The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes

Here we say a fond fare-well to the finest Holmes on film. And not a minute too soon. Though the series was cut short by the tragic and untimely death of Jeremy Brett, the series should've died before this. The earlier "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and "The Return of Sherlock Holmes" (with David Burke and Edward Hardwicke, respectively, as Watson) were superb visual retellings of the Doyle stories. They even had moments of humor (cf. "The Red Headed League", when Holmes and Watson hear about the artificial kneecaps; or "The Solitary Cyclist", when Holmes is interrupted in his experiments -- no spoilers, though!) Holmes might be oddly whimsical (as in "The Naval Treaty"). But at some point melancholy fell over the stories. Certainly the lengthening of stories into artificial movies in "The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes" didn't better the series. Instead of telling the stories in a straightforward way, stories begin to be blended into one another. Bizarre elements found their way into the tales. In one disastrous episode in the "Case Book" days, "The Sussex Vampire", the makers diverged from Doyle altogether for a totally whacked-out story that ought never have been told. "Memoirs" suffers from story blending -- part of that is Doyle's fault, since some of his Holmes stories are paper thin and could barely sustain an hour. But melancholy had claimed the series for her own. There were too many close-ups, the make up is weird in cases, and at some points hindsight makes you worry about Jeremy Brett's health. Naturally in the eerily title "The Dying Detective" he looks bad. But he looks pretty bad in the rest of them, too. Though I'm sorry they couldn't have finished all the stories in the canon, they came close; and the way they were mucking about with stories and camera work and make up and overarching sadness in "Memoirs" makes one wish they hadn't gone this far. The loss of Jeremy Brett to the acting world casts a further pall over the proceedings. This is not the place to start for Brett's finely limned Holmes, and truly is for someone who obsessively has to own every episode.

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes signalled the end of a superb era. Overall, it is a reflective final series, with a couple of tear jerkers and beautiful moments. The final episode in particular was full of both. The series is precisely detailed and superbly acted, and while not quite as good as its three predecessors, it is still a truly wonderful series.

The camera work is very fine, and the period detail as to be expected is precise and beautifully done. The music is beautiful, not only haunting but even brings a sense of poignancy. Also superb were the scripts, reflective and sombre, there was some fine writing.

The acting from both Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke is nothing short of superb. I have said many times already that Brett was the definitive Holmes, and his ultimely death in 1995 was a true loss in the acting world. He was perfect as the complex fictional detective, no matter how many actors have played the character, Brett WAS Holmes, no doubt about it. Hardwicke's Watson is for me the truest of all the Watsons, with David Burke close behind. He gave a sense of authority and intelligence that was admirable.

In conclusion, a fitting end to a superb era of Sherlock Holmes. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Though not intended as such, this outing of "Memoirs" proved to be the last bow of this superb, masterful, and outstanding series of adaptations with Jeremy Brett as the legendary Sherlock Holmes, and Edward Hardwicke as his loyal, capable best friend John Watson M.D.

Though not as fresh as either "Adventures" and "Return", this was still an improvement over "Casebook", since there were no more short stories expanded into feature length, but the normal adaptations, which were highly entertaining. The last we see of this Holmes & Watson is at the end of 'The Cardboard Box', where they ponder the nature of crime and humanity in a mysterious universe.

A perfect coda for them, yet I dearly wish Brett had lived to finish the canon! Still, I'm grateful he gave us what he did, which will be enjoyed forever.

Following on from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Return of Sherlock Holmes and the Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes continues to solve crimes in his own inimitable fashion. He is ably assisted by his friend Dr Watson and/or his brother Mycroft.

The fourth and final Sherlock Holmes series to star Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes. The first series, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, was brilliant. Quite easily the definitive adaption of the novels as it replicated the Victorian England setting and atmosphere so perfectly. The plots were solid and character engagement was good. The engagement levels were aided by the fantastic performances of Jeremy Brett.

The second series, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, was also great but not quite as good as the first series. Most of the ingredients were still there but it didn't quite have the darkness, grittiness, tension and engagement levels of The Adventures Of so brilliant. It just felt less polished.

The third series, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, started very well and seemed a worthy follow-up to those two excellent series. However, from a point the episodes got weaker and weaker, as if all the best stories had been taken and the producers were happy to adapt any Sherlock Holmes story into an episode. Some very odd plots, culminating in the final episode which was pure style over substance.

This, the fourth series, sees a return to the form close to that of The Return of Sherlock Holmes with some great mysteries. Not consistently great but the better episodes make you wonder why the writers appeared to be scraping the barrel in the third series when there were still some good Sir Arthur Conan Doyle novels available.

All through this series Jeremy Brett was in ill-health - he died 18 months after this series was release. His infirmity is sometimes apparent in his appearance. He courageously continued filming the show despite his condition and, though he clearly isn't 100%, his performances are still very good and one of the things that make the show so great.

Ultimately, not as good as The Adventures Of or Return Of but still very good and an improvement on The Case-Book Of.

Thank goodness for the wonderful folks at Granada Television. In the mid 1980s, they created the absolute best Sherlock Holmes ever to make it to the big or small screen. Unlike all the previous versions, which LIBERALLY deviated from the Conan Doyle stories, the Granada films tried to be perfect in every detail.

Unlike the caricature of Holmes that you see in previous films where he wears a deerstalker hat, smokes a curved pipe and spouts "elementary, my dear Watson", this Holmes is true to the original character. Additionally, Dr. Watson is not the bumbling idiot as portrayed by Nigel Bruce (Bruce should burn in Hell for how he ruined this character).

All four Granada Television series were exceptional and up to the same great standards. However, unfortunately, this would be the last as Jeremy Brett died from a heart attack after only about 2/3 of the original stories could be filmed. What a shame.

Intelligently written and wonderful throughout. You can't do much better than these shows.