Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous consulting detective has to be one of the most adapted and reinterpreted fictional characters of all time. There have been an untold number of films, plays, radio productions, comics, TV shows, books and cartoons featuring the Baker Street sleuth and his faithful companion, Dr. Watson. For me, this lavish Granada Television series starring the incomparable Jeremy Brett is the undisputed best.
Running for ten years, from 1984 to 1994, this remains one of the most comprehensive and faithful adaptations, covering 43 of the 60 short stories and novels written by Doyle. The series is usually referred to by fans as the Granada Holmes due to the title of the series changing every few years. The first two seasons were called The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the next two The Return of Sherlock Holmes, the fifth The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, and the last The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Five feature length specials were produced during the fourth and fifth seasons.
John Hawkesworth, whose previous credits included Upstairs, Downstairs and The Duchess of Duke Street, was the primary writer for Adventures and Return and I would certainly rank those as my favourite seasons featuring great episodes like 'The Second Stain', 'The Blue Carbuncle', 'The Musgrave Ritual', 'The Copper Beeches', and 'The Six Napoleons'. The adaptations were always faithful without ever being slavish, often making crafty changes like how 'The Red-Headed League' was reworked to including Professor Moriarty in order to set up his confrontation with Holmes in 'The Final Problem'.
There really is no point in even debating this, Brett is simply the greatest Sherlock Holmes ever to appear in screen. He is the Holmes, the definitive article, you might say. No one will ever be able to better his performance. Not only does he look like he could’ve just stepped right out of a Sidney Paget illustration, he manages to inhabit the character perfectly, quirks an’ all. For the first two seasons he was aided by David Burke as Watson. Burke left to return to the theatre and was replaced by Edward Hardwicke for the remainder of the show’s run. Both Burke and Hardwicke portrayed Watson as a loyal and capable companion to Holmes, equally amazed by his friend’s skills as he was infuriated by his personal habits.
Sadly, towards the end of the series the quality was starting to slip. After Return, Hawkesworth left to go make another period detective series for the BBC, the Peter Davison starring Campion. He came back to write a single episode for Case-Book before retiring in 1992. By Memoirs almost all the very best Holmes stories had already been adapted and Brett’s ill-health was becoming obvious for all to see. One episode saw Mycroft take Sherlock's place because Brett was too ill to film. He would eventually die of heart failure in 1995 at the age of 61, ultimately bringing the series to a premature end. The final episode, a mesmerising adaptation of ‘The Cardboard Box’, proved to be an exceptional and worthy swansong for Brett and the series.
Mark Greig has been writing for Doux Reviews since 2011 More Mark Greig
In college, one of my film classes had a unit where we watched a bunch of adaptations of "A Scandal in Bohemia" to analyze how the same story can be told in a bunch of different ways and how characters are reinterpreted across the years.
ReplyDeleteWe watched this version as part of it, and while I'm fairly certain that I didn't really enjoy it (19 year old me had no patience for anything that was older than I was!), I remember being impressed by Brett as Sherlock. Like you said, he looks like he just stepped right off the page.
'A Scandal in Bohemia' isn't one of the strongest adaptations, I don't think the original story is all that great either, but Brett's brilliance still manages to shine through.
DeleteNo, I've never particularly loved that story either. I think that might favorite might be "The Adventure of the Speckled Band." It was the first one I ever read. Although "Hounds of Baskervilles" might challenge it.
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