MURDOCH, SHE WROTE
Actor-director Bisson looks forward celebrating 200th episode in 13th season of mystery series
Sometimes the road to a great casting choice begins at a car dealership. At least it did for Yannick Bisson, who stars as Det. William Murdoch on CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries. As filming for the period drama’s 13th season got underway, Bisson was set to direct a pivotal episode — one that would introduce viewers to the long-lost father of George Crabtree (Jonny Harris).
“We had this incredible location picked in London, Ont., and casting offers out, but I was out in a car dealership in Waterloo, Ont., that my wife uses,” says Bisson, digging into the story.
The salesman called to say he’d be late — he was on a test drive with Colm Feore. The same Colm Feore who had spent more than a decade at the Stratford Festival, is a Screen Actors Guild Award winner and has starred in such TV and film projects as The Umbrella Academy, House of Cards and The Chronicles of Riddick.
“When they got back, he hopped out of the car and started ribbing me, like, ‘How many years are you going to go and not let me be on your show? You’ve had everybody in the show except me!’” Bisson recalls with a laugh.
“I immediately told him I was interested in him for this part because he was perfect for it. So we made a bunch of schedule changes, and he was very accommodating because he’s a very busy man. We lost our fabulous London location, but I think we got the better end of the deal.”
This season of Murdoch Mysteries kicks off Monday and will feature the series’ 200th episode — a milestone Bisson never expected to pass when he first put on Murdoch’s now-trademark suit and hat 11 years ago. Did he think a show set in Toronto around the turn of the 20th century would last this long? Even with the success of Maureen Jennings’ Detective Murdoch novels and a 2004 TV movie to bolster its odds?
“Never in my wildest dreams,” Bisson admits. “I had a thought once we got to five seasons. Then it was six. I thought, wouldn’t 10 be the most incredible thing? So now I don’t know what to think. Do I hope for 15, or do I hope for 20? We’re off the map now.”
Last season, Murdoch Mysteries averaged 1.1 million viewers each week in Canada, and the show is now licensed to broadcasters in more than 150 countries and territories around the world. It has also streamed on international platforms including Amazon Prime, Acorn TV and Hulu.
The Feore episode will be Bisson’s sixth time directing, a task he says takes considerable effort.
“It’s challenging because just doing the Murdoch role itself takes a lot from me. It’s 10 pages a day, I’m an executive producer on the show and my attention has to be 100 per cent every day,” he says.
“It’s also a physical challenge — six months straight with very little time off. When you add directing an episode to that, it gets to be over the top.”
Directing or not, slipping into Murdoch mode each year has become a tradition that renders Bisson as formal as the polished leather shoes he wears on the show.
“My wife makes fun of me — she can always tell when I’m getting ready for Murdoch again,” he says. “I start to say things like Tor-on-to. My Ts all start to come back out. It’s just part of the persona that I have to shift into because there’s no lazy way to do Murdoch. No lazy way to speak. I can’t just sort of ‘um’ and ‘ah’ and riff the dialogue. It has to be what’s on the page, and I have to speak in a certain way and stand a certain way.”