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| Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes |
The Granada
adaptation is popular all over the world for its authentic portrayal of the
Sherlock Holmes Canon.
Jeremy Brett is a good physical match for the role. Brett’s Holmes does
chase the dragon and due credit has to be given to the series makers for making
the decision to show Holmes as he is without any sugar-coating. Brett also
maintained a 77-page file on Sherlock Holmes, detailing the mannerisms and
habits of the detective. Brett’s dedication to the role is legendary and is the
subject of an excellent book by David Stuart Davies.
The Granada adaptation scores a home run with Dr Watson as
well. Both David Burke and Edward Hardwicke play Watson as the kind of
competent doctor and ally, Sir Doyle had described in the canon. This is
another proof of the series maker’s dedication and respect to the canon. Burke
remains my favorite for the simple reason that he is more of the age of the
canonical Dr Watson. Hardwicke is also good as Watson, but I always imagined Dr
Watson as being considerably younger, especially after being spoilt by Burke and Vitaly Solomin (Russian adaptation).
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| Brett and Burke as Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson |
Brett shares excellent on-screen
chemistry with both Burke and Hardwicke.
One of my favorite characters is Mycroft Holmes, the elder brother of Sherlock. To quote Sherlock, “He is the British Government”. Mycroft is the superior to Sherlock not only in age, but in the powers of observation and deduction. Charles Gray is pitch perfect as Mycroft not only in terms of physical appearance but in his body language as well.
Click on the link below to buy your copy:
Mycroft is one of the founding members of Diogenes Club, home to some of the most unsociable and misanthropic men and even speaking is banned in certain areas inside the club. The scene in the The Greek Interpreter episode where Burke’s Watson silently walks through the Diogenes Club, observing the unsociable inhabitants is an instant classic.
One of my favorite characters is Mycroft Holmes, the elder brother of Sherlock. To quote Sherlock, “He is the British Government”. Mycroft is the superior to Sherlock not only in age, but in the powers of observation and deduction. Charles Gray is pitch perfect as Mycroft not only in terms of physical appearance but in his body language as well.
Click on the link below to buy your copy:
Mycroft is one of the founding members of Diogenes Club, home to some of the most unsociable and misanthropic men and even speaking is banned in certain areas inside the club. The scene in the The Greek Interpreter episode where Burke’s Watson silently walks through the Diogenes Club, observing the unsociable inhabitants is an instant classic.
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| The famous lodgings at 221 B Baker Street |
In addition to the Diogenes Club, the
props and sets in the other episodes also are painstakingly done recreations of
their Victorian-era counterparts. As an icing on the cake, few of the episodes
even have the original Sidney Paget drawings shown during the end credits.
The music by Patrick Gowers is an asset to the series and complements the mood nicely.
As an avid fan of Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories, I have seen various adaptations of the world's premier fictional detective. The Granada adaptation is one of the best adaptations with its loyalty to the canonical stories, the sets and costumes.
Unfortunately, Brett suffered from bipolar disorder and this greatly affected his performance in the later seasons. Some of the scripts (especially the feature-length episodes) lacked in quality.
Still the first two seasons are a recommended watch for fans of the Sherlock Holmes Canon.
Click here to read all my posts about the Granada adaptation.
If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by clicking here.
Image Source: Bending the Willow: Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes by David Stuart Davies
You might also like:
The music by Patrick Gowers is an asset to the series and complements the mood nicely.
As an avid fan of Arthur Conan Doyle's original stories, I have seen various adaptations of the world's premier fictional detective. The Granada adaptation is one of the best adaptations with its loyalty to the canonical stories, the sets and costumes.
Unfortunately, Brett suffered from bipolar disorder and this greatly affected his performance in the later seasons. Some of the scripts (especially the feature-length episodes) lacked in quality.
Still the first two seasons are a recommended watch for fans of the Sherlock Holmes Canon.
Click here to read all my posts about the Granada adaptation.
If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe to this blog by clicking here.
Image Source: Bending the Willow: Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes by David Stuart Davies
You might also like:
I agree with the fact that Granada was one of the few adaptations that depicted Holmes's cocaine habit. One of the things (among many others) that bothered me so much about the Case of the Silk Stocking, though, was that Holmes is shown smoking opium, which he detested in canonical stories if I remember correctly. It just struck me as very wrong for the characters somehow.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the choice of Guy Ritchie to make Holmes's drug of choice alcohol is equally bizarre, just not as jarring for some reason.
Alcohol is actually by far the more jarring & uncharacteristic drug.
DeleteCannonically, Holmes' main chemical partners aside from those produced in his own body in properly high doses when on a case are Morphine, Cocaine, & Nicotine, with an added less intense relationship with Caffeine.
Now Morphine is an abstract of Opium -- yes, it has q very different quality than the whole form of its source, & yes, Holmes clearly finds it more elegant & more elegantly suited to his own biochemistry, but he does take Opium from time to time, in relatively mild doses.
Alcohol, unlike any standard Opiate, Cocaine, or Nicotine, all of which enhance & guard from decay the sensory & mental processes & clairify the thought, is a toxic, brain-damaging drug, which would be very unlikely to suit Holmes' biochemistry as far as it is indicated to us from his drug choices & behaviour, or be tolerated by him in view of his primary addiction to Work -- to which any serious dalliance Alcohol would both in moments & after much time be detrimental.
Thanks Philoreia for stopping by and the comment.
DeleteB2B.
Thanks Rick for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed the first couple of seasons of this series, but I really started to dislike it the longer it went on. It started deviating a lot from the source material, Brett put on an enormous amount of weight and his voice changed (it became hard to understand him, and he no longer "looked" the part), and it got "smutted up" in a few instances. Sitting through "The Last Vampyre," or whatever that abysmal episode was called, was one of the worst two hours of my life. I wish they had done better, or ended before Brett got sick.
ReplyDeleteSame here. I too enjoyed the first season. Unfortunately, it went downhill from there.
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