Canadians - "Murdock Mysteries": I recently discovered the Canadian series "Murdock Mysteries" on Netflix. It's a detective series set in in Toronto in the 1890's. This has got to be...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I recently discovered the Canadian series "Murdock Mysteries" on Netflix. It's a detective series set in in Toronto in the 1890's. This has got to be the only one of its kind. There are 39 episodes available on Netflix, so it must have been on TV for quite a while. They really went overboard on costuming. Everyone is dressed very elaborately in what looks like brand new clothing. I was wondering of any of our members from Canada could give me any info on this show.

thehing Loc: Mississauga Ontario Canada

It started out as 3 made for TV movies with a completely different cast than the TV series. I have watched it since day one. It really is a great series and anyone from the Toronto area will recognize a lot of the out door scenes. It is very historically accurate except for all of the CSI stuff Murdock invents lol. Luckily the CBC picked up the series after Rogers/ CityTV decided to cancel it. Hopefully it will air for a long time to come. I'm glad that Netflix is running it so my American friends can watch a really great clean Detective Mystery show.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

thehing wrote:

It started out as 3 made for TV movies with a comp... (show quote)

So it's still running? Are the main characters popular in Canada? I mean are they seen in other shows? The show has good characters and good actors. They have some beautiful scenery and beautiful houses.

thehing Loc: Mississauga Ontario Canada

jerryc41 wrote:

So it's still running? Are the main characters popular in Canada? I mean are they seen in other shows? The show has good characters and good actors. They have some beautiful scenery and beautiful houses.

Yes it is. CBC is running Season 6 now. Yannick Bisson has been in a few CBC shows and is also in commercials. Johnny Harris ( Crabtree ) is a standup comedian from Newfoundland. Thomas Craig (Brackenreed) is from England and the last thing I have seen him in was Coronation Street for a year or so. The rest of the main cast I had not seen before Murdock. Every episode has at least one reasonably well known Canadian character actor.

http://www.cbc.ca/murdochmysteries/
http://www.murdochmysteries.com/

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

thehing wrote:

Yes it is. CBC is running Season 6 now. Yannick Bi... (show quote)

I recognized Thomas Craig, and I've noticed the inclusion of guest stars. I'm up to Season 2 now.

EDIT: Whoops! That wasn't Carig I recognized, it was one of the constables.

Sidelight: Lots of American TV shows are shot in Canada, and it's pretty easy to tell which ones. American companies must employ a certain percentage of Canadian actors, so when I see a lot of unfamiliar actors, I know it must Canada. There is also the unfamiliar location shooting.

thehing Loc: Mississauga Ontario Canada

jerryc41 wrote:

I recognized Thomas Craig, and I've noticed the inclusion of guest stars. I'm up to Season 2 now.

EDIT: Whoops! That wasn't Carig I recognized, it was one of the constables.

Sidelight: Lots of American TV shows are shot in Canada, and it's pretty easy to tell which ones. American companies must employ a certain percentage of Canadian actors, so when I see a lot of unfamiliar actors, I know it must Canada. There is also the unfamiliar location shooting.

You will enjoy the rest of them Jerry. I don't think there is a bad show in the bunch. Its also good to see a well made show with out the nudity or swearing. Something you can watch with the grandkids and not feel uncomfortable.
CBC also has a new show this year called Cracked. It is well worth the watch if you happen to come across it.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

thehing wrote:

You will enjoy the rest of them Jerry. I don't think there is a bad show in the bunch. Its also good to see a well made show with out the nudity or swearing. Something you can watch with the grandkids and not feel uncomfortable.
CBC also has a new show this year called Cracked. It is well worth the watch if you happen to come across it.

I like the attempt at modern forensics, and I appreciate their attempt to showcase social issues. I'll look for Cracked. Did you ever see Cracker, with Robbie Coltrane? Excellent, brief series from England.

thehing Loc: Mississauga Ontario Canada

jerryc41 wrote:

I like the attempt at modern forensics, and I appreciate their attempt to showcase social issues. I'll look for Cracked. Did you ever see Cracker, with Robbie Coltrane? Excellent, brief series from England.

The modern forensics angle is good on the show. Murdock will invent quite a bit as the show goes on. I also like Dr. Odgen doing the autopsies with bare hands.

Yes I watched Cracker on our PBS station out of Buffalo. Judge John Deed was another BBC show I like. They are both showing as reruns on BBCCanada. I'm sure there must be a BBC US also.

BW326 Loc: Boynton Beach, Florida

I found a link to 2 of the movie episodes here at this link where they can be viewed online. I did a quick peak at the first 15 minutes of one episode... seems very promising.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEF5993E058D5EE27

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

thehing wrote:

The modern forensics angle is good on the show. Murdock will invent quite a bit as the show goes on. I also like Dr. Odgen doing the autopsies with bare hands.

Yes I watched Cracker on our PBS station out of Buffalo. Judge John Deed was another BBC show I like. They are both showing as reruns on BBCCanada. I'm sure there must be a BBC US also.

Yeah, the doctor doesn't take many precautions, but HIV wasn't a threat back then; other things, but not HIV. I'm glad the show is continuing. Is the area where they film it well-known? You probably know about "Doc Martin," filmed in the Cornwall area. The place has been inundated by tourists.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

BW326 wrote:

I found a link to 2 of the movie episodes here at this link where they can be viewed online. I did a quick peak at the first 15 minutes of one episode... seems very promising.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEF5993E058D5EE27

Now that's interesting. It's Episode 1, from 2004, but the actors are different. Maybe thehing can explain that to us.

thehing Loc: Mississauga Ontario Canada

jerryc41 wrote:

Now that's interesting. It's Episode 1, from 2004, but the actors are different. Maybe thehing can explain that to us.

These are the 3 movie versions I was talking about. Same but different people. The TV series came out after that. I remembered another series that is really good. It is called Ripper Street. It is about a detective set in Whitechapel right after the Jack the ripper murders. I highly recommend it. We get it on Space TV but I see it is on BBC America down there.
http://www.bbcamerica.com/ripper-street/

thehing Loc: Mississauga Ontario Canada

jerryc41 wrote:

Yeah, the doctor doesn't take many precautions, but HIV wasn't a threat back then; other things, but not HIV. I'm glad the show is continuing. Is the area where they film it well-known? You probably know about "Doc Martin," filmed in the Cornwall area. The place has been inundated by tourists.

Murdock it mostly filmed in a studio but many of the out door scenes are filmed at historic looking locations. Totonto Island, Casa Loma , Black Creek Pioneer village, to name a few,

Joe F.N. Loc: Oshawa, Ontario

How ironic that this post came up. My son and granddaughter turned me on to Murdock Mysteries and gave me a DVD of the first season for my birthday. But there were two DVDs in the package. The other one was Ripper Street. I haven't started Ripper Street yet but I'm encouraged to do so.
Thanks everyone for the good read and to you Theing for all the information.
I live in Oshawa so were practically neighbours. (You can tell by how I spelled 'neighbour.')

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

thehing wrote:

These are the 3 movie versions I was talking about. Same but different people. The TV series came out after that. I remembered another series that is really good. It is called Ripper Street. It is about a detective set in Whitechapel right after the Jack the ripper murders. I highly recommend it. We get it on Space TV but I see it is on BBC America down there.
http://www.bbcamerica.com/ripper-street/

Obviously, we need a new section for discussion: Canadian TV