouver where Palffy has a son from a previous relationship.

“I feel like I won the lottery. I love acting and to do this for five years was a dream. My other dream was to have a couple babies. It’s been absolutely insane and humbling and beyond anything you can imagine,” says Durance. “I’m a bit of a control freak and I had to realize you can’t control everything in your life. You cannot control another human being, and you just have to learn to go with the flow and laugh at yourself, in whatever capacity.”

Durance says the most powerful moments on the show sometimes happened off screen, when she would meet fans who had been affected by the series.

“There was a mother and two daughters who came to our set. One of the daughters was a brain cancer survivor and she spoke about how it was really therapeutic for her and she got comfort in watching it. That one was a big moment for me,” says Durance.

The final season is getting a gala send-off with a deep roster of Canadian talent in guest roles including Don McKellar (Sensitive Skin), Missy Peregrym (Rookie Blue), Lehman, Jennifer Dale (What Would Sal Do?) and Jason Priestley (Private Eyes).

It starts off in a whirl after the cliffhanger of the Season 4 finale. Shots are fired at Alex and Charlie at the Hope Zion Fellowship Awards. Someone could be hurt.

The appearance of a new hospital CEO in the new season also promises to throw the lives of Hope Zion staff into turmoil.

“It’s really great that we could bring a story that means something to people after all these years,” says Durance. “I think we’re in an environment now where people feel isolated and attacked, and hopefully we created something where people don’t feel as alone when they are watching us.”

It’s not the first time Durance has had to say goodbye to a family of cast members. Before Saving Hope she memorably played driven reporter Lois Lane for seven seasons on the superhero drama Smallville.

“That experience made me remember to allow myself to make the best of each moment, because you know it will end,” says Durance. “You have to squeeze every creative moment and be grateful.”