10 best period crime dramas to watch right now

4. Murdoch Mysteries

Years it ran: 2008 to present

Network it aired on: The series airs on CBC in Canada and is on Acorn TV in the United States.

What it’s about: This is one of those period crime dramas that brings elements of the current day to the past in ingenious ways. Based on the novels by Maureen Jennings, the series follows Detective William Murdoch in Toronto starting in the late 1890s. He needs to deal with various difficult murder cases, and he decides he can solve them with his inventions.

We see a lot of inventions over the course of the series. They all resemble something close to what we have today, showing just how things like fingerprinting. Of course, not everyone he works with is all that happy about his unconventional approaches.

Why you need to watch it: The series is a great look at how inventions have developed over the years. It’s also fun watching as Murdoch tests them out. They don’t always work how they should, but we get the joys of seeing it all play out.

Then there are the cases that give us Murdoch working with the coroner Julia Ogden. The two are the perfect team, but Julia has to regular face those who think she can’t do anything because she’s a woman. We also get a lot of focus on social topics of the time, including votes for women.