The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Splendid television series about Arthur Conan Doyle's master detective. The series was catapulted by an intense performance by Jeremy Brett, who was a true vision and David Burke as the first Dr. John Watson. The role would later go to Edward Hardwicke, the son of actor Sir Cedric Hardwicke. The series was quite popular in the states as well as in England. Each episode was well paced and about 90 percent of the time faithful to Conan Doyle's literary works. It took chances. It took risks and it was successful. For Brett, it was the character he would be remembered for. Thank God for him...he played the part masterfully.

This 40 minute gem is currently being rerun on a Saturday afternoon on BB2 in England. Jeremy Brett makes a fantastic Holmes. Always slightly on edge with the right accent & demeanour, he really makes this programme the perfect example to how Holmes should be played. David Burke also plays a perfect Watson without appearing the slightest bit "bumbly" like in the rest of the adaptations. A definate 10/10

This is a Sherlock Holmes series that is absolutely faithful to the original stories. The excellent cast with Jeremy Brett in the lead leaves no wishes open. Many roles were given to icons of British drama and cinema, such as Charles Gray, Eric Porter, John Castle, Joss Ackland and Eric Sykes. Others went to upcoming stars of the late 80s such as Marina Sirtis and Natasha Richardson. The mise-en-scene was certainly not only developed true to the books, but it was also inspired by Sidney Paget's drawings, which were published together with the early stories in the "Strand Magazine" from the beginning of the 1890s onwards. Compare, for example, the King of Bohemia, who faces Holmes as a masked stranger, or the struggle of Holmes and Moriarty at the Reichenbach falls in Switzerland.

This series is a true masterpiece of television.

I have only seen a few episiodes of the Jeremy Brett version of 'Sherlock Holmes' but already (to me) Jeremy Brett is THE 'Sherlock Holmes'. He gives the character a real personality and not only plays the character but BECOMES the character. I know that Jeremy Brett was not always comfortable with the character and lacked confidence in his portrayal of 'Sherlock Holmes' but to me he is the ULTIMATE Sherlock!!!! It's so unfourtunate that a character who ultimately brought such pleasure to so many people brought the actor such a mix of joy and misery!!!! Jeremy Brett was a great actor and a great man and thats why he is one of my all time favourite actors!!!!!

If you are going to buy one Conan Doyle DVD let this be it. If you're going to watch a single episode, let it be The Crooked Man.

For this is as good as it gets. We have a glorious incarnation of Holmes and Watson here. Brett's Holmes - cantankerous, affected, whimsical, rude, arrogant, precipitous, charming - can only have been drawn from the deepest possible understanding of the text. There have been similar efforts along the same lines, though none so successful. No other Holmes has come close to Brett's portrayal of the brilliant but obsessed mind, teetering on the knife edge dividing madness and genius.

Brett's portrayal of Holmes is enough to lift this series above any other. But Granada (who are damn good at this sort of thing when they try) have nailed the two other vital essences of the stories and this makes their achievement unique.

Firstly we have a totally new take on Watson, a brisk, wonderfully intelligent man of action, a fearless fellow crime fighter and stalwart support. As David Burke leads Holmes round the Aldershot camp in The Crooked Man, you understand exactly what Holmes found appealing in the bluff ex-soldier, who chronicles his victories, appreciates and learns his methods and soothes his clients when Holme's interrogation causes offence. This is new and unsurpassed. I prefer Burke's to Hardwicke's more thoughtful Watson. Both are top drawer character actors with fantastic credits, but for me, Burke has an impulsiveness and breezy candour that gives his Watson extra light and colour. Hardwicke, in the later series, does a lot more to suggest the difficulty of living with a man like Holmes.

An even more significant achievement is the recreation of the deft energy, economy and speed with which Conan Doyle transports his audiences into the heart of Victorian London. Only Dickens did it with anything like the same authority and style. Lovers of the fantastic Sydney Paget illustrations will recognise his work everywhere in the props and scenery. Many of the more famous illustrations are lovingly recreated, but this is really about the chemistry of detail and pace. Granada have the formula just right. So perfect in fact, that when they try to extend it to feature length, it fails, just as Conan Doyle failed in his own attempts to extend the format to novel-length stories. The longer pieces are again, the weakest of the set.

If this disk doesn't fill you with delight, go back to the text, read again and look again, or you risk undervaluing one of the greatest achievements of TV drama.

Sir Arthur, I'm sure, would have been both delighted and impressed.