“I have been expecting you to do something original.”

A Game Of Shadows DVD Date!

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is due for DVD release on 14 May 2012.  The DVD Extras consist of The Original Dynamic Duo, The Moriarty Gambit and Holmesavision Steroids. The Triple Play pack which covers Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy includes the aforementioned extras plus a host of other ones. 

 New BBC Sherlock  DVD.

The BBC Sherlock Series 2 was released on DVD and Blu-ray disc on 23 January 2012.  Extras (on both format) consist of a documentary called Sherlock uncovered (this is a behind the scenes look at the making of the series) and an audio commentary. Also available is a Box Set which contains the latest series and the first one. Websites such as www.find-dvd.co.uk/ can search out the best deals for you.

Focus On Deduction.

Benedict Cumberbatch has his finger on the cover of the current Focus, the BBC’s science/technology & future magazine.  Its February issue (no.238, £3.95) is running a 10-page feature on the Science of Deduction which is tied-in with the Sherlock series. Hurry, for it may be off shelf before you read this! www.sciencefocus.com

Classics Study.

Perhaps it’s the simplicity of the more traditional cartoon strip format or it could be the delightful absence of padding, but whatever the reason, Classics Illustrated makes a nice contrast to the more modern graphic novels. The latest issue (no.37, £3.99) is A Study in Scarlet edition and also includes The Adventure of the Speckled Band. Stockists include WH Smith and Easons. You’ll usually find this monthly magazine in their Comics section. Again, hurry before it sells out! www.classicsillustrated.co.uk

 

 

 

Alex Kane’s Viewer & Listener Guide:

February 4 – 10, 2012

“I have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all laid before you.”

 It’s actually a pretty good weekend to be snowed in, as TCM are showing back-to-back Rathbone—seven out of the fourteen, in fact. And there’s also an opportunity to see the first ever episode of Inspector Morse. A chance, too, to see Eric Porter as Moriarty and compare him with Jared Harris and Andrew Scott. All in all, not a bad week!

SATURDAY 4

Sherlock Holmes: The Eligible Bachelor (ITV3 on Freeview10 and Freesat115 also Sky119/Virgin117 at 10.30am) First shown on February 3, 1993, this is another one of the two-hour specials: and it outstays its welcome, by adding elements which just don’t make sense.

Simon Williams—playing Lord St Simon—has adapted the Hound for the theatre, albeit as “a comedy melodrama, where an ancient curse returns to terrify the Baskerville family.” I can’t actually recall many laughs in the original story! Anna Calder-Marshall—playing Helena/Agnes Northcote—is the wife of David Burke, the first to play Watson to Brett’s Holmes. Mary Ellis—playing Lady Florence—was born before “The Adventure of the Empty House” was published: she also appeared as Mary Maberley in Granada’s “The Three Gables” in March 1994. It was to be her final performance.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1939 (TCM on Sky 317/Virgin 415 at 12 noon and 5.55am Sunday) One of the all-time greats and I also score it over the Rathbone/Bruce Hound of the Baskervilles made a few months earlier. 20^th Century-Fox had been happy to invest heavily and the production standards were very high. Rathbone and Bruce were also settling nicely into their roles—although I still have concerns about how Watson was portrayed!

George Zucco was an excellent Moriarty: “Holmes…I’m going to break you. I’m going to bring off right under your nose the most incredible crime of the century, and you’ll never suspect it until it’s too late. It’ll be the end of you, Sherlock Holmes.” To his credit, he made Holmes work for his money in this one!

Even though the film did well at the box-office, the company got cold feet and decided that Holmes was too old-fashioned and out-of-place for a world which had gone to war again. Universal Pictures stepped in, picked up the rights, updated Holmes and had him fighting the Third Reich in Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror in 1942.

Dressed to Kill, 1946 (Sky 317/Virgin 415 at 1.35pm) The last of the Rathbone/Bruce series this one is, frankly, bizarre. Best advice is to suspend your critical faculties and enjoy the inter-play between Holmes and Watson. Shortly after the film was released Rathbone decided not to renew either his film or radio contracts to play Holmes, hoping that he could escape from the character and do ‘other, better work.” Too late: for that generation he was Sherlock Holmes.

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (Sky317/Virgin415 at 3.00pm)  The third Holmes vehicle in 1943, this is one of my favourites in the Rathbone/Bruce series. I was getting a little tired of the in-your-face anti-Nazi propaganda of the previous three, so it was nice to see a return to more old-fashioned detection—albeit set in a nursing home for  convalescent officers. It’s also got a really strong Holmesian storyline—borrowing heavily from The Musgrave Ritual— and an excellent screenplay from Bertram Millhauser.

I also love the closing lines from Holmes: “There’s a new spirit abroad in the land. The old days of grab and greed are on their way out. We’re beginning to think of what we owe the other fellow, not just what we’re compelled to give him. The time is coming, Watson, when we cannot fill our bellies in comfort while the other fellow goes hungry, or sleep in warm beds while others shiver in the cold. And we shan’t be able to kneel and thank God for blessings before our shining altars while men anywhere are kneeling in either physical or spiritual subjection. And, God willing, we’ll live to see that day, Watson.”

The Woman in Green, 1945 (Sky 317/Virgin 415 at 4.15pm) This was the 11^th of the 14 Rathbone/Bruce series and is clearly not one of the best. Moriarty—already killed off in two other films—was back, this time played by Henry Daniell (Rathbone’s favourite Moriarty, by the way). And after the success of Gale Sondergaard as Spider Woman the previous year, we have the lovely Hillary Brooke as Lydia Marlowe, the Woman in Green.

It’s a terribly convoluted plot centred on what are supposedly “the most atrocious murders since Jack the Ripper.” But it’s worth watching for the confrontation between Holmes and Moriarty: “We’ve had many encounters in the past. You hope to place me on the gallows. I tell you I will never stand upon the gallows. But, if you are instrumental in any way in bringing about my destruction, you will not be alive to enjoy your encounter.”

Terror By Night (Sky317/Virgin415 at 5.30pm) released in February 1946 this was the second last of the Rathbone/Bruce series. It’s all a bit stagey—hard to avoid when set on a train—but at least it’s Holmes the detective rather than Holmes the Nazi fighter. Good performance from Alan Mowbray as a disguised Colonel Moran, “the most sinister, ruthless and diabolically clever henchman of our late and unlamented friend, Professor Moriarty.” Mowbray had also played Inspector Gore-King in “Sherlock Holmes” (1932, with Clive Brooke as Holmes) and  Inspector Lestrade in “A Study in Scarlet” (1933, with Reginald Owen as Holmes.

Pursuit to Algiers, 1945 (Sky317/Virgin415 at 6.35pm) There is actually no mystery and no detection involved. As one critic noted at the time: “Pursuit to Algiers does nothing but keep the Sherlock Holmes franchise for Universal and lessen its value.” There isn’t even a half decent baddie to keep us occupied.

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror, 1942 (Sky317/Virgin415 at 7.45pm) Almost three years after 20^th Century-Fox had decided not to continue the Rathbone/Bruce series, Universal Pictures picked up the option and pitted our heroes against the Nazis. The plot has a number of interesting twists, not least that one of the supposed good guys turns out to be von Bork. Ok, it’s enjoyable, if undemanding stuff, but Bruce still grates as Watson—particularly in this sort of war time setting. I’ve never been convinced that the WW2 films played any significant role in propaganda terms. Indeed, it’s hard to disagree with film critic Howard Barnes’ view: “As a sort of intelligence officer in the present conflict, the detective is bizarre and ineffective.” But audiences seemed to like it.

SUNDAY 5

Dressed to Kill, 1946 (Sky 317/Virgin 415 at 7.30am) SEE SATURDAY

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (Sky317/Virgin415 at 8.50am)  SEE SATURDAY

The Woman in Green, 1945 (Sky 317/Virgin 415 at 10.05am) SEE SATURDAY

Terror By Night (Sky317/Virgin415 at 11.20am) SEE SATURDAY

Pursuit to Algiers (Sky317/Virgin415 at 12.30pm) SEE SATURDAY

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (Sky317/Virgin415 at 1.45pm and 5.35 am Sunday) SEE SATURDAY

MONDAY 6

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sky119/Virgin117 at 7.55am)

Episode 4, Second Series—The Resident Patient (September 15, 1985) Nicholas Clay, who plays Dr. Trevelyan, had played Stapleton in “The Hound of the Baskervilles” in 1983, with Ian Richardson as Holmes. Patrick Newell, who plays Blessington, appeared in “A Study In Terror (1965), “Young Sherlock Holmes” (1985) and also played Lestrade in a 1980 Holmes series for Polish television. Sadly, though, this is just a so-so adaptation of what is, admittedly, not one of Doyle’s best stories.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sky119/Virgin117 at 4.00pm)

Series 2, Episode 5—The Red-Headed League (September 22, 1985) There are lots of reasons to like this episode, not the least being Roger Hammond’s performance as Jabez Wilson. He gets it just right: a wonderful combination of chubby pomposity and utter bafflement, playing wonderfully well against Brett at his mischievous best. And great to see the magisterial Eric Porter in his first outing as Moriarty. You all know, of course, that Moriarty wasn’t in the original story, but John Hawkesworth (who dramatised this episode) was just setting us up for the next episode of the original run—The Final Problem.

TUESDAY 7

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.00am)

Series 2, Episode 5—The Red-Headed League (September 22, 1985) SEE MONDAY

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sky119/Virgin117 at 4.00pm)

Series 2, Episode 6—The Final Problem (September 29, 1985) This was to be David Burke’s last outing as Watson, so it’s worth remembering that he left very large shoes for Edward Hardwicke to fill. More great work from Eric Porter—probably my favourite Moriarty—and a stunningly filmed climax.

The ‘Crew’ watched this episode at our last sailing and we all enjoyed it enormously. I hadn’t watched it for about five years, but I still thought Porter’s Moriarty was more convincing than Jared Harris (A Game of Shadows) or Andrew Scott (The Reichenbach Fall).

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (Sky317/Virgin415 at 7.45pm) SEE SATURDAY

WEDNESDAY 8

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (Sky317/Virgin415 at 6.30am) SEE SATURDAY

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.00am)

Series 2, Episode 6—The Final Problem (September 29, 1985) SEE TUESDAY

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (Sky119/Virgin117 at 4.00pm)

Series 3, Episode 1—The Empty House (July 9, 1986) And a very warm welcome to Edward Hardwicke as Watson (His father, Sir Cedric, can be heard as Holmes on Saturday 19—see above). Personally I thought that Brett’s disguise as the old bookseller was pretty hammy, but at least we didn’t have to put up with it for too long. Patrick Allen—who was one of British television’s best known actors and voice-overs—is superb as Colonel Moran.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Sky 119/Virgin 117 at 7.55pm)

Episode 3, First Series—The Naval Treaty (May 8^th, 1984)

I think that the episodes dramatised by Jeremy Paul are amongst the best: and this is one of my favourites. Paul went on to write The Secret of Sherlock Holmes for Brett and Hardwicke in 1988, which had a very successful run in the West End.

NB: This episode will only be shown if ITV1 shows an FA Cup fourth-round replay. So check schedules on the day.

THURSDAY 9

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.00am)

Series 3, Episode 1—The Empty House (July 9, 1986) SEE WEDNESDAY

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (Sky119/Virgin117 at 4.00pm)

Series 3, Episode 2—The Priory School (July 16, 1986) Nicholas Gecks, who plays James Wilder, went on to play Inspector Lestrade in ‘Sherlock: Case of Evil’ (2002), a made-for-TV film which doesn’t often see the light of day. Thankfully! He also had a small part in  ‘Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady’ (1991), with Christopher Lee as Holmes: which is similarly bad. Overall, one of the weaker entries in the Granada series.

Paul Temple and Steve (Radio 4 at 11.00pm)

Episode 3 of 8: Presenting Ed Bellamy

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Temple mysteries, particularly the series that still turns up on Radio 4 Extra at regular intervals. This is a new production—first broadcast in June 2010—of the 1947 detective serial and sounds pretty good; with Crawford Logan making an excellent Temple and Gerda Stevenson splendid as his wife, Steve.  The producer, Patrick Rayner, was one of the key people behind the Merrison/Williams Sherlock Holmes complete canon for Radio 4.

FRIDAY 10

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (Sky119/Virgin117 at 7.55am)

Series 3, Episode 2—The Priory School (July 16, 1986) SEE THURSDAY

Inspector Morse (Sky119/Virgin117 at 10.15)

Episode 1—The Dead of Jericho (January 6, 1987) It’s hard to believe that it is twenty-five years since the first of this hugely successful series was broadcast—on Sherlock Holmes’ birthday, no less! John Thaw (playing Jonathan Small) appeared with Jeremy Brett in  The Sign of Four in December 1987; and Kevin Whately (playing Jim Browner) appeared with Clive Merrison in Radio 4’s The Cardboard Box in January 1994.

The Return of Sherlock Holmes (Sky119/Virgin117 at 3.50pm)

Series 3, Episode 4—The Second Stain (July 23, 1986) Two lovely performances from the very distinguished Harry Andrews (Lord Bellinger) and Patricia Hodge (Lady Hope) add much needed gravitas to what has always struck me as a fairly lightweight plot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Kane’s Viewer & Listener Guide:

January 28 – February 3, 2012.

“The matter is a perfectly trivial one but there are points in connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and even of instruction.”

SATURDAY 28

Murdock Mysteries (Watch on Sky109/Virgin124 at 8.00pm)

Elementary, My Dear Murdock (February 10, 2008)—The Murdock Mysteries (based on the novels by Maureen Jennings) stars Yannick Bisson as a detective in 1890s Toronto. The series occasionally features real people from the late Victorian era. In this episode Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Geraint Wyn Davies), who is in Toronto to make a speech on spiritualism, invites Detective Murdoch to a séance hosted by Miss Sarah Pensall where they are told of the location of the body of Miss Iris Winston. Detective Murdoch, despite his disbelief in communication with the dead, goes with Sir Arthur go to the location and finds Miss Winston murdered. It’s enjoyable, albeit pretty unconvincing stuff.

Davies was to play Doyle again a few episodes later (Belly Speaker—March 16, 2008). This one features a ventriloquist with a puppet called Mycroft!

SUNDAY 29

Murdock Mysteries (Watch on Sky109/Virgin124 at 11.45am) SEE SATURDAY

Fairy Tale: A True Story (Channel 5 at 4.05pm) Fairly loosely based on the downright peculiar story of the Cottingley Fairies—one of the most infamous hoaxes of the last century—this is actually a likeable enough little film. Peter O’Toole is good as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, as is Harvey Keitel as Houdini. But the real strength of the film lies in the performances of Florence Hoath and Elizabeth Earl as Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths. Looking at it almost a century after the events (the film was made in 1997) it’s hard to believe that anyone with a rational mind could ever have believed the story to be true. But it was a time of awful bloodshed and sadness, a time when even rational people wanted to believe in something magical.

Frances’ daughter, Christine Lynch, lives in Belfast. In 2009 she published the first edition of her mother’s memoirs under the title Reflections on the Cottingley Fairies. She still believes—as did her mother—that the fairies in the fifth photograph were genuine!

Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (TCM on Sky317/Virgin415 at 4.40pm) The third Holmes vehicle in 1943, this is one of my favourites in the Rathbone/Bruce series. I was getting a little tired of the in-your-face anti-Nazi propaganda of the previous three, so it was nice to see a return to more old-fashioned detection—albeit set in a nursing home for  convalescent officers. It’s also got a really strong Holmesian storyline—borrowing heavily from The Musgrave Ritual— and an excellent screenplay from Bertram Millhauser.

I also love the closing lines from Holmes: “There’s a new spirit abroad in the land. The old days of grab and greed are on their way out. We’re beginning to think of what we owe the other fellow, not just what we’re compelled to give him. The time is coming, Watson, when we cannot fill our bellies in comfort while the other fellow goes hungry, or sleep in warm beds while others shiver in the cold. And we shan’t be able to kneel and thank God for blessings before our shining altars while men anywhere are kneeling in either physical or spiritual subjection. And, God willing, we’ll live to see that day, Watson.”

 MONDAY 30

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Freeview10 also Freesat115 and Sky 119/Virgin 117 at 8.00am)

Episode 6, First Series—The Speckled Band (May 29, 1984) Another excellent dramatization from Jeremy Paul, with Jeremy Kemp in terrific form as Roylott. It’s a very easy role to turn into a sort of pantomime villain, but Kemp manages to make him a more rounded character than we know just from the short story. Rosalyn Landor, who plays Helen Stoner, is now a multi award winning narrator of audio books in America.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky 119/Virgin 117 at 4.05pm)

Episode 7, First Series—The Blue Carbuncle (June 5^th, 1984) Does this episode ever get show at Christmas time?! An excellent adaptation of what is one of my favourite stories. There are three great strengths to this one: 1) Brett’s delivery of the line about the goose coming back to life; 2) Ken Campbell’s perfect portrayal of James Ryder; and 3) and the always value-for-money Frank Middlemass as Henry Baker. This is just fun to watch and a reminder that a great part of the success of the Granada series lay in the strength of the casting of key roles.

Hercule Poirot—Mrs McGinty’s Dead (Radio4 Extra on DAB also Freeview708/Freesat708 and Sky0131/Virgin910 at 6am, 1pm, 8pm and 1am: Monday-Friday)

Other than David Suchet—who also manages to look the part—John Moffatt is my favourite Poirot. This is a very tight adaptation of the Christie novel. I don’t know of any other actor who has played Holmes, Watson and Poirot—but I’m sure one of you will let me know otherwise at alexkane221b@hotmail.co.uk

TUESDAY 31

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV 3 on Sky 119/Virgin 117 at 8.00am)

Episode 7, First Series—The Blue Carbuncle (June 5^th, 1984) SEE MONDAY

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 4.00pm)

Episode 1, Second Series—The Copper Beeches (August 25, 1985) It’s hard to believe, but apart from an uncredited role in “The Charge of the Light Brigade” in 1968, when she was only five; and a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it turn in the 1984 television series “Oxford Blues,” this was Natasha Richardson’s first major role. And she is very good as Violet Hunter, one of my favourite characters from the Canon.

Great work, too, from the ever reliable Joss Ackland, as Jephro Rucastle. He had roles in “The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation As We Know It” (a rarely seen 1977 comedy with John Cleese as Holmes and Arthur Lowe as Watson) and Sherlock Holmes and the Incident at Victoria Falls ( a shouldn’t be seen 1991 film with Christopher Lee and Patrick Macnee as possibly the worst Holmes/Watson ever).

Who Shot Sherlock? (5USA on Freeview31/Freesat129 also Sky174/Virgin153 at 7.00pm) This is from series 5 of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. This remains a hugely successful series in America, although I gave up watching a few years ago. The lead character, Gil Grissom, (played by William Petersen) has Holmesian characteristics, as noted on Wiki.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.00am)

Episode 1, Second Series—The Copper Beeches (August 25, 1985) SEE TUESDAY

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 4.00pm and 1.00am)

Episode 2, Second Series—The Greek Interpreter (September 1, 1985) Charles Gray had been a very good Mycroft Holmes in the 1976 film “The Seven-Per-Cent Solution” (one of my favourite Holmes films), so it is always a pleasure to see him reprise the role in the Granada series.

My one major concern is with the screenplay, because I don’t think that Derek Marlowe has captured either the soul or sound of Holmes.

THURSDAY 2

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.00am)

Episode 2, Second Series—The Greek Interpreter (September 1, 1985) SEE WEDNESDAY

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 4.00pm)

Episode 3, Second Series—The Norwood Builder (September 8, 1985) Not one of the best of the Granada series, but a few nice touches along the way, including good work from Matthew Solon as McFarlane. It’s always good, too, to see Colin Jeavons back as Lestrade. I have mentioned before that Jeavons is one of the truly great character actors of British television and he was a superb Uriah Heep in the BBC’s 1966 adaptation of David Copperfield. He also played Professor Moriarty in the 1983 series The Baker Street Boys: The Adventure of the Winged Scarab—Part 2.

Paul Temple and Steve (BBC Radio 4 at 11.00pm)

Episode 2 of 8: 27a Berkeley House Place

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Temple mysteries, particularly the series that still turns up on Radio 4 Extra at regular intervals. This is a new production—first broadcast in June 2010—of the 1947 detective serial and sounds pretty good; with Crawford Logan making an excellent Temple and Gerda Stevenson splendid as his wife, Steve.  The producer, Patrick Rayner, was one of the key people behind the Merrison/Williams Sherlock Holmes complete canon for Radio 4.

FRIDAY 3

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.00am)

Episode 3, Second Series—The Norwood Builder (September 8, 1985) SEE THURSDAY

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 4.00pm)

Episode 4, Second Series—The Resident Patient (September 15, 1985) Nicholas Clay, who plays Dr. Trevelyan, had played Stapleton in “The Hound of the Baskervilles” in 1983, with Ian Richardson as Holmes. Patrick Newell, who plays Blessington, appeared in “A Study In Terror (1965), “Young Sherlock Holmes” (1985) and also played Lestrade in a 1980 Holmes series for Polish television. Sadly, though, this is just a so-so adaptation of what is, admittedly, not one of Doyle’s best stories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alex Kane’s Viewer & Listener Guide:

January 21-27, 2012.

“And there was nothing else?” Holmes asked. “Nothing of any importance.”

Not a vintage week for Holmes, with absolutely nothing new: never mind, there are quite a few old favourites along the way.

SATURDAY 21

Sherlock Holmes: The Last Vampyre (ITV3 on Freeview10 and Freesat115 also Sky119/Virgin117 at 10.35am)“The Sussex Vampire” has always struck me as one of the weaker stories in the Canon: there really isn’t all that much to get your teeth into in terms of plot and detecting! So stretching an already thin story into a two-hour special was always going to be a challenge. This dramatisation (first shown on January 27, 1993), although written by the usually reliable Jeremy Paul, doesn’t really rise to the challenge. Indeed, it quickly descends into the sort of hand-me-down gothic novel that Hammer might have tried to get away with two decades earlier.

Roy Marsden—better known for playing P.D. James’ Adam Dalgliesh—is absolutely wasted in the invented role of John Stockton. Marsden (with John Moffatt as Watson) was a pretty good Holmes in a series of Talking Tape Company dramatisations in the late 1980s.  There’s a good supporting cast, though, including Freddie Jones, Maurice Denham and Keith Barron.

Worth noting, perhaps, that as well as being a very good Holmes to Timothy West’s equally good Watson in “Sherlock Holmes vs Dracula”, John Moffatt also played Dr Watson to Dinsdale Landen’s Holmes in “Sherlock Holmes Case”, and to Roy Marsden’s Holmes in a series of 30-minute canonical dramatisations by Grant Eustace.

And Dinsdale Landen had earlier been Watson to Robert Powell’s Holmes in “A Study in Scarlet”…

Sherlock (BBC3 on Freeview7/Freesat106 also /Sky115/Virgin106 at 8.00pm) Series 2, Episode 3—The Reichenbach Fall (First shown January 15, 2012 on BBC1) I’ll be reviewing the entire series in Crow’s Nest later in the week—but no, I’m not a fan.

*The BBC is releasing Sherlock: Series Two on Monday 23^rd. It will have audio commentaries as well. Sherlock: Series One and Two will also be available as a combined boxed set. The official price for Series Two is £19.99, but this week’s Radio Times has it on offer for £12.99. I suspect it will be cheaper on Amazon or elsewhere, particularly if you are willing to wait a few months.

Sherlock Holmes Special (Sky Showcase on Sky303/Virgin403 at 10.50am, repeated at 2.05am Sunday 22nd) A short documentary on the making of the sequel to Sherlock Holmes (2009).

Sherlock Holmes, 2009 (Sky Showcase on Sky303/Virgin403 at 11.10am, repeated at 11.45pm) While Robert Downey Jnr gives us a Holmes we have never really seen before (and I won’t complain about that) I still think this film is let down by a lousy plot, gorgonzola script and an awful lot of hamming-it-up from a cast who should know better. Guy Ritchie doesn’t seem to have understood that Holmes is a ‘thinking machine’ first and foremost.

*I’ll be reviewing A Game of Shadows (along with the BBC’s Sherlock) in Crow’s Nest. I would welcome your feedback: alexkane221b@hotmail.co.uk

MONDAY 23

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.00am)

Season 1, Episode 1—A Scandal In Bohemia (April 24, 1984) I remember watching this episode for the first time and thinking “Wow! Brett is Sherlock Holmes.” I still prefer Hardwicke to David Burke, but this first series wouldn’t have worked without Burke’s understated and occasionally subtle interpretation of the character. Gayle Hunnicutt is an ideal Irene Adler. And let’s not forget the wonderful Rosalie Williams as Mrs Hudson—a great piece of casting and a great piece of acting.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 4.05pm)

Season 1, Episode 2—The Dancing Men (May 1, 1984) A very understated adaptation by Anthony Skene, with excellent work from Tenniel Evans as Hilton Cubitt and Betsy Brantley as his wife, Elsie.

Evans’ great uncle was Sir John Tenniel, who was one of Punch’s greatest cartoonists (as was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s uncle Richard) and illustrator of the original Alice In Wonderland: and his great-great aunt was Mary Ann Evans, better known as the great Victorian novelist George Eliot. She and Conan Doyle wrote stories for the Cornhill Magazine. She also wrote for Blackwood’s Magazine. Doyle had sent them a short story—The Haunted Grange at Goresthorpe—in the late 1870s, but it was rejected by them and remained in their vaults until 1942, when it transferred to the National Library of Scotland. It was finally published in March 2001 (by the Arthur Conan Doyle Society). Not a great work, perhaps, but it has characters who have overtones of Holmes and Watson.

TUESDAY 24

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.00am)

Season 1, Episode 2—The Dancing Men (May 1, 1984) SEE MONDAY

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky 119/Virgin 117 at 4.05pm)

Episode 3, First Series—The Naval Treaty (May 8^th, 1984)

I think that the episodes dramatised by Jeremy Paul are amongst the best: and this is one of my favourites. Paul went on to write The Secret of Sherlock Holmes for Brett and Hardwicke in 1988, which had a very successful run in the West End.

WEDNESDAY 25

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky 119/Virgin 117 at 8.00am and 12.55am)

Episode 3, First Series—The Naval Treaty (May 8^th, 1984) SEE TUESDAY

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky 119/Virgin 117 at 4.05pm)

Episode 4, First Series—The Solitary Cyclist (May 15^th, 1984) A nice little episode dramatised by the late Alan Plater. He was one of British TV’s most accomplished scriptwriters and adapters, with credits including Z Cars, Soft Softly: Taskforce and the Beiderbecke series.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.00pm)

Season 1, Episode 2—The Dancing Men (May 1, 1984) SEE MONDAY

THURSDAY 26

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky 119/Virgin 117 at 7.55am)

Episode 4, First Series—The Solitary Cyclist (May 15^th, 1984) SEE WEDNESDAY

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky 119/Virgin 117 at 4.00pm)

Episode 5, First Series—The Crooked Man (May 22^nd, 1984) Dramatised by Alfred Shaughnessy, best known as the script editor of the hugely influential and massively popular TV series, ‘Upstairs Downstairs.’ Norman Jones, who played ‘The Crooked Man,’ was a well known face on British television, although never a star. Denys Hawthorne, who played Col. Barclay, was born in Northern Ireland and graduated in law from Queen’s University.

Paul Temple and Steve (BBC Radio 4 at 11.00pm)   

Episode 1 of 8: The Notorious Dr Belasco

I’ve always had a soft spot for the Temple mysteries, particularly the series that still turns up on Radio 4 Extra at regular intervals. This is a new production—first broadcast in June 2010—of the 1947 detective serial and sounds pretty good; with Crawford Logan making an excellent Temple and Gerda Stevenson splendid as his wife, Steve.  The producer, Patrick Rayner, was one of the key people behind the Merrison/Williams Sherlock Holmes complete canon for Radio 4.

FRIDAY 27

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky 119/Virgin 117 at 7.55am)

Episode 5, First Series—The Crooked Man (May 22^nd, 1984 SEE THURSDAY

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky 119/Virgin 117 at 4.00pm)

Episode 6, First Series—The Speckled Band (May 29, 1984) Another excellent dramatization from Jeremy Paul, with Jeremy Kemp in terrific form as Roylott. It’s a very easy role to turn into a sort of pantomime villain, but Kemp manages to make him a more rounded character than we know just from the short story. Rosalyn Landor, who plays Helen Stoner, is now a multi award winning narrator of audio books in America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The paper! Of course!” yelled Holmes in a paroxysm of excitement.

On Friday 11 October 1991 a notice appeared in the ‘Ulster Log’ column of the Belfast Telegraph, under the heading: ‘Elementary task for Holmes fan Alex.’  Readers were informed that Belfast man Alex Kane, who was a lifelong devotee of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous creation and a member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, wished to contact fellow enthusiasts with a view to setting up a local society in the province.

Keen to widen the net, Alex subsequently placed a second notice – ‘Sherlock sleuths honour their hero’ – this time in the News Letter, on Monday 13 January 1992 (in the ‘Roamer’ column). 

And so it came to pass that the first formal meeting of the society was held at Alex’s house on the evening of Saturday 29 February 1992. It was a giant leap in the dark!

The first item on the agenda was to agree on a name. Following a short discussion it was unanimously decided to call the fledgling society The Crew of the S.S.May Day, after the reference in The Adventure of the Cardboard Box, the only story to mention “Belfast” or indeed the “north of Ireland.” Oddly enough, there were no alternative suggestions.

http://www.thessmayday.org.uk/about-the-crew/the-history-of-the-crew-of-the-s-s-may-day/

Alex Kane’s Viewer & Listener Guide:

January 14 – 20, 2012.

“I have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all laid before you.”

 It’s actually a busy old week on the Holmes front. Not much new, mind you, but some old favourites along the way.

 As ever, please send me any snippets or extras that you think I have missed along the way: alexkane221b@hotmail.co.uk

SATURDAY 14

Sherlock Holmes: The Hound of the Baskervilles (ITV3 on Freeview10 or Freesat115 also Sky119/Virgin117 at 11.15am) First shown in August 1988, this is a pretty good version of the story, with both Brett and Hardwicke in top form. Good work from James Faulkner as Stapleton—another one of those characters that is so easy to get wrong. Nice, too, to see Ronald Pickup as Barrymore. He was actually a very credible Holmes (with Norman Rodway as Watson) in “The Singular Case of Sherlock Holmes and Sigmund Freud” back in 1990.

Kristoffer Tabori—playing Sir Henry—is a little bit wooden: but the problem is that Doyle seems to have written him that way. He’s not a likeable character and there really isn’t much warmth to him. But I suppose he was always going to be overshadowed by both Stapleton and the Hound. Tabori played Watson to Martin Jarvis’s Holmes in 2005 for Blackstone AudioBooks.

The Saturday Play: Tom and Viv (BBC Radio 4 at 2.30pm) A very good performance from Benedict Cumberbatch as poet T.S. Eliot. Eliot has a couple of Holmesian connections: ‘Macavity, the Mystery Cat’ is, of course, Moriarty in feline form: and traces of the Musgrave Ritual can be found in ‘Murder in the Cathedral.’

Sherlock:The Hounds of Baskerville (BBC3 on Freeview7/Freesat106 also /Sky115/Virgin106 at 7.00pm) A repeat of the second episode, shown last Sunday. I will review all three episodes next week, but so far I’m finding this second series fairly hard going.

Watch episode 1 here (for a limited period only).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00m5wm9/Sherlock_Series_2_A_Scandal_in_Belgravia/

Watch episode 2 here (for a limited period only).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b019h2f9/Sherlock_Series_2_The_Hounds_of_Baskerville/

SUNDAY 15

The Woman in Green, 1945 (TCM on Sky317/Virgin 415 at 7.45pm) This was the 11^th in the 14 Rathbone/Bruce series and is clearly not one of the best. Moriarty—already killed off in two other films—was back, this time played by Henry Daniell (Rathbone’s favourite Moriarty, by the way). And after the success of Gale Sondergaard as Spider Woman the previous year, we have the lovely Hillary Brooke as Lydia Marlowe, the Woman in Green.

It’s a terribly convoluted plot centred on what are supposedly “the most atrocious murders since Jack the Ripper.” But it’s worth watching for the confrontation between Holmes and Moriarty: “We’ve had many encounters in the past. You hope to place me on the gallows. I tell you I will never stand upon the gallows. But, if you are instrumental in any way in bringing about my destruction, you will not be alive to enjoy your encounter.”

Sherlock: The Reichenbach Fall (BBC1 at 9.00pm) Final episode of the present series: and I really, really, really hope that it is better than the last two! OK, maybe it’s just me, but I’m just not enjoying this series this time round. Note later time!

Sherlock Holmes, 2009 (Sky Action/Adventure on Sky305 or Virgin405 at 10.10pm) While Robert Downey Jnr gives us a Holmes we have never really seen before (and I won’t complain about that) I still think this film is let down by a lousy plot, gorgonzola script and an awful lot of hamming-it-up from a cast who should know better. Guy Ritchie doesn’t seem to have understood that Holmes is a ‘thinking machine’ first and foremost.

MONDAY 16

Inspector Alleyn (Radio4 Extra at 6am, 1pm, 8pm and 1am)

Episode 1—A Man Lay Dead. Inspector Roderick Alleyn was the creation of Ngaio Marsh and appeared in a series of thirty-two novels between 1934 and 1982. A gentleman detective of the old school he belongs to the Golden Age of detective fiction and has occasional touches of Holmes to his style. In this series of four adaptations he is played by Jeremy Clyde, who played Holmes in “The Great Detective” episode of the “Crime Writers” series in 1978

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (ITV 3 on Sky119/Virgin 117 at 8.05am)

Episode 2, Sixth Series—The Dying Detective (March 14, 1994) It always struck me that this is one of the most difficult episodes to pull off, because it also always struck me as pretty implausible that Watson could hide behind a bed-end for so long! But they get away with it—just.

T.R.Bowen, who wrote the screenplay, was also an occasional actor: so he invented the character of Charles Damant and played it himself. He also invented a role for comedian Roy Hudd. Hudd was to play Holmes for BBC Radio 2 in the 1999 series “The Newly Discovered Casebook of Sherlock Holmes,” with Chris Emmett as Watson and the wonderful June Whitfield as Mrs. Hudson. It was fairy bawdy stuff, but had its moments. Hudd also had a guest appearance in The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, with Clive Merrison as Holmes and Andrew Sachs as Watson. He played James Phillimore in an episode called “The Singular Inheritance of Miss Gloria Wilson.”

Jonathan Hyde had a role in Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Silk Stocking (BBC 2004) and Susannah Harker played Irene St Claire to Charlton Heston’s Holmes in the 1991 film “Crucifer of Blood.”

The Woman in Green, 1945 (TCM on Sky317/Virgin415 at 11.30) SEE SUNDAY

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 4.05pm)

Series 6, Episode 3—The Golden Pince-Nez (March 21, 1994) Edward Hardwicke was tied up with another project and wasn’t available to play Watson, so the scriptwriter (Gary Hopkins) decided to bring in Mycroft as back-up. It doesn’t work. Charles Gray is very good as Mycroft, but Mycroft was always intended as a minor, slightly mysterious character. Put bluntly, he outstays his welcome!

Frank Finlay, who played Professor Coram, had previously played Inspector Lestrade in the 1965 film ‘A Study In Terror’ and again in the 1979 film ‘Murder By Decree.’

TUESDAY 17

Inspector Alleyn (Radio4 Extra at 6am, 1pm, 8pm and 1am)

Episode 2—Opening Night SEE MONDAY

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.00am)

Series 6, Episode 3—The Golden Pince-Nez (March 21, 1994) SEE MONDAY

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 4.10pm)

Series 6, Episode 4—The Red Circle (March 28, 1994) What makes this episode stand out for me is the presence of Betty Marsden and Kenneth Connor as Mr and Mrs Warren. They are two veterans of British comedy and give the roles exactly the right mix of off-centre seriousness without ever falling into mere caricature.

John Hallam, who played Giorgiano—and was one of British television’s best known faces (even if people didn’t know his name) was born in Lisburn in 1941 after his family were evacuated to Northern Ireland at the start of the Second World War.

WEDNESDAY 18

Inspector Alleyn (Radio4 Extra at 6am, 1pm, 8pm and 1am)

Episode 3—When In Rome SEE MONDAY

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.00am)

Series 6, Episode 4—The Red Circle (March 28, 1994) SEE TUESDAY

Who Shot Sherlock? (Channel 5 at 2.15pm) This is from series 5 (2005) of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. This remains a hugely successful series in America, although I gave up watching a few years ago. The lead character, Gil Grissom, (played by William Petersen) has Holmesian characteristics, as noted on Wiki:

“Gil Grissom has a more than passing similarity to Sherlock Holmes. Like Holmes, Grissom is dispassionate with a fierce devotion to logic and little regard for societal norms of behavior; Grissom once smashed mustard jars in a grocery store to illustrate a theory (“I-15 Murders“), similarly, Holmes once practiced spearing a pig at a market to determine how strong a man would have to be to transfix a man with a harpoon.

“Grissom possesses a Moriarty-like nemesis, Paul Millander, whom he pursues in several episodes (“Pilot”, “Anonymous” and “Identity Crisis”). Coincidentally, “Paul Millander” has the same initials as “Professor Moriarty.” There’s also a woman, Lady Heather, in whom he takes an unusual interest. Their relationship is similar to that of Irene Adler and Holmes. Both Irene and Lady Heather enchant Holmes and Grissom with their beauty, their wit and their resolution. Lady Heather often wears Victorian-style dresses referencing Holmes’ era (“Slaves of Las Vegas“, “Lady Heather’s Box“, “Pirates of the Third Reich” and “The Good, the Bad, and the Dominatrix“)

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 4.00pm)

Series 6, Episode 5—The Mazarin Stone (April 4, 1994) An absolute jumble of an episode which drags in “The Three Garridebs” and Mycroft (Charles Gray stepping in for the increasingly ill Brett—who makes only a brief appearance). It just doesn’t work: largely to do with the fact that the stories, individually, are weak. The name of the main villain in the 2009 “Sherlock Holmes,” Lord Blackwood, is derived from the name Count Negretto Sylvius (Negretto is Italian for ‘Black’ and Sylvius is Latin for ‘Woods’.

Dressed to Kill, 1946 (TCM on Sky 317/Virgin 415 at 7.35pm) The last of the Rathbone/Bruce series this one is, frankly, bizarre. Best advice is to suspend your critical faculties and enjoy the inter-play between Holmes and Watson. Shortly after the film was released Rathbone decided not to renew either his film or radio contracts to play Holmes, hoping that he could escape from the character and do ‘other, better work.” Too late: for that generation he was Sherlock Holmes.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 7.50pm and 12.50am)

Season 1, Episode 1—A Scandal In Bohemia (April 24, 1984) I remember watching this episode for the first time and thinking “Wow! Brett is Sherlock Holmes.” I still prefer Hardwicke to David Burke, but this first series wouldn’t have worked without Burke’s understated and occasionally subtle interpretation of the character. Gayle Hunnicutt is an ideal Irene Adler. And let’s not forget the wonderful Rosalie Williams as Mrs Hudson—a great piece of casting and a great piece of acting.

THURSDAY 19

Inspector Alleyn (Radio4Extra at 6am, 1pm, 8pm and 1am) Episode 4—A Surfeit of Lampreys SEE MONDAY

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.00am)

Series 6, Episode 5—The Mazarin Stone (April 4, 1994) SEE WEDNESDAY

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 4.00pm)

Series 6, Episode 6—The Cardboard Box (April 11, 1994) Almost ten years to the day since the first Brett was shown, this turned out to be the last. Yes, he had lost the fire and the passion and looked unwell, but it’s still hard to watch this and not regret the fact that he never got to complete the Canon. I have lost count of the number of actors I have seen or heard tackling the role, but for me Brett remains the best: he eclipses and predominates. 

It’s the reference to Belfast in the story which provided us with our name—the Crew of the SS MayDay—so it seems fitting that Jim Browner should be played by the Belfast born Ciaran Hinds.

Terror By Night (TCM on Sky317/Virgin415 at 7.55pm) Released in February 1946 this was the second last of the Rathbone/Bruce series. It’s all a bit stagey—hard to avoid when set on a train—but at least it’s Holmes the detective rather than Holmes the Nazi fighter. Good performance from Alan Mowbray as a disguised Colonel Moran, “the most sinister, ruthless and diabolically clever henchman of our late and unlamented friend, Professor Moriarty.” Mowbray had also played Inspector Gore-King in “Sherlock Holmes” (1932, with Clive Brooke as Holmes) and  Inspector Lestrade in “A Study in Scarlet” (1933, with Reginald Owen as Holmes.

FRIDAY 20

Murder by the Book (Radio4 Extra at 6am, 1pm, 8pm and 1am) A delightful little play with Mary Wimbush and Doreen Mantle as two elderly librarians who decide to investigate when a corpse is found in the crime section of the library. We are on very firm Miss Marple territory! Mary Wimbush played Mrs. Maberley in the Merrison/Williams version of ‘The Three Gables’ in 1994. She was married to Howard Marion-Crawford, who had played Watson to Ronald Howard’s Holmes in the 1954 television series; and he also played Holmes in a 1948 radio version of ‘The Speckled Band.’ Doreen Mantle is probably best known for playing Mrs Warboys, neighbour of Victor Meldrew in ‘One Foot In The Grave.’ Episode 3 of the first series was called “The Valley of Fear,” while episode 6 was “The Return of the Speckled Band.” 

Series 6, Episode 6—The Cardboard Box (April 11, 1994) SEE THURSDAY

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 4.05pm)

Season 1, Episode 1—A Scandal In Bohemia (April 24, 1984) SEE WEDNESDAY

From Hell (Sky Crime/Thriller on Sky307/Virgin407 at 11.00pm) The Ripper/Holmes ‘connection’ has been explored in a number of books and films, most notably “A Study in Terror” and “Murder by Decree.” This 2001 film doesn’t feature Holmes, but it does have Johnny Depp as Inspector Abberline, a detective who displays some distinctly Holmesian characteristics. And it’s also pretty good, albeit a little grisly in places.

BBC Radio4 Extra can be heard on any of the following: DAB/Freeview708/Freesat708 also Sky0131/Virgin910. It’s also available online at www.bbc.co.uk/radio4extra

For BBC Radio4, check national variations. It’s also available at www.bbc.co.uk/radio4

Alex Kane’s Viewer & Listener Guide:

January 7 – 13, 2012.

“I will conceal nothing from you.”

Maybe not a vintage week in terms of Holmes, but a few nice nuggets along the way.

SATURDAY 7

The Master Blackmailer (ITV3 on Freeview10/Freesat115 also Sky119/Virgin117 at 10.35am) First shown on January 2, 1992 this is one of the two-hour specials which feels very padded to me. The problem is that the original story is, in a matter of speaking, an open and shut case. There isn’t really any detecting for Holmes to do and the villain is bumped off as he and Watson hide behind a curtain. It would probably have needed padding even if it had been the usual length (around fifty minutes once you discount the time for adverts), so stretching it by another fifty minutes was going to require something fairly meaty. Unfortunately, dramatist Jeremy Paul hasn’t been able to find enough meat.

The media at the time made a bit of a fuss of ‘the kiss’ between Holmes and Agatha (played by Sophie Thompson, whom I would have been delighted to kiss): but Brett commented that “I was concerned about the scene because I thought we might be infringing on Sherlock’s sexuality given that he is such a private man.” I’ll leave you to interpret that for yourselves.

Robert Hardy, who plays Milverton, has a long association with the Canon, having read many of them on audio books and playing Holmes to Nigel Stock’s Watson on eight occasions. I’m not sure he gets it quite right here—there’s just a little too much mince with the menace.

Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia (BBC 3 on Freeview7/Freesat10 also Sky115/Virgin106 at 7.00pm – repeat of episode 1 first shown on Sunday, January 1) What a wonderful way to celebrate the New Year! This was a huge ratings and critical success for the BBC last year and by all accounts the next three episodes are up to the same standard. It works, I think, because in precisely the same way that Granada ensured the accuracy of period detail and plotting with the Brett series, writers/creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have ensured that Holmes fits perfectly into this era. This is good stuff.

I will write an overall review of the series when the last episode—The Reichenbach Fall—has been shown; and I will tie it in with a review of A Game of Shadows.

SUNDAY 8

Sherlock: The Hounds of Baskerville (BBC1 at 8.30pm – note slightly later time!) Last week’s episode seemed to go down very well with critics—and with a number of my non-Holmesian friends. I had very mixed feelings about it! Anyway, here’s the second in the series.

There’s an interesting piece in the Radio Times (January 7-13 issue) by Mark Gatiss, giving some background to the writing of this episode.

MONDAY 9

Round the Horne (BBC Radio4 Extra on DAB/Freeview & Freesat708 also Sky0131/Virgin910 at 8am, 12pm and 7pm) First aired in 1968 this has a piece in which Julian and Sandy—as camp as Butlins at the peak of its popularity—take a pop at Holmes in ‘The Bona Detective Agency.’ Kenneth Williams played Sir Henry Baskerville in the 1978 version of “The Hound of the Baskervilles” (with Peter Cook as Holmes and Dudley Moore as Watson). Round the Horne has always been one of my favourite comedy shows, so thanks to Oscar for steering me towards this episode.

Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Terror (TCM on Sky317/Virgin415 at 7.45pm) Almost three years after 20th Century-Fox had decided not to continue the Rathbone/Bruce series, Universal Pictures picked up the option and pitted our heroes against the Nazis. The plot has a number of interesting twists, not least that one of the supposed good guys turns out to be von Bork. Ok, it’s enjoyable, if undemanding stuff, but Bruce still grates as Watson—particularly in this sort of war time setting. I’ve never been convinced that the WW2 films played any significant role in propaganda terms. Indeed, it’s hard to disagree with film critic Howard Barnes’ view: “As a sort of intelligence officer in the present conflict, the detective is bizarre and ineffective.” But audiences seemed to like it.

TUESDAY 10

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.05am) Series 5, Episode 4—The Boscombe Valley Mystery (March 14, 1991) Peter Vaughn—playing Mr. Turner—was a very good Charles Augustus Milverton in the Merrison/Williams radio series and is equally good here. He’s one of our very best character actors, best known for roles in Citizen Smith, Porridge and Our Friends In The North.

James Purefoy—playing James McCarthy—had screen tested for the role of James Bond in 1995, losing out to Pierce Brosnan. He lost out again a few years later to Daniel Craig. I’m not 100% certain, but this may have been his first TV/film role.

Dover Goes to Pott (BBC Radio4 Extra on Sky0131/Virgin910 at 6am, 1pm, 8pm and 1am) Politically incorrect and slightly vulgar they may be, but there is still a good detective story and plot at the heart of Joyce Porter’s Inspector Dover books. This is the first of a run of four this week, starring Kenneth Cranham as Dover.

WEDNESDAY 11

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.05am) Series 5, Episode 5—The Illustrious Client (March 21, 1991) Very nice—if that’s the right word in the circumstances—performance from Anthony Valentine as Baron Gruner. He had enjoyed great success in Callan, Colditz and Raffles. Raffles, of course, was written by E.W. Hornung, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s brother-in-law.

From Hell (Sky Crime/Thriller on Sky307/Virgin407 at 10pm) The Ripper/Holmes ‘connection’ has been explored in a number of books and films, most notably “A Study in Terror” and “Murder by Decree.” This 2001 film doesn’t feature Holmes, but it does have Johnny Depp as Inspector Abberline, a detective who displays some distinctly Holmesian characteristics. And it’s also pretty good, albeit a little grisly in places.

Dover and the Claret Tappers (Radio4 Extra on Sky0131/Virgin910 at 6am, 1pm, 8pm and 1am) See Tuesday

THURSDAY 12

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.05am) Season 5, Episode 6—The Creeping Man (March 28, 1991) I’ve always regarded this as one of the silliest stories in the entire Canon, lacking credibility, logic, plot or detection. Sarah Woodward—playing Edith Presbury—is the daughter of Edward Woodward, who has played Holmes in “Hands of a Murderer.”

Dover Beats the Band (Radio4 Extra on Sky0131/Virgin910 at 6am, 1pm, 8pm and 1am) See Tuesday

FRIDAY 13

The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Sky 119/Virgin 117 at 8.00am) Series 6, Episode 1—The Three Gables (March 7th, 1994) Brett was quite ill when this series was made and at times his performances bordered on the manic. Indeed, by this time, a decade since the Granada series first went into production, the whole series had slowed down and lost its edge. A good turn, though, from Peter Wyngarde as Langdale Pike. And if you think that ‘Dora’ looks familiar, that’s because she’s played by Edward Hardwicke’s daughter, Emma Hardwicke.

Who Shot Sherlock? (Channel 5 at 5.30pm) This is from series 5 (11/25) of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. This remains a hugely successful series in America, although I gave up watching a few years ago. The lead character, Gil Grissom, (played by William Petersen) has Holmesian characteristics, as noted on Wiki:

 “Gil Grissom has a more than passing similarity to Sherlock Holmes. Like Holmes, Grissom is dispassionate with a fierce devotion to logic and little regard for societal norms of behavior; Grissom once smashed mustard jars in a grocery store to illustrate a theory (“I-15 Murders”), similarly, Holmes once practiced spearing a pig at a market to determine how strong a man would have to be to transfix a man with a harpoon.

 “Grissom possesses a Moriarty-like nemesis, Paul Millander, whom he pursues in several episodes (“Pilot”, “Anonymous” and “Identity Crisis”). Coincidentally, “Paul Millander” has the same initials as “Professor Moriarty.” There’s also a woman, Lady Heather, in whom he takes an unusual interest. Their relationship is similar to that of Irene Adler and Holmes. Both Irene and Lady Heather enchant Holmes and Grissom with their beauty, their wit and their resolution. Lady Heather often wears Victorian-style dresses referencing Holmes’ era.

Dover and the Unkindest Cut of All (Radio4 Extra on Sky0131/Virgin910 at 6am, 1pm, 8pm and 1am) See Tuesday

 

 

“What’s up, then?” said Holmes with a twinkle in his eye.

BBC SHERLOCK 2 SPECIAL EDITION!

“Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes.”

The first episode (of three) in the second series of Sherlock is scheduled for this evening (Sunday 1 January) at 8.10pm (until 9.40pm) on BBC1 (also BBC1 HD). It’s repeated on Saturday 7 January on BBC3 at 7pm.

Episode 1, A Scandal in Belgravia is based on A Scandal in Bohemia with Lara Pulver taking the part of Irene Adler. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00m5wm9

Alex’s Sherlock Previews.

You’ll find Alex’s Kane’s initial take on the new series in his latest Preview (see News Bulletin 59) so don’t miss that.

Alex will preview each episode in turn in subsequent weeks and he will review the entire series together with Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows after episode 3 has been shown.

Episode 2 –Time Tweak!

Episode 2, The Hounds of Baskerville is scheduled for Sunday 8 January at 8.30pm (this is 20 minutes later than episode 1 is being shown).

Free SH Books, Unless You Live In NI!

Radio Times in conjunction with Penguin Books is offering its readers three Sherlock Holmes (the original stories) paperbacks free to tie-in with Sherlock series 2. The first giveaway is A Scandal in Bohemia and other stories. Full details are in the current issue (dated 31 December 2011 – 6 January 2012) which is on sale until Monday 2 January. Loyal RT readers living in Northern Ireland needn’t get too excited however – they won’t be getting any of these freebies. Their only option is to cough up £2.99 to get the books by post (plus a stamp for the application in the first instance). The reason for this unfortunate state of affairs is that there are no Rymans stores here – RT’s partners in this promo.

Sherlock DVD Due In 3 Weeks.

The second series of Sherlock will be released in the UK on DVD and Blu-ray on 23 January 2012, the day after the final episode is due to be screened. Radio Times for w/c 31 December (p64) says it’s due on 5 March but we don’t buy that.

Radio Times is offering the DVD on pre-order for £12.99 (RRP £20.42). That’s the same price as Amazon.co.uk. Amazon’s Blu-ray price is £17.49.

Those of you who never got around to buying series 1 can now pick it up at Amazon for only £4.99 (new) or £6.99 for Blu-ray. Amazon is also offering ‘double deals’ on series 1 & 2 together (also Blue-ray). Amazon’s Love Film division will be offering series 2 for rental (both formats).

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sherlock-2-DVD-Benedict-Cumberbatch/dp/B005UL537Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1324920021&sr=1-1 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sherlock-2-Blu-ray-Region-Free/dp/B005UL53AQ/ref=sr_1_3?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1324920021&sr=1-3

We’re wondering what extras the new DVD will have to offer us. The first series DVD included the unseen pilot episode which was a nice bonus so unless there’s another one of those lurking in the shadows all we’re probably going to get are the bog-standard behind the scenes shots and interviews.

SH2 Box Office – It’s A Mixed Picture!

It was a definite case of failure to put bums on seats! Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows may have topped the box office but it was still a disappointing result for the first weekend in North America (US & Canada). The film lifted c.$40m, compared to c.$60 for SH1. However, it should be noted that it was a slow weekend for takings. www.bakerstreetblog.com

It was a much better picture in the UK where the film made £3.83m over a three-day period compared to £3.08 for SH1. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16262418

SH2 – More Reviews.

The UK’s leading film magazines, Empire and Total Film have both reviewed Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows in their latest issues (February 2012). Contrary to what many reviewers have written, both these critiques are generally positive.

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=137034

http://www.totalfilm.com/reviews/cinema/sherlock-holmes-a-game-of-shadows

The Irish Times review can be found here as can their tie-in interview with Jared Harris (who plays Moriarty) and a short review of Hans Zimmer’s soundtrack.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/theticket/2011/1216/1224309133588.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/theticket/2011/1216/1224309126769_pf.html

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/theticket/2011/1216/1224309132704.html

A Classic Study.

Classics Illustrated no.37 – due this month –  will be A Study in Scarlet issue. The magazine, which publishes classic novels in cartoon strip format should be available at WH Smith and Eason’s (usually in the comics section, we are reliably informed). http://www.classicsillustrated.co.uk/

 A Very Happy New Year to all our readers!

 

Alex Kane’s Viewer & Listener Guide:

December 31, 2011 – January 6, 2012.

“Here we are, Watson – this must be the one!”

A very happy new year to one and all! For me the Holmesian highlight of 2010 was the first three episodes of Sherlock, so I’m really pleased to see it back again. The highlight of 2011 was The House of Silk and my lengthy interview with Anthony Horowitz. I hope he follows through on his hint that he might be tempted to pen a few short stories based on cases that never made it to the official Canon.

As ever, I am always happy to receive additional information re episodes, actors and films discussed in this weekly preview. Please contact me at: alexkane221b@hotmail.co.uk

I will continue to focus on Holmes, but from time to time I will point you in the direction of other programmes which I think may appeal to you. So could I suggest that you keep a close eye on the schedules for BBC Radio4 Extra, for you will find a lot of detective stuff there, including Paul Temple, Lord Peter Wimsey, Holmes, Dr. Thorndyke and an extraordinarily wide range of short stories.

SUNDAY 1

Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia (BBC 1 at 8.10pm) What a wonderful way to celebrate the New Year! This was a huge ratings and critical success for the BBC last year and by all accounts the next three episodes are up to the same standard. It works, I think, because in precisely the same way that Granada ensured the accuracy of period detail and plotting with the Brett series, writers/creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss have ensured that Holmes fits perfectly into this era. This is good stuff.

I will write an overall review of the series when the last episode—The Reichenbach Fall—has been shown; and I will tie it in with a review of A Game of Shadows.

Sherlock Holmes, 2009 (Sky Christmas on Sky 303/Virgin403 at 7.40am and 12.15am) While Robert Downey Jnr gives us a Holmes we have never really seen before (and I won’t complain about that) I still think this film is let down by a lousy plot, gorgonzola script and an awful lot of hamming-it-up from a cast who should know better. Guy Ritchie doesn’t seem to have understood that Holmes is a ‘thinking machine’ first and foremost.

I haven’t seen A Game of Shadows, yet, but it has had a critical mauling. Indeed a number of non-Holmesian friends have practically begged me not to see it. That said, it seems to have done very well at the box-office.

WEDNESDAY 4

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Freeview10/Freesat115/Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.05am and 12.45am) Series 5, Episode 1—The Disappearance of Lady Francis Carfax (February 21, 1991) Julian Curry—playing Schlessinger/Peters—gets it absolutely right: and that’s important, because so many other versions of this story have failed because of the underplaying or overplaying of this central role. Personally, I would happily chase across Europe after Cheryl Campbell, even if she wasn’t playing Lady Francis!

THURSDAY 5

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Freeview10/Freesat115/Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.05am) Series 5, Episode 2—The Problem Of Thor Bridge (February 28, 1991) The role of J. Neil Gibson (like those of Roylott and Milverton) is easy to get wrong, but Daniel Massey gets it just about right. Massey’s father, Raymond Massey, had played Holmes in a 1931 version of The Speckled Band and had been pretty good in the role. The film turns up on TV very occasionally, but DVDs are easy and cheap to get. Catherine Russell—playing Grace Dunbar—is the daughter of Nicholas Smith (Mr. Rumbold from Are You Being Served?), who had a small role in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother. Dean Magri—playing Billy the pageboy—is now a very successful tap dancer and choreographer: which suggests he could have been used in either The Dancing Men or The Problem of the Devil’s Thor Foot. Thank you, you’ve been a wonderful audience!

The Newly Discovered Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (Radio4 Extra on DAB/Freeview708/Freesat708/Sky0131/Virgin910 at 7.00am, 5.30pm and 5.30am) Episode 6—-The Demon Cobbler of Greek Street (January 16, 1999) The great strength of this Holmes spoof is the cast: Roy Hudd (Holmes), Chris Emmett (Watson), June Whitfield (Mrs Hudson), Geoffrey Whitehead (Moriarty) and Jeffrey Holland (Lestrade). The humour is broad and bawdy, but never goes over the knuckle.

Hudd appeared in Granada’s “The Dying Detective” and in an episode of “The Further Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” with Clive Merrison and Andrews Sachs. Emmett played Watson to Bernie Winter’s Holmes in a Sherlock-themed edition of the gameshow 3-2-1. Whitehead played Holmes in a 1979/80 Polish television series with Donald Pickering as Watson.

FRIDAY 6

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes (ITV3 on Freeview10/Freesat115/Sky119/Virgin117 at 8.05am and 2.00am) Series 5, Episode 3—Shoscombe Old Place (March 7, 1991) Yes, that is Jude Law in the role of Joe Barnes! Michael Wynne—playing Josiah Barnes—played Commissionaire Jenkins in The Mazarin Stone, the penultimate episode of the Granada series in 1994.

Sherlock Holmes, 2009 (Sky Action/Adventure on Sky 305/Virgin405 at 9.00pm) See Sunday.

*January 6 is not only Sherlock Holmes’ birthday, it is also the birthday of Crewmate Margaret Sterrett. Holmes is, of course, immortal: Margaret deserves to be. Happy Birthday to both!

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Look,at this, Watson,” he cried.

Today’s The Day!

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is opening today in most cinemas across the UK, Republic of Ireland & USA. It’s a 12A (UK) with a running time of 128 minutes. See the roll-out schedule for other countries here. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1515091/releaseinfo

Reviews.

Reviews which have come to our notice to date include the following.

Film 2011 with Claudia Winkleman (BBC1, Wednesday 14th) reviewed the film at the start of the show. You can catch the entire programme here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b018jp3k/Film_2011

Front Row (BBC Radio4, Tuesday 13th) also did a review. We overlooked this one but if like us you missed it at the time, here’s a chance to catch-up. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0184rgv

You’ll find a review from The Guardian at this link. http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/dec/13/sherlock-holmes-game-shadows-review?INTCMP=SRCH

And one from the Daily Telegraph here. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/guystagg/100058859/too-much-moriarty-less-is-more-when-it-comes-to-sherlock-holmess-arch-enemy/

Here are a couple more reviews which were spotted on the Internet.

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/review/a355369/sherlock-holmes-a-game-of-shadows-review.html

http://movies.uk.msn.com/sherlock-holmes-a-game-of-shadows-movie-review

Interviews.

You can hear a short interview with Stephen Fry who plays Mycroft Holmes here. This link may not be accessible outside the UK. http://www.virginmedia.com/movies/trailers-clips/sherlock-holmes-a-game-of-shadows-exclusive-interview-with-stephen-fry-guy-ritchie-and-jared-harris/1326045012001/

The Film Programme (BBC Radio4,Thursday 15 December, repeated Sunday 18 December at 11pm) includes a short interview with Eddie Marsan, who reprises his role as Inspector Lestrade in the film. Did we doze off and miss the SH2 bit? You can listen to the programme here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0184v31/The_Film_Programme

Film Tie-in Comp 1.

Booking online to see SH2 at any Odeon Cinema could put you on the plane to Paris for a free luxury weekend break. Find out how to try your luck here. http://www.odeon.co.uk/fanatic/film_info/m12941/Sherlock_Holmes

FilmTie-in Comp 2.

Bus shelter posters promoting the film have been appearing across Belfast during the past few days (and we presume elsewhere too). These feature RDJ and a hidden game which you can access via a smart phone. The winners could get themselves a nice hotel break if they hit the jackpot.

Talking of posters, there’s lots on the Metro buses here in Belfast but no sign of any of those big billboards which were used for SH1.

Trivia.

For those who like this sort of thing, here’s a few to be getting on or off with.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/news/cumberbatch-i-think-like-holmes-16088822.html

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/posts/view/224227/Downey-Jr-suggested-transvestite-scene-for-Sherlock/

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-2068061/Robert-Downey-Jr-Sherlock-Holmes-movie-like-best-sex-life.html