Just so there is no confusion re who broadcasts

In Canada it will be Bravo/Chum in the UK it will be UKTV which is on the SKY network. This is a co production of sorts, so all UK residents, if you subscribe to SKY and they show UKTV, The Murdoch Mysteries will air in the UK and perhaps before they air in Canada.
I'm off to the UK in a couple of hours.
talk soon
Iden

Online booksellers

All seven novels in the Detective Murdoch series are available for purchase at the following online booksellers.
chapters.indigo.ca
Booksamillion.com
Barnesandnoble.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.ca
bookshop.blackwell.com
Biggerbooks.com
sleuthofbakerstreet.com

Update on the CBC interview - next week now

Hi everybody, exciting news. The interview that Maureen did with Yannick Bisson on the set of the Murdoch Mysteries this week will be airing next week on CBC The Scene which comes on about 6:45 pm. The delay has been caused by some great news. There will be a clip of one of the episodes that will be shown during the interview. So tune in starting Monday, don't know which day of next week it will show but we will be in the UK. Can you let us know if you see it and how it looks?
Thanks to all the Ontarians who get that broadcast.

Row row row yer boat

I just finished reading the script for the fifth episode which is entitled Still Waters. The story takes place around the members of the rowing club, which is very upper upper and hi falootin. So for a Catholic copper circa 1895 it is a challenge for him to deal with the toffs who frequent this club.
There is also the introduction of an early form of lie detector testing which Maureen writes about in A Journeyman to Grief. She let the scriptwriters use her idea in this episode. It is really neat, all the stuff that a detective who is ahead of his time, is attempting to introduce into police procedure, and how he is scoffed at for it.
Anyway, this I think, next to Let Loose the Dogs, is my favourite episode so far. Keep in mind I am an aging athlete so this kind of thing would really apeal to me. But more important for me is that I WAS a member of my high school rowing team. I can hardly keep my eyes open so I will sign off for today

Back - ordered already

Maureen's latest Murdoch novel which was published just last month is now on back order at both the publisher and the main distributor. You can still get a copy at Chapters and Amazon.com but it is going fast.
I recommend this novel as it is one of the best Murdochs, which can all be read out of sequence as each story stands on it's own.
It will also be easy to visualize Yannick as Murdoch, he plays a smart, very smart detective, tough with a warm heart.
Hope you get to pick up a copy and read it this summer. I'd love to hear from anyone about how they find the books, a great intro into the TV Murdoch.

Long Liv Tyler?

It was one of the oddest things! I was standing outside Studio 2 today where they were shooting the interior scenes from Let Loose Dogs, Episode 103, which takes place at the "Manchester Terrier" pub, and I looked to the right and saw this woman being escorted into the studio next door to us where they are shooting the third Incredible Hulk film, and it was Liv Tyler. Now given that I am a huge fan of the Lord of the Rings, it was one of those moments. I had my camera, but did not dare use it for it would have reflected badly on us. It is etched in my memory and perhaps when we are back on set I will see her again.
Back to the Murdochs, Maureen and Yannick had their interview and I am not allowed to check it out if it is on tonight as Maureen is completely knackered and needs a break from it. I have taped the CBC but it might not be on until tomorrow so I don't know yet if it made it to the news tonight. If anyone has seen it let me know. Maureen has been through two cast read throughs for the next episodes over the past two days, Knockout and Body Double, had her interview on CBC, two more meetings with the producer, been on the set lots, and we have to get ready to go to England.
It is hot here, 33 degrees Celsius
The shots you see are from the interior of the pub where Murdoch today is interrogating Newcombe, the owner of the pub, about fixing the ratting match and questioning his whereabouts the night of the murder, which took place after the match, and for which Murdoch's father has been accused.
You can see the pit where tomorrow there will be an actual ratting match with real rats and a terrier who tries to kill as many rats as possible within a certain time frame, and with fake rats for the afterwords which will look bloodied. Men would bet on their dogs and how many rats they could kill. The winner gets the pot so to speak.This scene starts the episode and is pretty grizzly. We are not going back to the set til we get back from the UK so you will have to do with the email reports I get and any other updates I might pick up.

A walk in the woods and a read through of ep. 104

Maureen just got back from the read through of Episode 104 Knockdown. All the actors were present and Thomas Craig, who plays Inspector Brackenreid, is back and on the set today. If you recall I mentioned that he was in Coronation Street for two years and is very well known in the UK. He will be living here until November with his family.
There is a new director on the next two episodes, each director that the producer brings in, directs one shooting block of two episodes over three weeks. Fortunately the Director of Photography (Lighting) stays the same throughout the series. Don Mcbreardy will be back to shoot episodes 106 and 107. The pilot episode is 101 and is titled "The Glass Ceiling". It's going to be great and really introduces us to the character of William Murdoch.
In the meantime over the weekend and on Sunday mornings Maureen and I go for a walk by the Humber River with our Dogs. Guess what we talk about??????????????????? Three guesses . . . . . . .

Anyway we came upon some sculptures by the river and I decided to go back last night at Sunset with all my gear. There is a guy who goes around the watery beaches and sand banks in our city and does these rock sculptures that he has to balance and canterleaver. There is a whole field of them in the river, but this section I was able to access from the river bank.
I waited til sundown and then I had to walk back through the park in the dark with all my stuff. I looked over my shoulder a lot.
Tomorrow I'm on the set and will shoot some more photos. The interview is tomorrow morn, I won't be there for that but I will report on it.

CBC TV interview in Ontario - Tuesday

Yannick and Maureen will be interviewed on CBC television for CBC's local broadcast this coming Tuesday on the set of the Murdoch Mysteries. The interview will air sometime between 6:30 and 7:00 pm on a CBC entertainment brief called The Scene. The publicist said it may run Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday night around 6:45.
This is a local broadcast for CBC so if you live in southern Ontario, you will likely get the broadcast.
That's the best I can do, I have had a number of enquiries about it. Get someone to tape it for you if you know anybody in Southern Ontario. There will be lots of publicity about the show over the next 6 months so I will always let you know about it.

Toronto Police Badge - 1895

By artist Peter LeTourneux who has made all the badges for the police officers in our series. Lucky us, he has a few spare which we pounced on. Love it. Tomorrow we're back at the set and Thomas Craig is back from the UK. He has moved here til the end of October and brought his family. Thom as you recall was cast as Murdoch's boss inspector Brackenreid. The whole day is devoted to the police station, but the leading actors and writers and producers and Maureen will be attending read throughs of the next two episodes on Monday and Tuesday. In otherwords lunch is a working , lunch for Yannick, Thom, Helene, and Jonny who plays Crabtree.
On Tuesday, Maureen and Yannick will be interviewed by CBC tv for a show called the Scene. Should be interesting and I will do a report on it if I can make it over.

I'm here to see Detective William Murdoch!

Well he's really very busy with a case at the moment may we know what the nature of this enquiry is about?
Yes I am interested in interviewing him for a story I am doing about bicyling police officers from 1896.
Well as you can see he's very busy with things, but you can look around his office, and then you might find him in the 21st century outside in a trailer.
Thank you.






Or maybe he went through this door?

Let Loose the Dogs

Is this where Paris Hilton lives now??? Today was the first day we got to be on the set for Let Loose the Dogs, the other days we have been on the set were for Elementary . . episode 102, but not until today for Let Loose. This was the most important day for us as this episode is totally based on Maureen's novel. The other 12 episodes are based on her characters. If you buy and read the book, you will learn all about Murdoch's past, his upbringing, what he faced as a young man with a drunken father and how his mother dies. It is a powerful story as Murdoch meets his father Harry in the episode, who is faced with the hangman's noose for a crime that he may or may not have committed after he lost a bet at a "ratting match". Victorian ratting matches were bloody events where dogs would enter a ring and the dog that got the most rat kills within a limited time frame, would be the winner.
Murdoch has not seen his father in years and Harry, his father, does not initially recognize his son, who must determine his innosence or guilt. Read the book and you will find out the whole story.
So here you have the author of this blog testing out the autopsy table, and then you have Stephen Mchattie aka Harry Murdoch aka Murdoh's Dad, and then you have the author with Murdoch, and then you see a copy of the book that has been signed by the actors and the crew, which is a ritual we started with the movies of the week. Maureen has the actors sign on the page where their character shows up in the novel. Harry signed on page one. You can find where Murdoch signed and the others. We go back on Monday. It's magic.
Just one note for all. My photos are copyrighted and are not available for anyone to use other than looking at. Hope you understand that I would have to shut this reportage down if any of these photos found their way other than here. Thank you for your understanding.

Yannick/Murdoch takes charge in the "morgue"

I had about half an hour between appointments today and lo and behold I was just two blocks from the set so I just had to go over. Why you ask?
This was the first day they shot scenes in the morgue with Dr Ogden performing autopsies on dead victims and discussing her findings with Murdoch and a few other characters.
I don't have a shot yet for you but I will try to get one when I go back over on Friday, It is large and white tiles everywhere.
All I can say is I have never seen anything like it. It is a morgue from 1895. The dissection table, everything is period and it is all white ceramic as you would think a medical room would look in those days.
Helene Joy looks amazing, but here's the rub. Yannick is in charge of this show. He has become Detective Murdoch in a way I have not seen before. For me it is quite breathtaking in the sense that a personality emerges through an actor, that is like a force that runs through the whole production. Everybody notices it and many have worked on the previous movies of the week. Distinct and present. I am trying to hold back some excitment but I am thrilled and it is just day 8.
A note from me is going to be sent over to his agent after I write this to let him know what is happening.
So I will try and give you some shots by the weekend. But keep in mind these scenes in the morgue are fantastic and the crew is really buzzed.

Money makes the world go round!

Meet Noel, head of drama at Granada International UK, the distrubution arm of Granada Television. With him is Christina Jennings (no relation to Maureen) founder and executive producer of the Murdoch series from Shaftesbury films. They dropped by the set on Monday when I was there and it was delightful to meet him.





















Everytime I see Christina now, I give her a big peck on the cheek because I am so enthusiastic about our show and her committment to seeing the Murdoch Mysteries tv series come this far. Without Christina's belief in the project 8 years ago, there would be no show. She is the heart and soul of one of Canada's most successful independent production houses. She is originally from the UK.
This year Shaftesbury Films struck a distribution deal with Granada to sell the Murdoch series around the world. All I can say is Noel is thrilled with what he has seen so far, and his most telling comment was that "there is nothing like it on tv", powerful words from a man who also oversees the distribution of shows such as the Prime Suspect series with Helen Mirren and also Coronation street to name two. So we got the right distributor yes?
Now the title of this entry has relevance to the two sets of people photos because in the above shot you see Joanne and Gord. Joanne is head of accounting for the Murdoch Mysteries. Lots of cheques get cut and processed by Joanne and she controls the output of the money. There are lots of envelopes that go out each episode. Cash flow is the name of the game and Joanne is the one who runs it, of course helped by Gord.
We are going over to the set on Friday and will be in the permanent police station where Murdoch gets to interview a number of suspects from the first two episodes. It will be my first glimpse inside that set.
Bye for now, and by the way if you do not want to sign up on blogger to post comments you can email me at idenford@mac.com, just don't ask for signed photos because I will not be able to provide that for anyone, sorry. But I am happy to hear from people and respond off the blog if you wish.

My Kingdom for a hat!

Which of these hats belong to Detective Murdoch and which to Arthur Conan Doyle?? "Elementary My Dear Murdoch" is the name of the episode they are shooting today, and thanks to the wonderful writing team you see pictured below, we will have the answer to that question when the episode airs. Murdoch goes to a seance with Arthur Conan Doyle to both experience and question a Sarah Pensall about her ability to contact the dead. She runs her business at the Toronto Paranormal society, which actually existed. Arthur Conan Doyle and thousands of others during Victorian times, believed we could contact the "other world", the spirit world. The acting I witnessed was so convincing I wanted to cry as so many people really believed they could contact their lost loved ones. I can't wait to see the finished episode.

(click to enlarge)
Oh, back to the writers, Cal Coons is the head of the writing department and he is the one seated with the glasses, behind him is Alix Zarowney, then Derek Shcreyer off in the far corner, and the Paul Aitken with the red hair. Without them we would have no show. And for the most part they listen to Maureen's suggestions and also they query Maureen about ideas for each episode. It's hard for an author to see other writers take her characters, but she is happy this is the team because they treat Maureen with the uptmost sensitivity and respect. Thanks guys!

Are we "rolling" Don?

They got home at about 7 am on Saturday morning after shooting all night in Dundas, Ontario, where Murdoch finds a body by a river, amongst other scenes that were shot for the first two episodes. They started at 7:30 pm on Friday night and they were all back on the set today at 7 am. So that went as follows:
Sleep all day Saturday, have yesterday off, short weekend. This was all planned and expected as opposed to a surprise. But in the end, the rest of the first two episodes will now be shot in the permanent studios at Toronto Film Studios for the rest of the next two weeks.
Today was the first seance scene at the Toronto Paranormal society featuring Sarah Pensall played by Maria Del Mar. Also present at the seance are Murdoch, Conan Doyle, and two other characters. God, it is sooooo sad how people go to mediums to communicate with their lost loved one's. All I can say is when you see this episode, you will be asking yourself whether spirits really do exist as communicated to us through mediums. Many still believe in the spirit world. I say no more, but we were blown away by the performances of all the actors.
A special guest dropped by today in the person of "Noel" from Granada television distribution UK. He was very happy and excited by the caliber of what he has seen so far, as we all are.
More tomorrow, and yes Yannick is doing fantastic as Murdoch, he is becoming more familiar with his character as each day goes by and it shows in the performances.

Blog Updated

Just so there is no confusion, on the comments page my name now appears as Iden Pierce Ford which is my full name. I changed the look of the blog so the dark background would highlight the photographs better. I also put in a theme for my blog. So I know many people who read this blog are very interested in the television series, but I will be posting many themes, firstly my photography, and stories about my wife's work, as well as updates on the Murdoch Mysteries television series. Feel free to comment and read about all of the above and thanks for dropping by. There seems to be much more discussion going on, which I realize has a lot to do with the start of the tv series and all of Yannick's fans, but we are off to Wales and Shropshire in two weeks so you will be bombarded with my travelogue. We will of course be receiving the dailies from the tv series and what is happening so I will update that is well. Here are some of the shots I plan to include on my website which I will launch in about two weeks. idenfordphotography.com.

Period TV murder mystery films today on Lorne Crescent

Hot off the Brantford Examiner paper last week was their report about the day the Murdoch tv series came to town. Maureen saw the rushes and was just blown away by the look of the residences and the old street. This house is not on Lorne Crescent but was originally built in 1872. I am sure they will go back out there down the road. I'll be back later tomorrow with a report on the start of week 2.



From the Brantford Examiner:

"Period TV murder mystery films today on Lorne Crescent"

A new TV show that's like a turn-of-the-century CSI will film today in the Dufferin area.

Scenes from The Murdoch Mysteries will be shot outside homes at 84, 88 and 92 Lorne Cres. from noon to 2 a.m., according to information given to city hall by Shaftesbury Productions.

The production company has hired a police officer to handle any minor traffic disruptions caused by filming, said Paisley Mackenzie, senior development officer for Brantford.

Based on Maureen Jennings' bestselling mystery novels, the series stars Yannick Bisson (Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye) as Det. William Murdoch in 1895 Toronto. The drama combines compelling Victorian tales of murder with the fast-paced, visually-intriguing styles of today's leading crime series.

While the Lorne Crescent shoot is expected to last just one day, crews may return to the city later for more scenes in the 13-part series, said Mackenzie. "The really liked what they saw in and around Brantford."

The series, which expands on previous Murdoch TV movies, is to air on Citytv and Bravo! in the fall.

Friday is a night shoot - the first week is done

Today the set moves to a conservation area where there is a river in Dundas Ontario. The scenes will mostly be shot at night and are from the adaptation of Maureen's novel Let Loose the Dogs. There is flashback scene from Murdoch's childhood that features his mother and father. Then the rest of the set moves to a nightime sequence where Murdoch discovers a body as well as a potential culprit. Cannot say too much, just hints. You gotta wait to see the episode next year. Anyway, the actors have been working well into the morning hours for the past few days and get picked up the following day, mid afternoon, to do it all over again. Long days with lunch at 7:00 at night or 8:00. lunch is at 10:15 tonight. Yannick is on the set every day, but today he does not start until 5:00 at night.
Good news though, next week the sets move to the interior permanent studios like the Morgue for instance where they will be shooting all day on Tuesday. Dr. Ogden has to know her lines for the entire day, so I am sure Helene, who is not on the set today, will be spending the weekend memorizing lots of lines.













The great thing about the coming week is all the interior sets are air conditioned so I am sure the heat will not be factor for everybody until they go outside again and shoot the next two episodes which are in prep at the moment.
There are two weeks left of shooting the first two episodes, then on to the next two which are always blocked, meaning they shoot two episodes at the same time over three weeks, thereby giving the show an kind of economy of eneregy, time and savings. It's a hop scotch, two episodes are in production and two are in prep, then the next two go into production while 5 and 6 are in prep, all the way to the end of first season. Long days, late nights, a marathon so to speak for 4 months and then onto prep for the next season. You think the life of an actor or anyone involved in glamorous? Appearances are deceiving, this is one of the most challenging jobs in the world coupled with the insecurity of not knowing if you have another job when your done. The people involved in this project, from every level, give their lifeblood to their work and we love them for it.

Okay, one more post

Maureen is discussing ideas with the director Don McBreardy just before he meets with the actors to discuss the scene, the other man in the photo is in charge of costume design, most of which are imported from the UK. . . . and then she meets up with Executive Producer Cal Coons, the man with the glasses, who is responsible for the writing team and the entire creative content of the series from a scripts point of view. The woman in the chair is an extra for the scene inside the mansion and she is cooling her heels in the heat prior to going inside the mansion. Then there is the sound technician and the scene inside the mansion as they set up for a shot. We're going over to the permanent studio set on Monday where most of the interiors will be shot. Oh yeah, Maureen was not happy with the Mancherster Terrier pub sign as it was a painting of the wrong breed. Reluctantly she wrote to the producer about it and they had the artist who painted the sign come in and paint the proper breed on the sign, a black and tan Manchester Terrier. Apparently it was a scramble but the authenticity of the small details really adds to the overall look and feel of a show that is successful. Do we agree on that point?

An extra "hard drive"

This is Danielle Depeyre, continuity supervisor. She is responsible for making sure the actors deliver their lines correctly and if an actor forgets a line, she yells it out. Often the cameras keep rolling and they, the actors, pick it up. Then the scene gets edited later from the various takes and angles.
Today they are shooting 8 pages for Let Loose the Dogs, all centred around the Manchester Terrier Pub where the ratting match takes place. We will be going to the set once a week so you will have to do with what I bring from our weekly visits. I have more, tune in tomorrow

Murdoch at Springhill estate

We were at the set for 6 hours and they shot all of three pages. Hard to believe but it was a happy reunion for us with the crew, but a new cast of characters. That is a bit surreal because like the new actors, we were getting used to the idea of a totally recast show. I am very happy to tell you that Yannick Bisson is superb. His take on Murdoch is the Murdoch of the novels, tough and kind. Folks, this show is going to look amazing. The lighting director has done an incredible job and the atmosphere on set is very happy. This was the third day of shooting and everybody is finding there way. I cannot give you tons of actor shots because they belong to the producer, but I can give you a snippet. Yannick is getting direction from Don McBreardy along with Natalie Roy, who is Murdoch's fiancee. But this scene is a memory as Liza is actually deceased. Maureen is with Yannick in another shot. The rest of the shots are of the goings on. I have more and will feed them out on the blog over the next few days. What can I say other than we are impressed and very very happy that Yannick Bisson is Detective William Murdoch. We love the scenes we viewed and he is dynamic

Today's the day

This is a photo of the Springhill estate where we will be going on Wednesday aft. This shot is from 2004 when they were shooting Under The Dragons Tail. The location manager for the new series wanted to go back here for the new show. The Springhill estate, on the Niagara Escarpment will be the set for a few days in the first three weeks of shooting Let Loose The Dogs, the first of two episodes being filmed. But at I write this, this very moment, this very second, the crew, all 200!! including the actors, director, lighting, and many many more of the all 200 strong are in downtown Hamilton getting ready to shoot the first scene of the Murdoch Mysteries. Dr. Ogden is in the park doing "cultivation of the chest", a form of breathing exercise, when Murdoch interrupts here to ask for her help on a matter. First scene of a 4 1/2 month shoot of 13 episodes. Helene Joy and Yannick Bisson are both in the scene. I cannot tell you how exciting all this is, kind of like a dream come true. I am taking the camera on Wednesday so I will give you a window in as I am the eyes, and ears of this blog so tune in lots over the next 4 months

Murdoch's Logo and the first of two scripts

As you can see, one episode goes through many drafts. So fascinating. There may be more changes before cameras roll

Episode 102
"ELEMENTARY MY DEAR MURDOCH"
Written by Jason Sherman
June 8th, 2007:GOLDENROD REVISIONS: Pages (17,
25, 25A, 26, 26A, 27, 30, 36, 36A, 36B, 48, 48A, 49, 50,
50A)
June 6th, 2007: GREEN REVISIONS: Pages (6, 7, 14,
16, 17, 17A, 18, 21, 22, 22A, 23, 26, 26A, 28, 29, 29A, 30,
31, 33, 35, 36, 36A, 37, 47, 48, 48A, 49, 50, 50A, 50B, 51)
June 4th, 2007: FULL YELLOW
May 28th, 2007: FULL BLUE
May 18th, 2007: FULL PINK
May 9th, 2007 : FULL PRODUCTION WHITE
Shaftesbury Murdoch Mysteries I, Inc.
TFS 629 Eastern Ave. Building I,
Toronto, ON, M4M 1E4

#1 best seller is . . . .

Maureen recieved a special award last night at the Arthur Ellis banquet. She was the #1 best selling Canadian author at Sleuth of Baker Street for 2006. She beat out the likes of Gail Bowen, Peter Robinson and Giles Blunt to name a few. Such great news! And Shaftesbury Films owns the rights to all her novels. How thrilling!

Monday is the kick off - From June to October

Most of the first week of the television series will be shot on the same estate that was used in Under The Dragons Tail, The Springhill estate in Hamilton near the Niagara escarpment. Maureen and I will be travelling out to it on Wednesday and I hope to have a whole bunch of photos. Today she was with a dog trainer, a stunt person, the director, and Yannick Bisson as they rehearsed a scene from Let Loose the Dogs where Detective Murdoch gets attacked by a dog. Yannick was quite nervous, and the dog had to bite his arm while he falls down, and then reaches for some chloroform to knock the dog out (all faked of course). It all went well and no one was hurt. Let's hope it works out on shooting day when they do the same scene for real next Wednesday. Production will run from June 11th to October 19th. There are only two completed scripts ready to go, they will be shot over the first 3 weeks. By then the next two have to be ready. Another three weeks, another two scripts have to be ready, and so on and so on. Long days and long nights for the writers, and everybody involved. Maureen has to finish a novel by September. Lots on her plate.

In Praise of Laurie King and Picador Press

Picador Press is doing four re-issue editions of Laurie King's wonderful Mary Russell series in trade paperback. They contacted me about her author photo and wanted to use a shot that I took of her at last year's Bouchercon in Wisconsin. We negotiated an acceptable price and they bought my photo of Laurie. Here it is, go buy the books when they come out, she a fantastic mystery writer and an even more fantastic human being.

Inspector Brackenreid sir!!!!!

I am happy to announce that Thomas Craig, a British actor who appeared as the character Tommy Harris in Coronation Street from 2002 -2005, has been cast as Inspector Brackenreid, Detective Murdoch's boss, in the tv series The Murdoch Mysteries which goes to camera this coming Monday. Colm Meaney had previously played Murdoch's boss in two of the three movies of the week, but was unavailable for the 13 episode series. Thom is flying in from England on Sunday night, cameras roll Monday morning June 11, no rest for a police officer eh?. The below photo of a Victorian Police station in Birmingham UK was taken by a retired police officer Donald Adams who now lives in Brighton Ontario and has become a great friend of ours. Thank you Don for this wonderful photo which adds architecture and atmosphere to the posts on the series.
We now have an international cast for the ongoing parts from Canada, Australia, and England.

All present and accounted for

Maureen went to the first read through today of Elementary My Dear Murdoch, which is episode 102 of the first season of The Murdoch Mysteries. She rode over to the meeting in a van with Geraint Wyn Davies who has been cast as Conan Doyle and was thrilled that he was cast because she feels he will be a great look alike for Conan Doyle, and that he is a fantastic actor. Also at the reading were Yannick Bisson, just back from a vacation down south and apparently with quite a growth of unshaven stubble on his face, so that when he greeted Maureen and gave her a peck on both cheeks, Quebec style, she noticed his rough beard. This will be gone one week from Monday once he goes into makeup and hair. Helene Joy, Dr Ogden was there, Jonny Harris who plays Crabtree, Christina Jennings, Laura Harbin, both from Shaftesbury Films, Don Mcbreardy the lead director and the director of the first two episodes Shane, Cal Coons, Alix and Derek from the script department, Peter the show producer, a couple of assistants who read the parts of the actors who were not present, and Maureen. They met for two hours and read the script, then Maureen went to a meeting with the writers, producer and Helene Joy, as they wanted to go over some detail on characterization with Helene. All in all Maureen was at the site for three hours and came home thrilled and confident that her input was being listened to regarding period detail and dialogue, and she felt really happy with Yannick during the read through and said "he is going to be great". Many of you know that he has replaced Peter Outerbridge who Maureen and I really felt did a fantastic job in the three movies of the week. This was the first time I heard her speak about Yannick with such confidence and enthusiasm because she got to see and hear him work because of the reading of his part during the read through, and in fact acknowledged that Yannick is much more like the Murdoch from her novels than Peter was. She also said to me " I think we are going to have a terrific show here that will be both fresh and original". Maureen goes back on Monday for the read through of episode 103, Let Loose the Dogs. No photos yet I am afraid but there will be lots when we go to the set, and I will post them all!