Exclusive Season 4 Premiere Screening

Hey everyone

As some of you may know, I was one of the lucky 25 people who won tickets to the exclusive season 4 premiere of the Murdoch Mysteries in London, UK.

The screening included a champagne reception, the first ever screening of the season 4 premiere "Tattered and Torn" followed by a Q&A session and meet and greet with Tom Craig, aka Inspector Thomas Brackenreid.

My guest and I arrived at the exclusive Soho Hotel in the heart of London's Leicester Square shortly before 6:45pm and there were already people waiting to be shown into the screening room. Right on 7pm, the doors opened and we were shown in and were handed either a champagne, water, coke or orange juice.

Everyone took their seats and there was a lot of chatter about a "special surprise" that was going to happen before the screening started. There was a lot of speculation about what this was and I heard comments like  "maybe Yannick is here too" or "Maureen is from the UK, maybe she has come here too."

As everyone speculated, I heard a familiar voice and turned to see Mr Thomas Craig sitting a few feet behind me with his agent. He looks so different out of character and, dressed in jeans and a casual blue top, without his moustache and sideburns, he looks a lot younger than his 48 years.

When everyone had arrived, the doors were closed and the head of the Alibi channel welcomed us all to the screening and told us what we could expect for the evening ahead. Then is came to the moment we had been speculating about since we'd arrived, the special surprise.

After the satellite link with Yannick had finished, there were smiles on everyones faces in anticiaption of the man himself possibly being in London the same time next year. I, for one will definitely be entering just in case he is.

Then came the screening and, despite a small technical hitch at the beginning, it was 45 minutes of brilliance. We had been warned beforehand that season 4 contained darker storylines and this one was no exception. Featuring argueably one of the biggest guest stars Murdoch Mysteries has had since it began in 2008, it was a fantastic episode, with a brilliant twist that drew some gasps from the captivated audience.

When the episode had finished, applause went up from everyone and we were then introduced to Tom Craig who drew an even bigger round of applause.  Questions flew at him thick and fast and he willingly answered all of them as honestly as possible. Only one question made him hesitate and that was whether there would be a season 5. Whilst he wouldn't commit to anything, his comments did leave us all hopeful that the show will continue for at least another year after season 4.

After all of the questions were done, we were all thanked for our attendance and excused. I took my chance and approached Tom and, to my surprise, he remembered me from my visit to Toronto and the Murdoch Mysteries set in November 2010. After a brief conversation about how I'd enjoyed the premiere and how he was enjoying being back in the UK, he accepted my request for a photograph. Tom is just as lovely as I remembered and it was great meeting him again.

All in all, I had a fantastic evening in the company of some great and talented people. It Alibi run the same competition next year, I will definitely be entering and, if you are in the UK, I would encourage you all to do othe same. It was a magical night and one that I will never forget.