Marvellous Murdoch
Murdoch Mysteries is back to give an inventive twist to history… and crimes to solve.
Season 11 of Canadian historical police drama Murdoch Mysteries (2008- current) ended with inventive Detective William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) and his coroner wife Julia’s (Hélène Joy) tearful reunion after an entire episode apart thanks to her miscarriage. When the show returns, showrunner Peter Mitchell reveals that “we pick it up three months later so that we can start off on a fresh foot while doing some housekeeping as to what happened last year. We have an idea that Julia and Murdoch might be writing a book together (episode 11), which could be fun. There might be some interesting developments in the Brackenreid household (episode 9) and the wedding bells will indeed ring for Henry Higgins (Lachlan Murdoch) (episode 3). We may introduce architect Frank Lloyd Wright (Aaron Poole) (episode 1), a few historical figures we have not seen yet and a couple we’ve seen in the past”.
THE MURDOCH OF INVENTION
Murdoch Mysteries is an irresistible combination of mystery and Victorianera history – “They go to great lengths to research things going on in Toronto at the time, as well as all around the world,” points out Hélène – and it’s still the cheekiest steampunk-inspired show on TV. The inventions are everything. We’ll never forget season 8’s taser-like stun gun the Weaponised Capacitor. In episode 1 this season, Murdoch (who is always ahead of his time) has invented a cupboard-sized microwave oven that comes to a deliciously, grossly, sticky end. It’s a fun throwback to an earlier moment in season 3’s finale (2010) when Constable Crabtree imagined using an entire room full of microwave radiation to cook yams.
Aside from hiring pioneering architect Frank Lloyd Wright to build his house, Murdoch will also join forces with (real-life) lunatic- genius inventor Nikola Tesla (Dmitry Chepovetsky) in episode 13 when a man experimenting with invisibility is murdered – leading to Murdoch and Telsa kind of inventing television together. But until they get their TV on the market, fans will have to content themselves with Murdoch and Julia’s book. When it’s published in episode 16, one enthusiastic fan starts recreating its murder scenes as a copycat killer.