The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle

The BBC has a very good record when it comes to period drama and so it was with baited breath I awaited this new entry in the Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle filmography....It was written for the screen by David Pirie the writer behind the truly Magnificent Murder Rooms series that also studied the life of Doyle and his reasons for creating his most famous character Sherlock Holmes....but this just wasn't up to scratch,and mainly due to some poor writing but seeing as how Pirie has a good track record I shall put the blame firmly on the Director.....The Hound of the Baskervilles did not herald the come back of Holmes...it was The Empty House....and what about when Doyle's father dies....all his mother wants to talk about is when is he going to bring Holmes back from the dead....not very realistic.....it did look good though and the acting was equally good

Written by the writer who penned the excellent Murder Rooms series which chronicled ACD's adventures with Doctor Joseph Bell, I was looking forward to this and I wasn't disappointed. It was quite slow moving, with a lot of emphasis on Doyle's frustration at Sherlock Holmes which was very accurate and excellently portrayed. It was an interesting character study and very well shot ( on digital video, unusual for a period piece ). The acting was excellent all round, particularly Tim McInnery and Brian Cox although the actor who portrayed ACD, whose name I cannot remember impressed me no end. An excellent character study which has about the same amount of twists as any normal Sherlock Holmes case. Do see this if you get the chance

Fans of the Sherlock Holmes stories or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle will be fascinated by the self-titled tv biopic. Douglas Henshall plays Doyle, and he starts the movie a famous and beloved author. However, he's plagued by his past, and he has a secret longing to find out if readers will still love him if he stops writing about Holmes.

I knew absolutely nothing about Doyle's life, I've never read a Holmes story, and I can count on one hand how many Holmes films I've seen. Don't throw anything at me, I'm just demonstrating how much I was able to learn from this movie. People who have read biographies of Doyle or know the Holmes stories well might not get as much out of it. I won't spoil things for my fellow ignorant viewers by telling any plot points, but I will praise the supporting cast for keeping up with Henshall. This is a pretty heavy movie, with tears and fears around every corner. Sinéad Cusak plays Doyle's mother, Saskia Reeves is his wife, and Tim McInnerny plays his biographer.

One word of caution I will give: this movie is pretty gruesome. There are random inserts of dismembered body parts, as parts of Doyle's stories or his fears coming to life. They're very gross, unnecessary, and jarring. So if you have a weak stomach, be prepared to hide behind a pillow.

The first 50 minutes of this movie were quite boring. It focused on the personal problems Doyle had, including his sick wife, death threats by fans, a pushy publisher and feelings of guilt concerning his mentally ill father. Even though these subjects had an important impact on Doyle's life, I was more curious about the birth of Sherlock Holmes. The last 40 minutes were excellent. We finally got a look inside Doyle head, how he created Holmes and why he had to 'kill' Holmes. The actors are excellent. Including the intriguing Selden played by Tim McInnerny, Arthur Conan Doyle, a compelling role played by Douglas Henshall and Brian Cox as the 'role model' for Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Bell. The locations are good, especially for a TV movie and the camera work is nice. If the first 50 minutes were as good the the last 40 minutes this would have been a small masterpiece.

I saw the film for the first time at BBC on July the 27 of 2005. For me it was a good interpretation of the person Conan Doyle,and I truly wonder what the sherlock fans think about it. I also think it is a movie for these fans whether they agree or not what is mentioned.You may ask yourself was A.C. Doyle a strong person or did he put himself in question. However he was the creator of the famous Holmes,but how much of it was a sort of semi-biography? Not the less I strongly put this adaption forward, it is a movie you have to see - even if you aren't interested in the Sherlock Holmes movies or books - look a it , enjoy yourself and have your own opinion of it.