8 Footsteps

"8 Footsteps"
Season	11
Episode	1103
Airdate	October 9, 2017
Writer	Paul Aitken
Director	Laurie Lynd
Guests	Colin Mochrie as Ralph Fellows Amanda Richer as Helen Keller
Previous	Merlot Mysteries
Next	The Canadian Patient

"8 Footsteps" is the third episode of the eleventh season and the one hundred-fifty-third of the Murdoch Mysteries series. It first aired on October 9, 2017.

Summary

A recording device made by Alexander Graham Bell helps Murdoch's investigation into a murder at a dinner honouring Helen Keller.

There is a charity event at the Windsor House Hotel, where William Murdoch and Julia Ogden live. The guest of honour is Helen Keller. The guests dine in total darkness so that they can experience what it’s like being blind, but not everyone makes it through dinner.

Detective Murdoch and Dr. Ogden encounter Ralph Fellows the hotel detective, who is rather bitter about the smaller cases he gets in comparison to the celebrated William Murdoch.

Character Revelations

• The Windsor House Hotel has a hotel detective, Ralph Fellows, who harbors a bit of professional jealousy. When Julia questions the need for a hotel detective, William suggests they may be the reason, alluding to the recent events in their home.
• Dr. Ogden has been corresponding with Anne Sullivan prior to their meeting.
• Miss Ruth Newsome is engaged; she introduces her fiancé Herbert Wilson to Henry Higgins.

Continuity

• The fourth episode to have a murder at the Windsor House Hotel, after High Voltage, Cometh the Archer and Hell to Pay.
• Ruth Newsome returns as one of the dinner party guests, sitting on Murdoch's left at the table.
• The Graphizer and the recorder get an Alexander Graham Bell upgrade, combining the two classic inventions into one powerful device.
• Murdoch's visualizing a crime scene continues, adding auditory dimensions and invention, but the Detective lacks the vision to see any benefit from the 'stereoscopic sound' outside of crime solving.
• The 'stereoscopic sound' incorporates James Pendrick's headphones (ep.703).
• Crabtree makes reference to Reginald Fessenden who was first introduced in The Devil Inside, and George has yet another theory, in this case - about the dead.

Historical References

• Helen Keller and her teacher and companion Anne Mansfield SullivanAnne Mansfield Sullivan. Anne's success with Helen remains an extraordinary and remarkable story, best known to the world because of the stage play and film The Miracle Worker.
• Reginald Fessenden
• Stereoscopic sound is similar to Stereoscopy but for auditory depth.
• Possible foreshadowing of paranormal investigation.

Cast

Main Cast

Yannick Bisson as Detective William Murdoch
Hélène Joy as Dr. Julia Ogden
Thomas Craig as Inspector Thomas Brackenreid
Jonny Harris as Constable George Crabtree

Recurring Cast

Lachlan Murdoch as Constable Henry Higgins
John Tench as Alexander Graham Bell
Siobhan Murphy as Ruth Newsome

Guest Cast

Colin Mochrie as Ralph Fellows
Amanda Richer as Helen Keller
Severn Thompson as Anne Sullivan Macy
Gianpaolo Venuta as Herbert Wilson
Kyle Buchanan as Horace Carmondy
Catherine Joell MacKinnon as Mabel Bell
Michael Dyson as William Dawes
Mathieu Bourassa as David Thornton
Marie Dame as Ernestine Wallace

Gallery

The dinner party at Windsor House Hotel

William and Julia are guests

Ruth Newsome is also an invited guest

Just before the lights are turned off...

Guests are asked to remember their place settings.

The honoured guest Helen Keller

Alexander Graham Bell turns the switch...

The sounds of dining, conversations, footsteps and a scream...

The murder victim

Checking the Blackboard