Diagnosis Murder is an American medical crime drama television series created by Joyce Burditt and starring Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan, a medical doctor who solves crimes with the help of his son, a homicide detective played by his real-life son Barry Van Dyke.
The series began as a spin-off of Jake and the Fatman (Dr. Mark Sloan made his first appearance in episode 4x19), became a series of three TV movies, and then a weekly television series that aired on CBS from 29 October, 1993 to 11 May, 2001.
Diagnosis Murder originally aired in South Africa on M-Net. It later aired on DStv's Hallmark channel. There are 178 hour-long episodes in eight seasons.
Season 5 premiered on Hallmark on Wednesday 2 July 2008, at 18h00. New episodes air daily, from Mondays to Fridays. There are 25 episodes in the fifth season.
Season 5 Repeats
Mondays-Fridays: 12h30
Synopsis
Medicine, mystery and mirth. Diagnosis Murder is a lighthearted one-hour mystery series starring Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan.
Sloan is a good-natured, offbeat physician who occasionally works for the police department as a consultant.
Busy treating patients and teaching young doctors at Community General Hospital, Dr. Sloan still finds time to assist his police investigator son, Steve.
Every week, Dr. Sloan stumbles across murders, either acting in his role at the hospital, aiding the police as a medical consultant, or just plain dumb luck.
An amateur sleuth, Dr. Sloan combines his medical knowledge with keen analytical skills to solve the toughest cases that have confounded the police.
Working with Mark and Steve are Amanda Bentley, a pathologist at Community General who now works as a medical examiner for the LAPD; and young doctor Jesse Travis.