Customer Reviews

Murdoch Mysteries - Series 1 -3 Box Set [DVD]

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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 this series and could not wait for the individual release of Series 3. For us over the pond this set costs nearly the same as the price of a single USA release in this series. A FURTHER BONUS, not mentioned in the description, is that this set includes the 3 "pilot" movies (starring Peter Outerbridge and Keeley Hawes) that prompted the making the tv series. From what I see, these movies have yet to be released in the UK. Such a bargain, I don't regret in any way buying this set.

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.

Was I looking forward to owning this set? yes I was. Till it arrived and it's all over the place. I started watching what I thought was episode 1 but on the disc epsiode 1 is episode 2 The Glass Ceiling and episode 2 is Elemntary My Dear Murdoch. So I now have to try and find a detailed episode guide so I know which episode should be number 1 on the disc, as I suspect all of them are all over the place as well. Is it that hard to put them on the dics in the order they should be, ie show episode 1 as episode 1. Annoying to say the least as I LOVE murdoch Mysteries.

For anyone who enjoys "Who Done It's" and Mysteries and especially if you like CSI stuff you will love this series. This is set in Victorian times in Canada and the detective Murdock applies science and invents way's of looking at crime scenes and it is at the start of the age of Fingerprints and clues left at the scene. Brilliant and easy to watch.

Love the Murdoch Mysteries Series and ordered it on a spur of the moment thing; although had looked around a little and the price was much lower here than even the likes of Asda and HMV. Was delivered only a couple of days after ordering and is top quality.

Fantastic buy, would recommend to anyone!

We are Murdoch fans and already have series 1 and 2. We now find the only way to get series 3 is to get the whole lot over again with the meagre compensation of three early feature length episodes starring Peter Outerbridge. Peter is fine but he's not 'our' Murdoch.
The 'regular' Murdoch episodes are a pleasure to watch which is why we went ahead and purchased this set.
Regrettably, as with the Series 1 and 2 box sets, the DVD presentation is abysmal. NO episode titles, NO summaries, NO extras. Peter Outerbridge doesn't even get a mention !!
I feel ITV should be ashamed of this effort.

The TV series itself is absolutely brilliant: thoroughly enjoyable, well acted, well produced and with great variety, plus engaging ongoing background stories. There's nothing routine about this series; every episode is memorably individual and inventive, and I'm constantly amazed how well the series manages to find something new and fresh, and tread new ground, in every episode. Anyway, you can read about the charms of the series in other reviews; the purpose of my comments are to draw attention to something important regarding this specific box set.

As is noted elsewhere, the Murdoch Mysteries TV series was preceded by three TV movies that starred a different set of actors. The movies are somewhat different in character (a bit darker than the subsequent series), and perhaps not as broadly appealing as the series overall, but they're nevertheless good and well worth seeing.

These three movies are apparently only available separately on a disc called "Murdoch Mysteries Movie Collection", which is a Region 1-only, NTSC release; i.e. they're not available for individual purchase for the UK market.

In reality, although not available as a separate stand-alone disc, the TV movies *are* included in this Series 1-3 box set, which makes it particularly excellent value and an essential buy for Murdoch fans in the UK. However, the fact that these movies are present is far from obvious, and the packaging/advertising is downright misleading.

Look at the picture of the box set at the top of this page (close-up version): you can see that it says "12 discs, 39 episodes". However, the Amazon description says that there are 14 discs. The real-life box is slightly different from the artwork pictured here: where it says "12 discs, 39 episodes" in the picture, in real life the box reads: "14 discs, 39 episodes and 3 TV Specials". I can confirm that there are indeed 14 discs in the set, and that all three prequel movies are included (in 16:9 format just like the episodes).

The other thing that's extremely misleading about the box itself is that the TV Specials are all packaged up as though they belong to Series 3, which of course they don't. They all come from before the TV series had been commissioned. They also feature a set of completely different actors, who are *not* mentioned anywhere on the packaging. If you don't know about this in advance, and watch the first three series before you get to the movies (as I did), you'll be taken by surprise (and not necessarily in a positive way).

One interesting aside is that Helene Joy, who plays Dr Ogden in the main series, has a major role in the third of the TV Specials, but as a completely different character!

Anyway, ignore the disc and DVD menu labelling that claims that the TV Specials are part of Series 3. They're not. The correct chronological viewing order of the items in this box is as follows:

1. Except the Dying (TV Special)
2. Poor Tom is Cold (TV Special)
3. Under the Dragon's Tail (TV Special)
4. Series 1 Episode 1, etc.

Unfortunately, aside from the nearly unadvertised presence of the three TV Specials, there are no other special features in this set.

Anyway, for anyone who hasn't got the Murdoch Mysteries on DVD, this is unquestionably the best way to start collecting, as it's currently the only way (to the best of my knowledge) to get the three TV movies in Region 2 format, in addition to the first three seasons of the TV series proper. And the series is terrific.

Very well researched about the time
period , serious but can be very funny, i let my daughters watch it because there is NO blood and guts or swearing and i think its quite educational

Brilliant TV series, set in Victorian Toronto, Canada. Love the fact that each episode wraps up a story but there are underlying themes with the central characters and a few namely ones too such as Tesla and HG Wells. Murdoch is a great character and develops as the series go on, learning more about what makes him him ('me old mucker' as the Inspector would say). Also purchased series 4 which is just as good, looking forward to a series 5 hopefully, as well as reading the books one day....so little time...

Great value in all and the three TV specials are a bonus!