I was confused when I saw the description of this movie set. "When did Murdoch Mysteries move from Toronto to Winnipeg", I asked myself. Of course, I had it backwards. These three movies came first! I don't know why the show moved East for the TV series, but for me it doesn't make a difference. I love the current Murdoch Mysteries series, and I love these three movies. That said, there is some difference in characterizations between the two versions. Peter Outerbridge, playing Detective William Murdoch in the movies, is more overtly conflicted and wan. Still intelligent, honest and tenacious, of course. I did not dislike Outerbridge's portrayal, but it is different from Yannick Bisson's more closed and more cheerful version in the TV series. Constable Crabtree is less a personality on his own in the movies, he just doesn't have the screen time. Inspector Brackenreid is marvelously portrayed in the movies by Colm Meany. Thomas Craig does a great job in the character in the TV series, but he is not as street-tough. Now for the similarities between the movies and the TV series. The happenings at both Station No. 4's still have a lot of comedy. Not quite as much in the movies, because Crabtree's character just isn't there to carry so much of the comedy that he does in the series. They still bicycle through the city. Those not fans of the police still call them Frogs. Murdoch still has his famous blackboard, of a sorts. Here he uses one of the station's walls! Brackenreid still has a bottle in the office. There is still a female pathologist, though any romantic notions just barely begin by the 3rd movie. Murdoch's Catholic faith is still strong, and there is still prejudice against Catholics. And, maybe best of all, the movies started the tradition of Murdoch inspecting NEW scientific ways to detect. As well as historical tidbits that are always interesting. These movies originally aired in 2004-5 in Canada. In this 3-disc set you get 3 movies totaling 271 minutes, or 4 1/2 hours of a very good show. This DVD set is a reissue. The movies were originally released on DVD in 2008. 1. "Except the Dying". The middle of the night in a disreputable part of Winnipeg, a young woman's naked body is discovered in an alley. There's only one light on in the surrounding buildings, a 3rd floor flat in a boarding house with a sign in its window: "No Dogs or Cathlics". Murdoch interviews the women. Their occupation? Well, they're not going to say the obvious, so they give another part of the truth, "We sell gloves for Mr. Webster on Queen Street... Men's articles, mostly, if you get my meaning. The finest pigskin. There's no loss of feeling for the gents." When Murdoch returns to the alley, there is a woman sketching the body. After trying to shoo her away, he finds out that she is Dr. Ogden, acting for the coroner. This is the first time they meet. Dr. Ogden becomes one of Murdoch's few allies in trying to bring criminalistics, or modern forensics, to the department. Murdoch doesn't have time to think too much about the pathologist, though, because this wasn't the first woman killed, and they don't want there to be another. NEW: Mesmerism (hypnotism) 2. "Poor Tom is Cold". It's 3 am, and Constable Crabtree is looking for Constable Wicken. Sarge is worried because Wicken didn't check in at 2 am. Unfortunately, it's because Wicken is dead, shot through the head with a printed suicide note in his hat. There's only one problem for Murdoch - the path of the bullet and blood spatter don't match the position of the body. AND, when he gets back to the station, the finger print on the gun is not Wicken's. This gets him no where with Brackenreid: "Aw, for gawd's sake. Fingerprints! Is that what you've sunk to?" Some of this movie's comedy stems from Murdoch taking dancing lessons. Professor Otrantos is trying to show Murdoch how to lead, "It's called the gliding waltz, Mr. Murdoch. Glide!.... When I first saw you dance I think to myself, 'I would take this clumsy water buffalo, and make of him a gazelle'." Murdoch: "A gazelle? Really?" Otrantos: "Alas, I have failed." NEW Fingermarks (fingerprints) 3. "Under the Dragon's Tail". Two underfed boys, Jim and Freddie, come down from their attic room to find their guardian, such as Dolly Capshaw was, dead on the floor. Her daughter, a deaf mute, keens over the body. It looks like an accidental head injury from an alcoholic stumble. Madame Bernadette is perceptive as she mournfully tells Murdoch: "All of them dead bodies. You're surrounded by ghosts and they won't give you a moment's peace." This is an excellent movie. Morals. Morays. Judgement and Prejudice. You have to watch the 1st two movies first for the background. Then sit back and enjoy this story. NEW Graphanalysis, the comparison of handwriting samples in a scientific way. Don't confuse it with the pseudoscience Graphology, which is intuiting the writer's personality from handwriting. The last movie ends on a humorous scene that made me grin. A perfect ending to an enjoyable TV movie series. [Edited to add] It is likely that you found the TV series first and then found the movies, but, just in case, here's a link to the latest (at the time I write this) season of the TV show: Murdoch Mysteries Season 8 Happy Reader