Acorn TV, streaming service focused on British TV and movies, has announced its April 2019 scheduling of its new crime and mystery shows.
Two fun, female-led Acorn TV Originals are scheduled for release this month: British mystery series Queens of Mystery (starting April 8) and a spin-off of one of Australia’s most popular series worldwide with the 1960s-set Ms. Fisher’s Modern Murder Mysteries (starting April 29).
Additionally in April, Acorn TV features more new episodes and the finale of Canadian period mystery Murdoch Mysteries, Season 12; and the courtroom drama Rumpole of The Bailey.
April Schedule of Mystery, Crime Drama Shows
Monday, April 1st
RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY, Series 1 & 2
Nominated for two Emmys and seven BAFTAS and the standard bearer for future courtroom dramas, Rumpole of the Bailey follows the misadventures of Old Bailey defense barrister Horace Rumpole (Leo McKern) who has to contend with politics in chambers, unhelpful judges in court and the continuing disapproval of his wife Hilda at home, while trying to do his best for his often-ungrateful clients. The hugely popular PBS series began in 1978 (12 EPS).
MURDOCH MYSTERIES, Season 12, Ep 16/18 (Exclusive U.S. Premiere)
A new season 12 episode from one of Acorn TV’s and Canada’s most popular series. Set in Toronto in the late 1890s and early 1900s during the age of invention, the mystery series centers on Detective William Murdoch, a methodical and dashing detective, who enlists radical new forensic techniques to solve some of the city’s murders.
Monday, April 8th
QUEENS OF MYSTERY, Murder in the Dark, Episodes 1 & 2 (Acorn TV Original, World Premiere)
Marking the third commission for Acorn TV, this fun female-led British mystery follows a perennially single female detective, Mattie Stone (Olivia Vinall, The Woman in White), and her three aunts – the motherly Aunt Beth (Sarah Woodward, The Politician’s Husband), the rebellious Aunt Cat (Julie Graham, The Bletchley Circle, Shetland), and the book smart Aunt Jane (Siobhan Redmond, Alfresco) – who are well-known crime writers that help her solve whodunit style murders, as well as set her up on blind dates.
In addition to her weekly murder investigations, Mattie is also preoccupied by the fact that her mother Eleanor disappeared without a trace when Mattie was three. The opening two-part mystery, Murder in the Dark, finds the newly promoted DS Matilda Stone dispatched to Hiddledean Hall where all three of her aunts are attending the 15th Wildermarsh Crime Writer’s Festival.
In a crime as strange as the fiction on display, the prestigious Golden Pick Axe Award has been found buried in the head of a prize nominee, and pages from his latest manuscript have been stolen. Everyone present is a suspect, from the rival nominees – including Matilda’s Aunt Beth – to hot headed agents and slimy publishers. Or does the solution to the crime lie in the fictional story that someone has gone to such extreme lengths to hide?
MURDOCH MYSTERIES, Season 12, Ep 17/18
A new season 12 episode from one of Canada’s most popular series. Set in Toronto in the late 1890s and early 1900s during the age of invention, the mystery series centers on Detective William Murdoch, a methodical and dashing detective, who enlists radical new forensic techniques to solve some of the city’s murders.
Monday, April 15th
QUEENS OF MYSTERY, Death by Vinyl, Episodes 3 & 4 (Acorn TV Original)
The second two-part mystery, Death by Vinyl, gives an insight into Cat Stone’s years in an 80s new wave girl band and her love affair with Nikki Holler, its lead singer.
“Volcanic Youth” and their entourage have been invited to record a reunion album t an exclusive retreat not far from Wildermarsh – but it’s not long before one of them is found dead in the studio… strangled with a microphone cord. Matilda begins her investigations and soon becomes aware of motives for murder buried in the band’s past. Only by teaming up with veteran ex-band member, Aunt Cat, can Matilda piece the fragments of these scattered lives together. But in assisting Matilda to nail the killer, Cat must confront the tragedies of her own past – emotions she’d buried decades ago.
RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY, Series 3 + Special
Nominated for two Emmys and seven BAFTAS, Rumpole of the Bailey follows the misadventures of Old Bailey defense barrister Horace Rumpole (Leo McKern) who has to contend with politics in chambers, unhelpful judges in court and the continuing disapproval of his wife Hilda at home, while trying to do his best for his often-ungrateful clients. (7 EPS)
MURDOCH MYSTERIES, Season 12 Finale
The season 12 finale of one of Acorn TV’s and Canada’s most popular series. Garnering an amazing 45 Gemini® and Canadian Screen Award nominations, Murdoch Mysteries has found a huge audience in North America for its period charm, entertaining mysteries, and likable characters.
Monday, April 22nd
QUEENS OF MYSTERY, Smoke and Mirrors, Episodes 5 & 6 (Acorn TV Original)
The final two-part mystery in Series 1. The series follows a perennially single female detective, Mattie Stone, and her three aunts – the motherly Aunt Beth, the rebellious Aunt Cat and the book smart Aunt Jane – who are well-known crime writers that help her solve whodunit style murders, as well as set her up on blind dates.
This two-part mystery, Smoke and Mirrors,focuses on a local theatre where an adaptation of one of Aunt Jane’s books is being mounted. Hopes are high, particularly as celebrated thespian Sir Lawrence Shaw has persuaded his twice ex-wife Dame Blanche Chastain out of retirement to take a small role.
But when a large sandbag falls, crushing one of the cast, Matilda’s investigations lead her to conclude this was no accident. As Matilda works her way through her suspects – the larger than life cast and crew of the play – Cat and Beth do some investigating of their own, and uncover bribes and secret obsessions behind the scenes. The plot thickens when a second body is found, and one of the remaining cast absconds. There will be more bodies on the stage floor unless Matilda acts fast.
THE INVISIBLES
Maurice Riley (Anthony Head, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Syd Woolsey (Warren Clarke, Poldark), are “The Invisibles”, a team of retired master burglars. After a string of successful crimes during the 1980s — during which they were never apprehended or identified by the authorities — they retired with their wives to the Spanish Mediterranean coast.
Now older, they give in to homesickness and return to England, settling in a quiet fishing village. They still have enough money to support themselves comfortably (though not as extravagantly as they might be used to). Circumstances, however, conspire to pull them back to a life of crime. Early capers prove to them that security technology and the brutality of the criminal life have changed dramatically in two decades, and they’ve lost their edge as well. But the excitement is undeniable, and they try to make a go of it. (2008, 6 EPS)
Monday, April 29th
MS FISHER’S MODERN MURDER MYSTERIES (Acorn TV Original)
Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries remains one of Australia’s most popular series worldwide. As fans wait for a new feature film, Miss Fisher & the Crypt of Tears, later this year, they can enjoy the top-rated, new spin-off series set in the 1960s. When the famous aunt she never knew, Phryne Fisher, goes missing over the highlands of New Guinea, the gorgeously reckless Peregrine Fisher (Geraldine Hakewill,Wanted) inherits a windfall.
Peregrine sets out to become a world-class private detective in her own right with the unerring guidance of The Adventuresses’ Club, a group of exceptional women of which her celebrated aunt was a member. A natural rule breaker, Peregrine is fearless, fun, and charmingly down-to-earth, as well as having a keen instinct for solving crimes. With newfound wealth and The Adventuresses to hone her rough edges and become the family she’s never had, Peregrine is unstoppable.
The series co-stars Joel Jackson (Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door, Deadline Gallipoli) as smart, ambitious cop Detective James Steed and Catherine McClements (Wentworth) as Birdie, an ex-member of WW2 Special Forces and head of The Adventuresses. The new series features every bit the embodiment of style, glamour and adventure as the 1920s-set original. (4 feature-length EPS)
RUMPOLE OF THE BAILEY, Series 4 & 5
New episodes follow the misadventures of Old Bailey defense barrister Horace Rumpole (Leo McKern) who has to contend with politics in chambers, unhelpful judges in court and the continuing disapproval of his wife Hilda at home, while trying to do his best for his often-ungrateful clients. (12 EPS)
