Murdoch Mysteries is a Canadian drama television series set in vintage Toronto, Ontario. As the series began the year was 1895. The new seasons have progressed in time to where it is now the early 1900′s with new inventions and technology as they came along.
Murdoch is like a vintage mad scientist in a police officer’s uniform.
However, the show does take some liberties with technology and knowledge available at the time. Although they don’t step over the boundary of using something not invented yet, they do invent things which reflect our modern knowledge more than a police detective could have hoped for at that time. Some history purists may not like this but, I actually think it is part of the fun. Murdoch is like a steampunk/ Victorian age mad scientist in a police officer’s uniform solving crimes with science and logic.
Yannick Bisson stars as William Murdoch, a police detective and amateur scientist.
Wikipedia says Murdoch Mysteries is known as The Artful Detective in the United States. In Canada,Murdoch Mysteries runs on our wonderful CBC. I’m rewatching the series on NetFlix currently so it is getting well distributed, where ever and how ever you like to watch.
The television series is based on the series of novels by Maureen Jennings.
I read the books before they were turned into television. The books stand on their own. If you want a good story, especially a good vintage/ historical Victorian story, then take a look at the books. There are seven in the series but I found them all together as a collection on Amazon. (See the link below). It’s been years since I first read the books and I’m tempted to order the collection and read them all again myself.
What I remember of the character of Officer Murdoch from the books was a very quiet man, self contained, who cared about the people in town. He helped women who were out on the streets. Like people in that time period he did not date and take women home with him waving them off in the morning. There was a woman who lived in the same building and he liked her but didn’t quite date her. She had a son and Murdoch was happy to spend some time with him.
This woman and her son didn’t become his love interest in the television series. Instead he has a woman doctor, Julia Ogden, who helps him with his work and she becomes the woman he loves from near and afar over the series.
From the Books of Maureen Jennings to the movies and then on to become a weekly television series, known as Murdoch Mysteries.
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