Archive CBC Renews ‘Murdoch Mysteries’ For Eighth Season – TVWise

Mere days ahead of the show’s seventh season finale, Canadian public broadcaster CBC today confirmed that they had renewed Murdoch Mysteries for an eighth season.
The drama, co-produced by UKTV for their Alibi channel, is based on the series of novels by Maureen Jennings and follows the exploits of Detective William Murdoch as he investigates crimes in Toronto in the late 19th/early 20th century. The series is a co-production between UKTV, CBC, ITV Studios Global Entertainment and Shaftesbury Films and stars Yannick Bisson, Thomas Craig, Helene Joy and Jonny Harris.
The order for season 8, which, like season seven, has been set at 18 episodes, comes after Murdoch Mysteries has become a huge player for CBC. The series was initially commissioned for UKTV here in the UK and CityTV in Canada, airing its first five seasons on CityTV. The ratings on CitvTV had always been modest and ahead of the show’s fifth season the Canadian network announced the cancellation of Murdoch Mysteries. CBC then stepped in and ordered a sixth season, which pulled in strong ratings, promting the public broadcaster to order an 18 episode seventh season in April 2013. The strong ratings have continued during season seven, leading to today’s renewal. Murdoch Mysteries is also a strong player for UKTV’s Alibi channel, frequently pulling in more than 300K viewers; making it one of Alibi’s highest rated series.