HerlockSholmes

If I had to pick an actor to play Holmes after Brett it would have been Jonathan Hyde. He played Culverton Smith in The Dying Detective. I've always thought that he'd have made a great Rathbonian Holmes.

Hi all, good suggestionfor a thread by the way. For me the Granada series is miles ahead of everything that's ever been done Holmes-wise. Brett's is the finest Holmes. Burke and Hardwick are both superb Watsons. Rosalie Williams as Mrs Hudson was perfect as was Colin Jeavons as Lestrade. Finally, for me Charles Grey was brilliant as Mycroft and Eric Porter made a truly chilling Moriarty. If I discount the Grenada series I'd go for Holmes - Rathbone (brilliant as the calculating machine detective.) Watson - Andre Morell (a sensitive performance in Hammer Horrors Hound Of The Baskervilles) Mrs Hudson - Irene Handl (a great, slightly comic performance in The Private Life Of SH) Mycroft - Charles Grey ( yes he was in the Grenada series but I can cheat

After he'd given up playing Holmes on film and on radio Rathbone was persuaded to play Holmes on t.v. one more time (after he'd appeared in an unsuccessful Holmes stage play written by his wife Ouida). It was called The Adventure Of The Black Baronet and it was aired in 1953. Nigel Bruce wasn't in it due to ill health (he died in October of that year). An actor called Martin Green played Watson. The story was written by Conan Doyle's son, Adrian. By all accounts it wasn't anything to write home about and most felt that Rathbone was 'going through the motions.' It would have been great to see though. It hasn't survived. It's unlikely that it was even recorded at the time so it's not something that's going to show up (like the Gillette movie did a few years ago.) You can read the story though in a collection called The Exploits Of Sherlock Holmes; jointly written by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr ( Carr also wrote a biography of Doyle.) You can now get 4 of the Rathbone/Bruce movies colourised. I can't remember them all (I'm not near my collection at the moment) but one is Terror By Night. I think The Woman In Green is another. I prefer the black and white myself but it's interesting to see them in colour. I've been trying to find out if they will colourise the rest but no luck so far.

Hi all, Bit late posting but I've only just joined. Another reference is the use of Sherrinford as the name of the prison island. Doyle was initially going to call Holmes and Watson 'Sherrinford Holmes and Ormand Sacker.' Thank god he changed his mind.

Hi, I've been interested in The Whitechapel Murders for around 30 years, I post on the Casebook site and the JTR Forum and have nearly 300 books on the subject. Fairly recently there was a book published called The Strange Case Of Dr Doyle: A Journey Into Madness, in which the author proposes Doyle as the Ripper! It's possibly the worst book on the subject ever written (worse than the ones proposing Lewis Carroll or Toulouse L'Autrec!) Doyle was interested in true crime and was a member of The Crimes Club but he definately wasn't the Ripper. Surprise, surprise!

Hi all, The Livanov/Solomon Holmes series was very good, spoilt slightly by poor subtitles. Livanov was Margaret Thatchers favourite Holmes! It's not lucky to play Watson in a Russian tv series though. Vitaly Solomin died of a stroke in 2002 (Livanov is still alive and in his 80's) and Andrew Panin, who I thought stole the show in the newer series, was found dead on the floor of his apartment in Moscow in 2013 with an unexplained head wound! I don't know whether they will do another series with a different actor. I don't know how popular the series was in Russia?

Hi all, I apologise if I'm telling you something that you already know but there's a little known gem on YouTube. It was recorded for the 1992 Telethon and it's called The Four Oaks Mystery. It was a short crime drama in 4 parts, each one starring a famous fictional detective. The first one stars Jeremy Brett as Holmes and Edward Hardwick as Watson. It's only around 15 minutes long but worth seeing. If you haven't seen it before it's almost like Brett's been brought back to life to play Holmes again!

Hi all. I just joined today. I've been a Sherlock Holmes fan for over 30 years. I collect books on Doyle/Holmes and I'm also on a quest (cash permitting) to get all the movies/tv series on DVD and radio shows on cd so I have a fair size collection which even includes silent movies. As a bit of a traditionalist I was wary when Sherlock came out but I loved it immediately and still do. I hope that they get around to doing more but I know that Mark Gatiss and Stephen Moffatt are working on a version of Dracula( though I'm unsure if it's set in modern times like Sherlock) at the moment. I'd say that Cumberbatch is my 3rd favourite Holmes (it changes.) It currently goes: 1. Brett - absolutely perfect/unbeatable. 2. Rathbone - 3. Cumberbatch - a high placing for a traditionalist like myself. 4. Cushing 5. Wilmer 6. Wontner Favourite movies are the Rathbone/Bruce Hound Of The Baskervilles and Mark Gatiss' favourite The Private Life Of Sherlock Holmes. I recently visited Southsea to see a Holmes/Doyle collection and to see the blue plaque on the site where Doyle set up his praction. Yup I'm a bit of a Holmes/Doyle nerd! Maybe a bit old to be considered a nerd?! That's about all. Thanks.