Murdoch Mysteries is a Canadian drama television series produced by Shaftesbury Films that premièred in January 2008 and was broadcast on Citytv in Canada and on Alibi in the UK. It was picked up by CBC for its sixth and seventh seasons. The show follows the titular character William Murdoch, a police detective working in Toronto, Ontario, through the turn of the 19th century into the 20th, who makes use of what was, in the late Victorian era, the latest in forensic science to solve crimes. The show was developed for television by Cal Coons and Alexandra Zarowny based on the characters in the Detective Murdoch series of novels written by Maureen Jennings.