Murdoch Mysteries

''Murdoch Mysteries'' is a Canadian television drama series that premiered on Citytv on January 20, 2008, and currently airs on CBC. The series is based on characters from the ''Detective Murdoch'' novels by Maureen Jennings and stars Yannick Bisson as the fictional William Murdoch, a police detective working in Toronto, Ontario in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The series was titled ''The Artful Detective'' on the Ovation cable TV network in the United States, until season twelve.

Synopsis

The series takes place in Toronto starting in 1895 and follows Detective William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) of the Toronto Constabulary, who solves many of his cases using methods of detection that were unusual at the time. These methods include fingerprinting (referred to as "finger marks" in the series), blood testing, surveillance, and trace evidence.

Some episodes feature anachronistic technology whereby Murdoch sometimes uses the existing technology of his time to improvise a crude prototype of a technology that would be more readily recognizable to the show's 21st-century audience. In one episode, for instance, he creates a primitive version of sonar to locate a sunken ship in Lake Ontario. In still another, a foreign police officer has a photograph that Murdoch needs as evidence, so Murdoch asks the other officer to overlay the photograph with a grid numerically coded for the colour in each square, and to transmit the numerical data to Murdoch via telegraph—with the result that the foreign officer has essentially sent Murdoch a bitmap image they call a "facsimile"—a telefax. This aspect of the show has been described as introducing elements of the steampunk genre of science fiction, although it is not a standard theme of all episodes.

Detective Murdoch is assisted by the three other main characters: Inspector Brackenreid ( Thomas Craig), Doctor Julia Ogden (Hélène Joy), and the inexperienced but eager Constable George Crabtree ( Jonny Harris), who aspires to be a mystery novel writer. Brackenreid, Murdoch's immediate superior, is a blunt and sceptical Yorkshireman with a fondness for whisky who prefers conventional methods of detection over Murdoch's eccentric methods, though he is typically pleased and proud when Murdoch is successful despite the odds. Crabtree is often unable to grasp the more advanced methods, but his enthusiasm and loyalty make him a good assistant. Like Crabtree, Dr. Ogden is a great supporter of Murdoch's methods. Her skill in pathology usually helps by revealing a great deal of useful evidence to aid Murdoch in solving cases. Throughout the series, Murdoch's growing infatuation with her, and his inability to express his feelings, provide a light subplot. In the fifth season, after Dr. Ogden is married to Dr. Darcy Garland (a colleague she met in Buffalo), a new doctor is introduced, Doctor Emily Grace (Georgina Reilly). She and George Crabtree show some romantic interest in each other.

Real history is an important element in most episodes, and the plots, though fictitious, sometimes involve real people, such as Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley, H G Wells, Wilfrid Laurier, Jack London, Arthur Conan Doyle, Queen Victoria, Theodore Roosevelt, Oliver Mowat, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Henry Ford, Sir Winston Churchill, Bat Masterson, Alexander Graham Bell, Emma Goldman, H. P. Lovecraft, Harry Houdini, Thomas Edison and Helen Keller. Future events are often foreshadowed. For example, it is implied that secret British-American government co-operation has produced a highly advanced aircraft similar to an airship, and Crabtree and Murdoch allude to the building of a secret government facility in Nevada and New Mexico "at Concession 51" (an allusion to Area 51). Characters also refer to actual inventions of the 19th century and extrapolate from them to future inventions such as microwave ovens, night-vision goggles, computers, the games " Cluedo" (marketed as "Clue" in the U.S.) and " Hangman", the toy Silly Putty, and a silencer for small arms.

Another underlying theme of the series involves the fact that Murdoch is a Roman Catholic in what was at the time a predominantly Protestant city and the prejudices that he occasionally encounters as a result. Other subplots that overarch multiple episodes include women's suffrage movement in Canada, a movement that was taking place during the time the series is set in, and the discrimination towards racial minorities in Toronto and same-sex relationships during that time period.

History

The series has its origins in 2004 as a three episode made-for-TV movie, starring Peter Outerbridge in the lead role. Its original title at that time was ''Murder 19C: The Detective Murdoch Mysteries''. In 2006, a thirteen-episode series based on the novels was picked up, but there were questions about Outerbridge's continuing availability, since he was already starring in another series, ''ReGenesis''. By 2007, Yannick Bisson became the lead in what was now called ''Murdoch Mysteries''.

The series debuted on Citytv on January 20, 2008. The program was well received, both by the audience and by the critics: in the summer of 2008, it was nominated for fourteen Gemini Awards by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. Critics were surprised, however, that Bisson was not among the nominees. The critics were also surprised in November when ''Murdoch Mysteries'' won only two Geminis.

Meanwhile, ''Murdoch Mysteries'' was renewed for four more seasons between 2009 and 2012. In 2010 the program, which had previously been filmed only in Canada, went to Bristol, England, to film an episode. One big fan of the show was Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who agreed to play a small role in one of that season's episodes. The episode in which he appeared, playing a "clueless cop who fails to recognize then prime minister Wilfrid Laurier", aired in late July 2011.

After Rogers Media decided not to continue the series beyond its fifth season, CBC Television picked up the show for its sixth season, which premiered in January 2013. The network has subsequently renewed the series repeatedly on a season-to-season basis. It has been one of the CBC's most highly rated programs, regularly watched by more than 1.4 million viewers as of January 2014. In the U.S. season 12 aired on Ovation starting in April 2019, back under its original title of ''Murdoch Mysteries''. Season 13 started in the U.S. in December 2019, on Acorn TV.

Episodes

Guest stars

''Murdoch Mysteries'' has, at times, been known for using stunt casting

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