Yannick BissonMurdoch Mysteries - Series 1 -3 Box Set [DVD]

Probably best described as CSI: Late Victorian-era Toronto, this series puts a new, historical spin on the crime/police-based drama theme. The series is set in Ontario in the mid 1890s and is centered around the series of predictably-frequent murders (it's a crime show after all) that cross the bows of the officers at a city-based police station. In particular, the focus of attention is the cerebral Detective William Murdoch who is beautifully portrayed by a perfectly cast Yannick Bisson.Murdoch is a man ahead of his time, with a well-developed knowledge of science and forensic medicine which, as his station's primary criminal investigator, he brings to bear in the course of his many investigations. A calm and thoughtful individual, Murdoch is also a clean-living devout Roman Catholic. These qualities contrast markedly with his immediate superior, the rough-edged, Yorkshire-born Inspector Brackenreid, played by Thomas Craig, whose bullish, no nonsense style contrasts markedly with Murdoch's more measured approach. As with many fictional heroes, Murdoch is ably assisted by a faithful retainer: Constable George Crabtree. This uniformed officer's occasionally scatterbrain manner belies a keen mind and a devotion to both his duty and to Murdoch. The fourth main character is pathologist Dr. Julia Ogden. Portrayed by Hélène Joy, this forward-thinking, intelligent and confident woman is something of trailblazer; being both a doctor and a pathologist in an age where women were still some way from an equal footing with men either socially or professionally. The two are well matched, and a classic 'will they/won't they?' romance develops between Murdoch and Dr. Ogden over the course of the first three seasons of the show, with both parties' obvious attraction for the other put to the test through a variety of events and disclosures. Personal relationships aside, Murdoch and Ogden form a formidable professional team. Ogden is a first class pathologist, with an encyclopedic medical knowledge and a keen forensic mind, whilst Murdoch uses both a natural intuition and a series of innovative forensic and scientific techniques that are, quite literally, years ahead of their time (often with the writers cleverly incorporating historically accurate scientific discoveries and breakthroughs into the story lines) to solve all manner of murders and other crimes which, by the yardstick of other, less brilliant and less fastidious investigators, would undoubtedly remain undetected.The main characters are excellently cast, and the show regularly features familiar Canadian faces in a variety of supporting roles. The writing is excellent, with novel use of real-life historical characters and events, again, often cleverly melded into the story lines, and the episodes invariably feature engaging plots and a delightful touch of dry humour. In the course of the first three seasons we meet Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H.G. Wells, Harry Houdini, Bufallo Bill Cody and physicist Nikola Tesla, all of whom are seamlessly incorporated into their respective episodes. The murders themselves span all manner of motives, suspects, victims, methods and cultures, with Murdoch's dogged determination to unearth the truth and to see the culprit brought to justice the only common thread.These days, there are any number of crime-based TV dramas to choose from, of all shapes, sizes, genres and styles, but for my money this one is right up at the very top of the tree. It's well written, the characters have real depth and warmth and are developed perfectly through the course of the series and the Victorian setting is different enough to capture the attention and the imagination in a way that many other productions do not. I would wholeheartedly recommend Murdoch Mysteries to anyone interested in the crime/detective genre, and have no hesitation in awarding it the full five stars. I'm hooked.

I love Crime Drama & when I discovered Murdoch Mysteries on TV, I was hooked. Detective William Murdoch & his faithful sidekick, Police Constable George Crabtree, live & police in Toronto, Canada, in the mid-1890's. Murdoch relies on what he sees, what he feels & the evidence at hand to solve a crime. His boss, Inspector Thomas Brackenreid, can be a bit closed-minded at times, as he is one of the "old-school" types that rely on brute force to obtain a confession. However, where Murdoch is concerned, Brackenreid gives in & lets Murdoch have his "strange ways" to gain the correct outcome of a mystery or murder. Murdoch is a learned man & thinks nothing of looking through various articles about the latest scientific methods in the hope that it will prove useful at some point in the future when solving a crime. Crabtree is willing to learn from him & often puts his point of view across without the fear of rejection. Dr Julia Ogden, the female Coronor (a rarity in itself in the late-1800's) is also a willing participant in Murdoch's new-fangled crime-busting ways. Although it does seem a bit far-fetched that one man alone would discover all these forensic methods, it does begin to show you how forward-thinking that some people started were & the prejudice that they faced from narrow-minded fools. I strongly recommend Murdoch Mysteries if you love Crime Drama, as well as Historical Drama too. A pleasing combination of both.

murdoch fan... a birthday gift to myself to replace damaged discs

The series itself is reasonably OK, and the acting not too bad. Murdoch is a bit wooden and everyone seems implausibly clean and polished with the giveaway Hollywood teeth. The hyper-detailed sunny, digital look does not help. The Old Toronto CGI can look a bit bogus, sometimes, but it doesn't matter.I've now started Series 4, so it is worth sticking with.On the acting, Yannick Bisson is still a bit planky, but I think that's the writing. When he strays from the irritating stuffed-shirtedness, he is so much better. Series 3 is the where the series improves a lot.Jonny Harris is always great, even though he is continually saddled with the thankless task of having to deliver the leaden, honestly guys, we got the inference already and don't need it spelled out in 20 foot high neon letters almost every damn episode, cack handed "reference".However, I must admit that Helene "Ohhhh Wlliam" Joy DID actually invent Twitter in the 1800s...Undoubted star of the show is Thomas Craig. Old school copper and supporting character, yet does everything right and comes across as smart enough to appreciate Murdoch and for all his agressive bluffness, he does actually have a heart of gold, and definitely does not come over as the standard-issue Buffoon.The plots are fine, although I get a bit of an "Invention of the Week" whiff off it. (That first impression stays in. You end up bracing yourself fot the Forrest Gump moment every episode.)I'm not far into the box set, but I was driven to IMDb to see if it was worth sticking with; not from an opinion-gathering point of view, I just wanted to see who the directors were. Bad news. Random directors each doing one or a few episodes at a time.This really is bad news. I was hoping against hope that the director of the first few episodes had been lured into a disused gold mine and the shaft dynamited shut on him.Sadly, the various directors, 19 of the rascals (including, inevitably Yannick Bisson), may be stuck with a house style. Hopefully some will calm down. Dear God, I thought this sort of thing went out years ago. (Then again, this actually was years ago...)Yannick Bisson's stab at direction was pretty good, as it happens. He seems to have far more idea about how to direct than the pop video refugees.Some genius thinks it is edgy and exciting to do the shaky-cam crash zoom stuff all the time. It isn't. Just stop it, buy yourselves a tripod and take the espresso machine out of the cameraman's kennel. It is just annoying, tiring and very distracting. If you're that worried about the plot (and it must be said, they aren't anything ground-breaking), do a spot more writing instead of going all demented toddler.Watching this after Mrs Bradley or Miss Fisher really does show it up quite considerably. Yes, you do find me bingeing on old-shool detectives.I'm honestly not certain I can stick with Murdoch unless there is a particularly big basket of ironing to do...Well, I did, and I will. Even without the ironing. Season 2 was not brilliant, but things definitely improved by miles from the first few seconds of Series 3.Also thrown into the box set was an earlier attempt at dramatising the stories. Peter Outerbridge was quietly brilliant as a really VERY buttoned-all-the-way-down Murdoch. He really did look like someone who's fiance had died and he was not getting over it. Those few episodes were beautifully filmed, and much darker and grimier and grimmer. Keely Hawes in there too. You can't go wrong.And they even used the same sets, except it looked more like a real (like I'd be able to tell, but you know what I mean...) 1800s Police StationColm Meany's Brackenreid really didn't work, though. I'm not sure which version is more faithful to the books, but I'm not bothered. The present Brackenreid will do nicely. It makes a lot more sense that anyone able to get to his position would have the nous to know that Murdoch was an asset, rather than being someone to be bellowed at.

Lieferung war super. Habe das Produkt verschenckt und kann daher keine weiteren Angaben machen. Habeaber bisher nichts negatives gehört.

I started to watch Murdoch Mysteries last fall an they were into the 5th or 6th. repeats in 2009 of this show.I ORDERED SEASON 1-3 and SEASON FOUR. I discovered that at the end of season 3, there were two more disks. Which by the way. had different characters and I only wish there had been instructions to play those disks first. I am enjoying the season four. The only other setback.was. I found. that I had to use my laptop`s DVD player and hook it up to my HDMI cable to watch it on the big screen.I lioke the remainder of the shows much better. I have all the seasons and have season eight taped off on my pvr.

Cette série canadienne est des plus agréables. Elle change de la tonalité "monotone et violente" de l'ensemble des séries de la décennie précédente. Le fait que chaque enquète fasse le lien avec le monde moderne tout en se situant à la fin du XIX° est astucieux; L'humour des principaux protagonistes se conjugue bien avec le sérieux de chaque crime.

Bin durch Zufall auf diese Serie gekommen und bin begeistert. Die einzelnen Charaktere sind gut herausgearbeitet und die Geschichten oftsehr spannend . Auch der wissenschaftliche Touch gibt der Serie einen zusätzlichen Reiz. Die Schauspieler sind passend besetzt zu ihrerRolle. Allen Fans historischer Krimiserien kann mann diese Serie nur wärmstens ans Herz legen.c.b

Hi there, Just want you to know that when I ordered this product I was expecting Seasons 1 - 4. What i got were, and are clearly marked on the box, seasons 1 - 3. Also, I wasn't aware that the product would only play on a DVD play set up for Region 2 and to top it off, I had to pay duty on it. Not a happy camper. I'm sure the videos are great...I do love the series and hope they will play in my Blue Ray.