Diagnosis Murder is a mystery/medical/crime drama television series 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 4.19 "It Never Entered My Mind"), became a series of three TV movies, and then a weekly television series that debuted on CBS on October 29, 1993. The series struggled at first and was almost canceled at the end of the second season, it returned as a midseason replacement in the third season, and was regularly renewed thereafter. 178 episodes were made and aired in the show's eight seasons on the CBS network in the United States and two more TV movies aired after the series' cancellation on May 11, 2001. Since 1997, the popular show used to air in reruns on ABC Family (formerly The Family Channel). Currently, Diagnosis: Murder airs Sundays on the Hallmark Channel. The show was produced by Viacom Productions and is currently distributed by CBS Television Distribution, the syndication arm of CBS Paramount Television. It is also currently airing weekday afternoons in the UK on BBC1.

In the Jake and the Fatman episode, Dr. Mark Sloan was a widower with no sons and Ally Walker played Dr. Amanda Bently, a role that went to Cynthia Gibb in the TV movies and, finally, Victoria Rowell in the weekly series. That wasn't the only casting change. Stephen Caffrey played Dr. Jack Stewart in the movies, a role that went to Scott Baio in the weekly series.

The first three TV movies were shot in Vancouver, B.C. The first two seasons of the series were shot in Denver, Colorado and all the subsequent seasons in Los Angeles.

Police detective Steve Sloan believes that top manager Nick Osborn has killed his boss, trust-owner Russell Cord. His father, senior hospital doctor Mark Sloan, is convinced that his long-time patient Osborn is innocent and soon discovers three other top employees of the Cord Group who also had reasons for killing their boss. Pretending to be a medical police consultant, Dr Sloan starts investigating the case himself, supported by a junior doctor and a young female pathologist. Besides, the merry old doctor saves the life of a young street urchin and takes tap-dance lessons from an old patient. Written by Otto Oberhauser

Dr. Mark Sloan is a doctor at Community General Hospital, and he is a consultant for the police department. His son Steve Sloan is a detective for the department. He and his father, along with emergency room resident Dr. Jesse Travis and Dr. Amanda Bentley, who is the pathologist at the hospital help to solve some very strange murder cases in Diagnosis Murder. Written by Anonymous

Mark Sloan is the chief of staff at Commmunity General Hospital. Even though his duties as a doctor keep him busy enough, he still finds time to help the police solve murders (Mark's father was a Los Angeles police detective). He is assisted by young doctors Amanda Bently and Jesse Travis, as well as by his own son Steve, who took after Mark's father. Together they solve some of Los Angeles' toughest murders. Written by Brian Washington