For the second year in a row, the Murdoch Mysteries renewal was announced from the press room at the Canadian Screen Awards. 

Shaftesbury CEO Christina Jennings confirmed the CBC has ordered 18 more episodes of the detective drama, in addition to a two-hour Christmas special, after the Murdoch team collected the Golden Screen Award for TV Drama or Comedy. At last week’s CSA creative fiction gala, the Murdoch Christmas special, A Merry Murdoch Christmas, picked up four awards, including Best TV Movie or Limited Series, Best Direction in a Dramatic Program or Limited Series.

The writers’ room began last week, said Jennings, and the new episodes will take the Shaftesbury-produced show to more than 170 hours of television in total.

In its tenth season, the Yannick Bisson-starrer has remained a rock-solid ratings attraction for CBC, drawing between 1.3 million and 1.45 million average viewers (2+) for every episode thus far.

The penultimate episode of the season, “Hot Wheels of Thunder,” airs tonight on CBC and features a guest role for Natasha Negovanlis, who stars in the Shaftesbury-produced web series Carmilla. Negovanlis won the Fan’s Choice Award at Sunday’s Canadian Screen Awards.

The past two holiday seasons have seen brands integrated into Murdoch Mysteries during their Christmas specials. In 2016 the show integrated the Salvation Army into the Christmas special, with a similar activation featuring Sick Kids in 2015.

From Playback Daily