Glanmore National Historic Site was the scene of a murder Monday.
Actually, there were several scenes involving murder — all staged for filming of the Murdoch Mysteries television series.
The show is based on Maureen Jennings' novels and is set in 1897. Today is the final of two days of location shooting at the museum.
Production manager Elizabeth Young said the crew rarely ventures outside of Toronto and often shoots more than one episode in a single location.
But not here: the episode featuring Glanmore will air sometime next spring and is the only stand-alone episode of the third season.
Young said the Victorian building was chosen for its elaborate period look and authentic finishes, much of which would be difficult to reproduce.
"You just can't get this anywhere else," Young said as she sat behind twin television monitors in the rear breakfast room.
"Glanmore is so grand," Young said. "The production value of this house is just phenomenal. The care and presentation that's gone into this shows on camera."
The realism is hard to find, she said, but it comes with limitations.
"In a lot of ways it's a bit detrimental," Young said, describing the on-set rules as "don't touch, don't move."
"I've given the curators smacking privileges," she added.
As she spoke, the crew was removing bubblewrap from Glanmore's central wooden staircase.
Museum staff had spent weeks cleaning, moving artifacts and generally preparing for the shoot. Some of the museum's artifacts date back to the 1600s.
Curator Rona Rustige said the series is the largest production ever to film at Glanmore. Past broadcast shoots have been limited to news programs and Loyalist College student projects.
The requirements are so large, the museum is currently closed and many rooms are filled with television gear.
Allowing such open access — let alone so many people with so much equipment — is "very strange" for staff, said Melissa Wakeling, who oversees education and marketing for Glanmore.
"Even the volunteers don't go behind the barriers," said Rustige, "so having the barriers not there is kind of like The Twilight Zone."
Though somewhat uneasy about the building and artifacts in their care, staff were clearly excited.
Rustige got a little closer to the action than she'd planned — or wanted.
Shooting was interrupted briefly when one shot showed the curator, who thought she was hidden, peeking from the background.
"So that was your debut?" teased actor Yannick Bisson, who plays Det. William Murdoch.
Rustige said staff will analyze the effort after it's finished before discussing any future productions. A large-scale shoot had to be tried at least once, she said.
"We need revenue," Rustige said. She and Wakeling estimated the show's presence will bring in more than $7,000
"The revenue from this is going into our building reserve, the money which is used for restoration. It's empty after all the work we had done this past year."
She added the crew will pay for the equivalent of 230 nights in a hotel while here. Not all of the episode is being shot at Glanmore. Some has already been done in the studio.
"We needed to slam windows … and we just can't do that to the house," said Young with a laugh.
The episode is the 11th show of the third season. The season goes to air this March.
.jpg)
.jpg)
-6.jpg)
-8.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
-2.jpg)
.jpg)
-7.jpg)
-5.jpg)
