'Murdoch Mysteries' Lands a Season 19 Renewal
It is a truth universally acknowledged that popular mystery series can pretty much run forever. Midsomer Murders is currently shooting its twenty-fifth season. Death in Paradise has been solving crimes in a tropical paradise for fourteen seasons, and Father Brown has been balancing investigative and spiritual duties for twelve. Heck, even Grantchester has gotten into the act, and will launch its tenth season this summer. Audiences can't seem to get enough. Another member of this squad is the Canadian drama Murdoch Mysteries, which has been renewed for Season 19.
Murdoch Mysteries may be less familiar to U.S. audiences than its (comparatively!) short-lived spinoff that streamed on PBS Passport, Frankie Drake Mysteries, but it is as long-running as its British counterparts. Initially airing on U.S. cable channel Ovation under the title The Artful Detective, it moved to Acorn TV for streaming in the mid-2010s, though not until a whole, old-school 120-day exclusivity window had passed. That's why Season 18 has concluded on the CBC and Ovation (where the show has started airing day-and-date on its linear network) but is still currently streaming on Acorn through July 2025.
One of Canada's biggest-selling series globally, the show is set in early 1900s Toronto. (Technically, it began in 1895, if you want to be picky about it.) The story follows the titular Detective William Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) of the Toronto Constabulary, who uses innovative-for-the-time-period forensic techniques like fingerprinting to solve the city's most difficult murders. The show also regularly weaves real history into its cases of the week, and the show is full of familiar British and American guest stars as famous faces ranging from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Mark Twain.
