Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective, easily 1 of the top 5 literary characters known throughout the world. (Doyle’s works and the highly entertaining Granada Jeremy Brett tv series have been translated in to many languages.)
There is lots to admire about this character, but for me in a nutshell, it is his astute intelligence and quirkiness which draws me back to the series and stories, periodically. How ironic that Doyle hated him and tried to kill him off, and is not what he wanted to be remembered for in his writing!
Unfortunately, Brett died of cancer before the series could do all the stories, but the most popular and canonized ones are available on DVD in the boxset.
Brett, of course, is simply outstanding–the definitive Holmes, and Edward Hardwicke is the most well-rounded, hugely likable, sympathetic Dr. Watson of all time. Their interplay is a wonder and delight to behold.
The high level of British tv production is evident throughout the scripts, the adaptations, the British acting across the board, the sets, the music, the pacing, and cinematography. Would that it was available in HD!
An unexpected treat is DK Publishing’s The Sherlock Holmes Book which highlights every story and deep-backgrounds the reader on many contexts and tangential references and sources. It is a must for the true aficionado.
As is the complete footnoted, illustrated stories and novels originally available in W.W. Norton’s 2005 3 dust-jacketed hardcovers slipcased.
Holmes’s and Watson’s heads on an English lit. bookcase bedroom wall.
The famous1893 Sidney Paget illustration of Holmes and Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls in “The Final Problem” now on my study wall.
A good documentary on the Holmes phenomenon.
I never grow tired of re-watching many episodes and always see subtleties and nuances I missed and can belatedly savour. This is a fun, rich, imaginative world to escape to in a time of massive limitations, stultifying restrictions, needless suffering and death. A huge refresher for the mind and soul. Grand viewing.