Acorn TV Releases New 'Murdoch Mysteries' Season 18 Trailer

Murdoch Mysteries’ eighteen seasons may seem paltry next to shows like the U.K.’s Midsomer Murders (Season 25) or Silent Witness (Season 28). However, on this side of the pond, it’s nearly legendary as Canada’s longest-running scripted one-hour drama series. The period mystery series first debuted in 2008, the same year Hulu debuted in the U.S., and three years before Downton Abbey and Game of Thrones changed the TV landscape. Set in Toronto in the early 1900s during the age of invention, it follows the case of Detective William Murdoch, played by Yannick Bisson (Casino Jack).

The series is also notable in debuting with four principal characters: Bisson as Murdoch, Thomas Craig as Inspector Thomas Brackenreid,  Jonny Harris as Constable George Crabtree, and Hélène Joy as Dr. Julia Ogden. Until this year, with Season 18, all four appeared in almost every episode. (Joy’s character is now in the U.K. and will only appear in a few select installments.) However, the series used that to its advantage, finally casting the show’s first-ever actor of color, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee (Kim’s Convenience), as Inspector Albert Choi, who “brings a whole new perspective to Station House #4.”

The new season has 22 installments, including the series’ record-breaking 300th episode. (It falls on Season 18’s tenth episode, for those keeping track.) Though the series has been airing and streaming Season 18 for free on the CBC and the little-watched U.S. network Ovation since October 2024, its arrival on Acorn TV signals the season's transition to its regularly scheduled streaming platform.

Here's the season's synopsis:

Season 18 is full of 'Murdochian' delights: a murder at a Charles Dickens convention, Murdoch acting as a bodyguard for a silent film star and being thrown into a cinematic adventure himself, foiling a theft of the world's largest ruby, proving the veracity of a "Missing Link" skull found in Milton, Ontario, and a holiday episode celebrating the "misfits" and singletons. 

Episodes that root mysteries in the social issues of the time are also explored: a worker's strike at a factory, an early instance of low-income housing, competing public hydro projects, and immigrants trying to purchase land in the 'paradise' of the wilds of Canada. Finally, the milestone 300th episode will feature Detective Murdoch visiting the UK to see his wife, Dr. Julia Ogden, as they celebrate their wedding anniversary. 

Here are the episode titles and airdates as we know them so far. (The series is still ongoing on the CBC and Ovation.)

• Episode 1: “The New Recruit” (Monday, February 10, 2025)
• Episode 2: “Only Murdoch in the Building” (February 17)
• Episode 3: “What the Dickens?!” (February 24)
• Episode 4: “Gimme Shelter” (March 3)
• Episode 5: “A Starlet is Born” (March 10)
• Episode 6: “The Murdoch Link” (March 17)
• Episode 7: “Measure of My Dreams” (March 24)
• Episode 8: “Welcome to Paradise” (March 31)
• Episode 9: “When Rubber Meets the Road” (April 7)
• Episode 10: “The Men Who Sold the World” (April 14): Murdoch Mysteries’ 300th Episode
• Episode 11: “Bombshells” (April 21)
• Episode 12: “Star of Mandalay” (April 28)
• Episode 13: “The Wrong Man” (May 5)
• Episode 14: “A Murder Most Convenient” (May 12)

Bisson returns once more as the titular detective, William Murdoch. He'll lead an ensemble that includes longtime regulars Craig as Inspector Thomas Brackenreid, Harris as Constable George Crabtree, with Joy doing guest appearances as Dr. Julia Ogden, plus Hyung-Sun Lee as Inspector Albert Choi, the series' first new main character to join the show since Georgina Reilly's Dr. Emily Grace exited the series after Season 9, 

Other returnees from previous seasons include Daniel Maslany as Detective Watts, Lachlan Murdoch as Constable Henry Higgens, Arwen Humphreys as Margaret Brackenreid, Clare McConnell as Crown Attorney Effie Newsome-Crabtree, and Shanice Banton as Chief Coroner Violet Hart. 

Season 18's guest star roster includes Siobhan Murphy (The Sisterhood) reprising her role as Ruth Newsome, Peter Keleghan (Workin' Moms) back again as government spy Terrence Meyers, and Daniel Kash (Orphan Black) in his third standalone role in the series. New faces landing a guest star turn on the long-running series include Rebecca Liddiard (Frankie Drake Mysteries), Lainey Lui, the founder of Lainey Gossip, and Countess Luann de Lesseps, an original cast member of The Real Housewives of New York City. 

Season 18 will also feature musical guests indie-popstar Shawna Beesley (known as Adaline) and Idol Season 20 contestant Nicolina Bozzo.

Based on Maureen Jennings’s popular Detective Murdoch series of novels, Murdoch Mysteries Season 18's episodes are written by showrunner Peter Mitchell, with Simon McNabb, Saleema Nawaz, Jenny Lee, Noelle Girard, Christina Ray, Keri Ferencz, and Nick West. Directors Craig David Wallace, Katie Boland, Duane Crichton, Winnifred Jong, Elsbeth McCall, Laurie Lynd, and Eleanore Lindo split helming duties across the season's 22 episodes, with Bisson stepping behind the camera for Episode 3.

The series is executive produced by Bisson, McNabb, Mitchell, Christina Jennings, and Scott Garvie and produced by Jeremy Hood and Julie Lacey. 

Murdoch Mysteries Season 18 premieres on Acorn TV beginning Monday, February 10, 2025, and will stream weekly without breaks through the end of July. Meanwhile, Season 18, Episode 13, will debut on the CBC and Ovation on the series' Acorn premiere day.