A wide-eyed William Shatner is being pressed against the wall, held up by his lapels on a Toronto sound stage. The actor is being interrogated by an angry Jason Priestley.

The confrontation is over someone “cooking the books” and Priestley’s character isn’t happy about it. But Shatner is giving as good as he gets. “Speaking as a regular, the chocolate pastry is to die for,” he snorts.

The scene is perfect, except someone flushes a Porta Potty and the sound is caught on tape. The actors laugh. They do another take.

You would be hard pressed in the annals of television to find two more recognizable Canadian actors, whose careers were defined a generation apart: Shatner for his 1960s Captain Kirk role in Star Trek and Priestley as Brandon Walsh in the 1990s teen drama Beverly Hills, 90210.

Producers are hoping that the two will go together like chocolate and peanut butter when they play sparring detectives in Global’s Private Eyes, with Shatner reprising his previous guest-starring role and appearing in the third-season finale on Aug. 7 (Global at 8 p.m.).

“I guess you could say he’s a character that’s kind of blundering his way around,” says Shatner in an interview in between takes. “It’s great that you can have so much fun with this character, to explore what this guy does and why he does it.”

Shatner plays rival private eye Norm Glinski, with his signature bombast that is completely parody-proof — nobody does over-the-top better.

Thought to be dead after a suicide, Norm returns after faking his death, asking Angie and Shade to figure out who wants to kill him.

Priestley plays detective Matt Shade, a retired NHL player who learned the private-sleuthing ropes from Angie Everett (Cindy Sampson), who inherited the firm from her father.

Cobbled together from familiar tropes, the series is anchored in the considerable chemistry of Priestley and Sampson — resulting in the feel of a modern-day take on shows like Moonlighting, which managed to be thrilling, a little romantic and downright campy at the same time. In Canada, Private Eyes has been a hit for Global, in the top 10 most watched programs over the last few weeks.

It’s no surprise that Global will use the season finale as a lead-in to the premiere of the all-new BH90210, the meta-sequel to Beverly Hills, 90210 that will also star Priestley.

While his co-star is already on a reboot of his franchise, Shatner has ruled out starring in a new Star Trek series, even as his friend and peer Patrick Stewart has returned to Starfleet with Picard.

“I’ve been offered many series over the years. But I haven’t done them because of the commitment of time. And at this stage of my life that’s more valuable than anything else,” he said.

Yet at the age of 88, Shatner remains one of the hardest working men in show business. He recently released a country album of songs with Alabama’s Jeff Cook (Why Not Me) and appeared on the final season of TV’s biggest show, The Big Bang Theory, as himself. In between, he’s been busy writing his memoirs (there have already been 10) and guest-starring in multiple series.

“What else would I be doing? You’ve got to make hay when the sun shines,” says Shatner. “But seriously, commuting to Toronto from Los Angeles is arduous. There are hotels and bad food and bad mattresses, and you’re away from family. But this was something I really wanted to do.”

A large part of the reason for Shatner’s Toronto appearance is showrunner Shawn Piller, whose father Michael co-created the Star Trek spinoff Deep Space Nine. The younger Piller has been a lifelong fan of the actor.

“I would work with Shatner any day of the week,” says Piller. “We needed this rogue, troublemaking private investigator and he fit the bill. When he started he kept throwing out random quotes in his lines that seemed odd, but kind of wise, and we kept it in. He’s just this naturally brilliant, funny actor and an international icon at the same time.”

In other words, Shatner essentially “Shatnerized” the Norm Glinski character.

Thanks to Piller, then, there’s still a Trek connection to this Toronto job for this actor who made his first TV appearances in the early 1950s, here in Canada (on long-forgotten shows like Space Command and The Canadian Howdy Doody Show). At this stage in his career though, with his old friend Leonard Nimoy (Spock) and Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek, both gone, Shatner is the most visible connection left to the groundbreaking series.

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The legacy question inevitably comes up — but it’s not one that he’s prepared to answer — perhaps because despite the advancing years he’s been asked one too many times by critics too blind to see that he is still vitally involved in his craft.

“How do I want to be remembered? Perhaps as a Margherita pizza. A good slice of pizza can be remembered a long time,” he says glibly. “But seriously. Reputation and fame and fortune, that’s all over very quickly. More quickly than we think. All those ashes of celebrity will be blown away. What does remain are good deeds. That’s where I think my legacy might be, in trying to help.”

Shatner has had something of a record run in television, including hit series such as T.J. Hooker, regularly appearing in shows such as The Practice and Boston Legal (for which he earned two Emmy Awards), and becoming the first Canadian to star in three different series at different times on the big three American networks.

He’s also been involved in numerous charity initiatives, including the Hollywood Charity Horse Show, which raises money for children’s charities. And he’s shameless — including not being beyond selling his kidney stone for $25,000 to build a house for Habitat for Humanity.

But it is on his Twitter feed that he seems unfiltered and unadulterated, frequently asking his 2.5 million followers to help each other out, or to donate to a specific charity.

Shatner uses a specific word that sounds like he lifted it from a classic Star Trek script. “I’ve been doing Ubuntu,” he says.

You’re doing what? “Ubuntu, it’s African. It’s about doing good deeds.” (I later look up the word and find it’s a South African concept meaning, essentially, humanity toward others.)

“Doing something like tweeting really can help,” he says. “I’ve come to realize that the ugliness that people cloaked in anonymity in social media is far outweighed overall by the goodness that people want to express. I’ve basically been able to help people by getting their neighbours to help them. Maybe building that barn for the neighbour whose barn burned down. Sometimes even people give me strange things that I auction off for charity. It’s all bringing our humanity together.”

My cellphone buzzes at that point. It’s a message coming in from the William Shatner fan club, of which I am a member. I show Shatner my iPhone screen with a comment from a fan.

“You know it’s completely free to join and you get discounts for upcoming events,” he points out, suddenly turning into the pitchman from Priceline.

That drive, it seems is key to Shatner’s longevity in the business. Despite the fame, he isn’t afraid to reel in one fan at a time.

“Now I’ve gotta go back to work.”

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