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Jeremy Brett


Alice Holmes

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I was just wondering if anyone has ever seen the Jeremy Brett TV show of Sherlock Holmes. I watched this long before I had even heard of the BBC Sherlock, and I wanted to know if there were other viewers out there, and what they think of it. :)

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I Used to watch him, and still do when I catch a repeat. Up until I saw Cumberbatch Jeremy Brett was The definitive Sherlock Holmes for me (TV wise anyway)

 

:sherlock:

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I think I've seen the odd episode, since some channel or another seem to have the show in constant repeat loop... But I haven't watched enough to get a feel for his version of Sherlock...

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I enjoyed most of the shows throughout his tenure. One particularly bad one which focuses on Mycroft as the hero stands out like a sore thumb though and spoils what is a masterfully carried Sherlock by Brett.

 

-m0r

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I've been watching my way through Granada Holmes for the past month or so. It is brilliant! Jeremy Brett looks and feels like a Sherlock Holmes that is right out of the pages of Arthur Conan Doyle's books.

 

The show is almost word for word as the novels are written, which I like a lot. But there are a few changes, which actually are better then the books i some ways I think.

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I have trouble watching the final few where Jeremy is so very, very ill. m0r1arty, the episode you mean is "The Marzarin Stone" and is an example of what I'm talking about. Jeremy was only well enough for a cameo in that one. It's the next to last episode of the series.

 

If you're interested in the making of the series, there are a couple of great books: The Television Sherlock Holmes by Peter Haining which is pretty cheap if you get a used copy. It has information on Holmes in general as well as the Granada series. It also contains a copy of the famous "Baker Street File." The foreword is written by Jeremy Brett. There is also, of course, Bending the Willow - Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes by David Stuart Davies. Until this past month it was only available in out-of-print copies and it was frightfully dear. You were lucky to find a used copy for 125 pounds. I lucked up and found a pristine hardcover for about half that and guard it with my life. It's one of the centerpieces of my Sherlockian collection. But the book has been released for Kindle now at affordable prices. It's beautiful and tragic.

 

Yeah - can you tell I've spent way too much time and money on that series and Holmes in general? I don't regret a single bit of it.

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That's awesome that people watch this show! In my opinion, Brett was the definitive Victorian Sherlock, and Cumberbatch is the definitive modern Sherlock. I don't think either could play the other.

 

By the way I do not know why my symbols are turning into codes. Something must be going on with my phone or the site.

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I do have a preference for Edward Hardwicke as Watson as opposed to David Burke... I don't quite know why...

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David Burke and Edward Hardwicke were both great Watsons, the two greatest ever along with Martin Freeman, but I prefer Burke. I think it's the boyish charm for me. I will admit that a bad Watson can completely spoil a Sherlock Holmes adaptation. It's why I can't watch the Basil Rathbone movies. The minute Nigel Bruce's Watson appears, I want to throw something at the screen. Jude Law is an excellent Watson as well, and looks almost exactly like the Paget drawings.

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The funny thing is I wasn't convinced of Martin Freeman until I saw his first scene with Benedict Cumberbatch. It was then that I was utterly convinced.

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Misters Cumberbatch and Freeman make a perfectly believable, wonderful Holmes and Watson. Doyle would be pleased - well, as much as he could be, considering how much he hated Holmes.

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That's awesome that people watch this show! In my opinion, Brett was the definitive Victorian Sherlock, and Cumberbatch is the definitive modern Sherlock. I don't think either could play the other.

 

This is it exactly! :) I can't see either of them fitting into the opposite era. They just fit where they are.

 

The same goes for the Watson's. I think that the Burke/Hardwicke Watson is exactly what I imagined Watson to be. I really enjoy Hardwicke's on-screen chemistry with Jeremy Brett. I think it's friendly and very real feeling.

 

I haven't yet seen the Rathbone version, but I hate the idea of a fumbling dumb Watson. It so doesn't fit what Doyle wrote.

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Exactly. A lot of times, I think, movie/TV show creators underestimate Watson when he's compared to Sherlock. That's why I love Watson in the modern Sherlock--he's not as smart as Sherlock, obviously, but he isn't stupid and has a good sense of humour, like Watson in the original series.

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Exactly. A lot of times, I think, movie/TV show creators underestimate Watson when he's compared to Sherlock. That's why I love Watson in the modern Sherlock--he's not as smart as Sherlock, obviously, but he isn't stupid and has a good sense of humour, like Watson in the original series.

 

Exactly! :applause:

 

I think that if your production has a really strongly scripted and acted Holmes then there is no need to dumb down Watson to make Holmes appear cleverer. Watson is a medical Doctor, and attaining such a level of education, even in the Victorian age was no mean feat!

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THANK YOU!!!! Aww see, I knew we were all smart here... :)

 

Of course we are, awesomely intelligent with impeccable taste in entertainment! :lol4:

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  • 1 month later...

David Burke and Edward Hardwicke were both great Watsons, the two greatest ever along with Martin Freeman, but I prefer Burke. I think it's the boyish charm for me. I will admit that a bad Watson can completely spoil a Sherlock Holmes adaptation. It's why I can't watch the Basil Rathbone movies. The minute Nigel Bruce's Watson appears, I want to throw something at the screen. Jude Law is an excellent Watson as well, and looks almost exactly like the Paget drawings.

 

I always preferred Edward Hardwicke to David Burke in the Granada series, because I thought the chemistry between him and Brett were slightly better..but I agree..they were both great.

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You are right...David Burke seemed to lack something. But to be perfectly honest, I did not particularly like either. I felt that they did not match the descriptions given by Doyle.

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  • 3 months later...

Jeremy Brett was arguably the best Sherlock Holmes; he certainly was for my generation. I read he was a student of the cannon, and it showed in his performance. He really played the part perfectly.

 

Still to this day when someone uses the full name "Sherlock Holmes" I find that it is Jeremy Brett's Holmes that springs to mind, when someone says "Sherlock" however, that is a different kettle of fish entirely. :sherlock2:

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Oh, yeah! I remember thinking, after I watched Brett's Holmes, "Well, nobody needs to bother doing that again!"

 

Until 2010, that is!

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I am a Jeremy fan. I have a yen for Victorian era things, so that series really resonates for me. The wholeseries appeals to me. I have not seen all of them, in particular I seem top have missed the last episodes that have been discussed here, with an ill Jeremy Brett. As I understand it the actor had a heart problem that took his life.

 

The Robert Downey Jr. movie series I like a lot. Except the part where he throws Donna off the train. ;)

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