This article contains character development spoilers up to Season 18, Episode 10. There are also teasers but not whodunit spoilers for future Season 18 Episodes.
We recommended spending the winter break binge watching Murdoch Mysteries , and now this spring, Acorn TV has premiered the first 11 episodes from Season 18 on streaming. Detective Murdoch (Yannick Bisson) and his colleagues at Station House 4 have so far confronted art thieves, mobsters, and other attempts to cause mayhem in 1911 Toronto, but the most momentous thing to happen this season is that the series crossed the 300th episode mark with “The Men Who Sold the World.”
Arwen Humphreys, who plays Mrs. Margaret Brackenreid, has been a key part of the Murdoch Mysteries ensemble since the pilot episode all the way back in 2008. It’s not easy being married to the Inspector and later Chief of Police Thomas Brackenreid (Thomas Craig): Margaret and Tom have survived criminals threatening their lives, coming close to divorce, informal couples’ therapy, and their teenage sons getting into trouble. GBH Drama interviewed Humphreys to find out her favorite moments from the show and what she’s looking forward to in the remainder of the season.
GBH DRAMA: When you first auditioned for Murdoch Mysteries, did you picture yourself being on the series for 18 years?
Arwen Humphreys: No, I did not, especially for Margaret. In the original episode I was in, I had three lines, two of which were single words. When they were first auditioning for the show, I’d actually auditioned for Dr. Ogden. I remember thinking, “this does not fit, she’s not me.” Part of being an actor is learning where you fit and where you don’t. When I auditioned for Margaret, it just made sense for me. She didn’t even have a name yet; she was Mrs Brackenreid. I remember Thomas Craig, Yannick Bisson, and I standing outside of this house we were shooting in, and Yannick saying, “well, we’re going to be on this broadcaster, so that should be good.” We were all just happy to be working. There was never a thought of 18 years on a show, for sure.
GBH Drama: Margaret started as a bit of a Karen but has evolved so much over the years. What is your favorite part of her character’s journey?
Humphreys: That transition has been the coolest part. There’ve been awesome storylines throughout that I’ve loved as well. When our head writer Paul Aiken retired, I sent him an email just saying, “thank you so much.” The big thing I wanted to say thank you for was bringing the passion, and the quirkiness, and the humor into Margaret’s role. Prior to that, she’d been a bit dour. I have a background in comedy, so it was so nice to be able to bring that into the part. Aiken told me there was a scene in the opera episode with the opera singer, and apparently I made a motion with the prop umbrella where I sort of was like, “you....” The writers saw something different [in the role]. That was like that switch from the wife who sort of just wags her finger at Murdoch and wags her finger at Brackenreid all the time.
To me, the transition point was during Murdoch and Ogden’s wedding rehearsal scene. That was when we all connected to turn Margaret into what she is today. That switch will be something I’m always grateful for. I love that there’s a joy to Margaret. She sees the world in a “‘isn’t this a wonderful world” kind of way. I love playing that.
GBH Drama: Margaret doesn’t often get the chance to play with all the devices, inventions, and toys Murdoch has come up with. What do you think would be her favorite?
Humphreys: I believe Margaret likes a good gadget. Something that would make her life a little easier. I love that in Season 17, they had Margaret on the hunt with Ogden looking for a murderer, and she was wearing this metal detector Murdoch made. And I felt like, yeah, that would be something Margaret would be into. She likes to learn how things work, and any gadget that would help her discover the world more, I feel like is something she’d be into. In fact, she has a pretty cool gadget in Season 18 that she plays with, but I’ll leave it there.
GBH Drama: We haven’t seen Margaret and Thomas’ children in a while. Where do you believe Bobby and John would be now?
Humphreys: John is an actor in New York, so that’s where John is. Their other son, Bob, is in prison but he’s found God, and now he’s going to be a minister, so he’s redeemed. We had a really lovely scene together again in Season 17 where he was trying to get moral with his mother from a jail cell. And there was sort of this moment like, “oh, no. You can’t do that.” I think that Bobby will eventually be released, and then he’ll start a ministry of some kind. As we all know, Charles Vandervaart [who plays John] has been playing somebody else’s son for the last little while. It would be nice to see him. I’m not involved in the business aspect of it, but knowing Charles, I’m sure he’d be happy to come and visit. We would love to have him.
GBH Drama: How has your relationship with your co-stars changed over the years?
Humphreys: With Tom, when we first started working together, I remember we took all of our scenes so seriously. Now, it’s more we’ll go to block, and then in between blocking and the rehearsal, we’ll talk. If either one of us has any ideas, we’ll talk about it. The thing that’s wonderful is we’re both always thinking. There’s never sort of like a, “nah, I don’t know. I’ll just do it in the scene. We’ll see what happens.” There’s always him or me saying something like, “hey, you know what I was thinking for this scene, it’d be really funny, remember how we did that? Why don’t we bring that back?”
How it’s changed is that we’ve relaxed a bit. There’s a lot more play now. It’s less about making sure we get it right and more about having fun.
In terms of my other co-stars, I get along really well with everyone. We’re all friends. There’s texting threads, there’s been dinners, we hang out, we talk in between scenes, and there’s always that feeling whenever we hang out of how well we get along and how much we actually like each other. I think that translates to the scene. Whenever I get a scene with others in the cast, there’s a text of like, ‘oh, we’re going to play together. Yay.’ We get to hang out, not just as characters.
I worked with Daniel Maslany this year in Season 18 for the first time. In the blocking, Daniel was acting, and I experienced Watts. Then, when they said cut, I said to Daniel, “we’ve got to figure out how Margaret and Watts got in this room together, because Watts is a lot. How would Margaret react to Watts because his energy is just so all over the place?” We figured it out, and it was great. It’s evolved now into a very lovely, comfortable place where I just get excited to see everyone and feel very fortunate that year after year, I’ve been able to say we talk in between all the filming stuff.
GBH Drama: What do you think was the most difficult Margaret scene you’ve had to film?
Humphreys: That’s a really good question. I’ll go way back to season three, when Margaret’s son went missing, and they packed most of the really big scenes into two days. That whole episode, I mean — the idea of your child being lost, and that feeling of powerlessness and living in that — that was one of my hardest days ever. One shooting day in particular was just not fun because I had to live in loss and fear and anxiety, and I can’t imagine doing that all the time as an actor. Some television shows are too dark. I did that, for one day, and the next day I spent it curled up on the couch watching cozy Disney movies.
GBH Drama: We’ve talked about Margaret’s evolution; now let’s discuss how her marriage to Thomas has evolved over the years.
Humphreys: It’s similar to mine and Tom’s relationship, which has become a lot more relaxed. Margaret and Thomas understand each other completely, and you see this with any wonderful couple. Whenever I’m playing a scene with Brackenreid, it’s like she’s frustrated, but this isn’t new. They’re an older couple now, and she’s not trying to change him. Even when Margaret gets mad at him, it’s just like, “I know Thomas is never going to change, but I’m never going to stop feeling frustrated, too. A girl can dream. One day, he’ll get it right.” At the end of the day, Margaret’s always running the show behind the scenes. I feel like puppet might be too strong a word for Thomas, but that’s their dynamic for better or for worse.
GBH Drama: Thomas works on planning Margaret’s surprise birthday party during the 300th episode. Which Murdoch Mysteries character would you trust to plan your birthday party?
Humphreys: Margaret would want to organize her surprise birthday party, except for the part that she’d be doing it. It makes sense that Thomas ends up organizing the party because he’s the only one who can deal with her happiness, or more likely, her disappointment. Because no one plans events as well as she does. Murdoch would do too much. Ogden, I feel like she’d sort of do it; she really wouldn’t want to. Watts can’t be trusted to organize anything except an artists’ gathering with no expectations.
As far as my own party, I believe George Crabtree could organize a good party. He’s a wacko, but he’s a responsible guy and he’s always got other people’s best interests at heart. He’s got just enough quirk that I feel like he’d throw a good bash.
GBH Drama: There have been so many iconic guest stars on the series over the years. Who were your favorites?
Humphreys: We’ve had some major people and they’re all excellent. I’ll answer this question in two parts. The first part is anyone from Downton Abbey was a thrill. Also, later in Season 18 we had a very, very special guest, Luann de Lesseps , who I hope comes back to play with Margaret, because I think they’d have an interesting chemistry. I feel like with Margaret, she would like de Lesseps character initially; not a total adulation, but there would have to be some friction. I think there’d be a part of her asking “what’s up with this woman?” Because she’s married to a very evil man.
The second part is because the show’s been on for so long, we have had some excellent Canadian theater and film actors as guest stars. That I’ve had the opportunity to play with these Canadian icons has really been something that’s so fun and thrills me. For example, Stuart Hughes, who has been in the theater scene forever. He played the man who helped Margaret find her son in Season 15. Colin Mochrie from Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Peter Callahan, Peter Stebbings. Also, Sharron Matthews who’s big in Canadian cabaret musicals. One day I walked into hair and makeup, and Ed Asner is sitting in the chair, and I was like, “what? This is my life?”
GBH Drama: If you were to write an all-Margaret-focused episode of Murdoch, what would you have her do?
Humphreys: They sort of did this with her when she went looking for Bobby a couple of seasons ago, and when the Brackenreids go on vacation and have to solve something together in Season 17, but oh my goodness, I have multiple ideas. Margaret likes to get involved in everything. She wouldn’t solve a murder per se, but something like a designer dog gets stolen, and she finds the dog at the Humane Society, and also brings awareness to the plight of dogs in Toronto. I would also love to have something where she’s involved in society, like an election with the church or the auxiliary group. Then the ballot box goes missing, and everybody thinks it’s Margaret, and Margaret has to figure out who stole it. I think that would be a lot of fun. Anything where, through her getting involved with something, an explosion happens, and she’s got to deal with it and save the day.
Murdoch Mysteries Seasons 1-18 are currently streaming on Acorn TV, Acorn on Prime, and the Roku Channel. Seasons 1-13 are available on Hulu and Hoopla.
