Reviews: Granada’s Sherlock Holmes series with Jeremy Brett and David Burke/Edward Hardwicke
It’s taken me a good while, but now I’ve seen the entire series and can give my little write-ups on each episode and film. But first, let’s talk about the acting!
Jeremy Brett vs. Benedict Cumberbatch
Because Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes is so, so good in these. He’s more physically attractive in the earlier episodes because he was becoming very ill as the series went on and taking medication for manic-depressiveness, but in terms of characterization, his Holmes is always extremely consistent. And yet it’s very difficult to explain his performance in words; similar to Benedict Cumberbatch, he’s a man who needs to be seen in action. Brett’s Holmes is a fan of short, barking laugher, extreme sarcasm, speaking quickly, rubbing his hands together gleefully, theatricality, these quick little grins that are his equivalent of beaming ear to ear, irritability (especially that fond irritability towards Watson and Mrs. Hudson which is so funny-he frequently tells poor Mrs. Hudson to “Please disappear” while waving his hands), and of course intravenous cocaine. Watching the episodes in the order they were filmed is also somewhat upsetting because, as Craig Clarke states in his review, the series has “the unfortunate bonus of tracing the decline of Jeremy Brett’s health, episode by episode.”
As the two best Homes interpretations I’ve seen, I feel that I owe Brett and Cumberbatch a battle of the comparisons, even though I recognize that in many ways it’s unfair. We’ve seen more of Brett (so far, anyway), and his Granada series is probably the closest canon interpretation we will ever have, whereas Cumberbatch’s series is newer, with slicker writing and directing, and he’s younger and more physically attractive to me. But the facts being what they are, I may as well enjoy comparing them.
In my opinion, overall, Cumberbatch has the edge on Jeremy Brett’s portrayal because Cumberbatch’s Sherlock has that extra air of vulnerability and of inner darkness, and goes a bit farther in his manic states than Brett really could given the writing and Brett’s health. Perhaps this is a function of Brett’s Holmes being an older man and Cumberbatch’s Sherlock being a younger man. Don’t get me wrong-Brett’s Holmes can be hurt, but that mask of indifference is firmly in place, and I get the impression that he will always be strong enough by himself to overcome any obstacles thrown into his path. His support network of Watson and Mrs Hudson (and Mycroft, occasionally) feels more like a happy bonus than something integral to his character. And maybe this will change as Cumberbatch ages his character, but with Sherlock as a younger man, I feel that he so desperately needs his family of caretakers to keep him going. We don’t need to worry about John without Sherlock; we need to worry about Sherlock without John. Sherlock’s mask of sociopathy is still in its formation, and when those chinks in his armor are revealed, they seem raw and painful. As his vulnerability is one of my favorite parts of his character, I hope that this doesn’t change much as Sherlock grows older.
But to be frank, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock could not exist the way he does without Jeremy Brett. Jeremy Brett read the original stories obsessively and fought to make his portrayal and the series as close to it as he could. Cumberbatch really does borrow quite a lot of Brett’s mannerisms: the way he sits in his chair, the variation on the prayer-position hands when thinking (Brett usually uses one finger-but see this gorgeous picture by erinpaint), the way he goes through his papers, throwing them everywhere like a lunatic. The closest his Sherlock approaches Brett’s Holmes, in my opinion, is at the beginning of “The Great Game” with the hung/hanged joke-the way he says, “No, no, no, Mr. Bewick, not at all,” very composed and sarcastic but enjoying the morbid little grammar joke to himself. Just as Brett built upon previous incarnations of Holmes onscreen, Cumberbatch is very lucky to have Brett’s shoulders to stand upon in refining Sherlock into someone even more intensely complicated and fascinating.
David Burke vs. Edward Hardwicke
Now to Dr. Watson: the battle between David Burke and Edward Hardwicke. Superficially they are very similar (my parents didn’t even notice that the actor had changed between one season and the next until I told them). A supreme irony of the series is that the actors switch after “The Final Problem”-it’s Holmes who “died,” but really Watson is the one who changed. I don’t think the question of “who’s better?” is really an answerable one because basically whomever you’re watching at the time is the perfect canonical Watson. Smart, knowledgeable, helpful, reliable, suspicious but not cynical, supportive of Holmes, personable with other people without going overboard, mild-mannered, gently humorous, slow to anger, easy to delight.
I think Burke has a bit more fun with the role and is thus more entertaining, drawing out Watson’s playfulness and a hint of mischievousness, but Hardwicke’s Watson is more…trustworthy, I suppose, more solid: Hardwicke’s Watson is maybe a bit more boring on his own, but this guy has your back, Holmes. And his usual stoicism makes the moments when he is being comical, or truly impressed and laughing happily at Holmes, even more special. So while Burke is more fun to watch, Hardwicke feels more right as Watson, and I believe his take on the character edges out Burke’s. It does irritate me to no end, however, that David Burke is rather invisible when it comes to “The Best Watson” lists, because this guy is a superb Watson.
On Setting, Writing, Directing
A note on setting: I greatly admire this series for being as faithful to the originals as it can, time and place included. However, for the most part (with some notable exceptions), this London is very…clean in a way that is almost unnatural. The streets are dry and mud-free (it hardly ever rains in this series, which is odd for London), the people are usually well-groomed and attractive (unless it’s a blatant part of their character to be disheveled): the slop and filth and pollution and construction I’ve come to fondly associate with London are absent. It makes me think wistfully of the Guy Ritchie films, where everything is sloppy and dirty and nasty-the way I assume it probably was in Victorian England.
Other observations: Women are very frequently either the victims or the clients or both. But a fairly high number of these stories have women being the villains, or in on it with the villains, too. So yay for a surprising number of multi-dimensional women. (I also think Arthur Conan Doyle may have had a thing for Hispanic ladies. They seem to turn up a lot.)
Also, the way this series is directed, particularly in later episodes, is just all over the place and sometimes really weird and unsettling, but not in a way that pleasantly advances the story or sets an appropriate mood. I mean, it makes some episodes look very pretty and artistic, but I’m not sure why; it doesn’t really help viewers to understand what’s going on or to advance plot or show characterization much. Some directors are fans of the extreme close-ups or layering one scene on top of another-but unlike the direction of Sherlock, in which the camera serves as Sherlock’s eyes and helps viewers to “see what he’s seeing,” the strange camerawork here doesn’t appear to serve much purpose. Sometimes I had no idea what a character was actually supposed to look like from afar because I’d only seen his or her eyeballs and cheeks. Ah, well, at least they tried something different-and it must be said that when it does go right, it looks very pretty.
[Mini-reviews of each episode]
With David Burke as Watson:
-The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes:
-The Return of Sherlock Holmes:
End result: we owe so very much to Jeremy Brett. If you’re a Sherlock fan, please at least watch one episode with him in it; I think you’ll be very pleasantly surprised. They’re all up on Netflix at the moment. I can honestly say I enjoyed them all, but my favorites were: A Scandal in Bohemia, The Speckled Band, The Copper Beeches, The Second Stain, The Devil’s Foot, The Problem of Thor Bridge, Shoscombe Old Place, The Illustrious Client, The Eligible Bachelor, and The Mazarin Stone. Let me know if you’d like info on anything else about the series! :)
Back to my Sherlock Holmes Adaptations Masterlist: ( Taxi!)
Jeremy Brett vs. Benedict Cumberbatch
Because Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes is so, so good in these. He’s more physically attractive in the earlier episodes because he was becoming very ill as the series went on and taking medication for manic-depressiveness, but in terms of characterization, his Holmes is always extremely consistent. And yet it’s very difficult to explain his performance in words; similar to Benedict Cumberbatch, he’s a man who needs to be seen in action. Brett’s Holmes is a fan of short, barking laugher, extreme sarcasm, speaking quickly, rubbing his hands together gleefully, theatricality, these quick little grins that are his equivalent of beaming ear to ear, irritability (especially that fond irritability towards Watson and Mrs. Hudson which is so funny-he frequently tells poor Mrs. Hudson to “Please disappear” while waving his hands), and of course intravenous cocaine. Watching the episodes in the order they were filmed is also somewhat upsetting because, as Craig Clarke states in his review, the series has “the unfortunate bonus of tracing the decline of Jeremy Brett’s health, episode by episode.”
As the two best Homes interpretations I’ve seen, I feel that I owe Brett and Cumberbatch a battle of the comparisons, even though I recognize that in many ways it’s unfair. We’ve seen more of Brett (so far, anyway), and his Granada series is probably the closest canon interpretation we will ever have, whereas Cumberbatch’s series is newer, with slicker writing and directing, and he’s younger and more physically attractive to me. But the facts being what they are, I may as well enjoy comparing them.
In my opinion, overall, Cumberbatch has the edge on Jeremy Brett’s portrayal because Cumberbatch’s Sherlock has that extra air of vulnerability and of inner darkness, and goes a bit farther in his manic states than Brett really could given the writing and Brett’s health. Perhaps this is a function of Brett’s Holmes being an older man and Cumberbatch’s Sherlock being a younger man. Don’t get me wrong-Brett’s Holmes can be hurt, but that mask of indifference is firmly in place, and I get the impression that he will always be strong enough by himself to overcome any obstacles thrown into his path. His support network of Watson and Mrs Hudson (and Mycroft, occasionally) feels more like a happy bonus than something integral to his character. And maybe this will change as Cumberbatch ages his character, but with Sherlock as a younger man, I feel that he so desperately needs his family of caretakers to keep him going. We don’t need to worry about John without Sherlock; we need to worry about Sherlock without John. Sherlock’s mask of sociopathy is still in its formation, and when those chinks in his armor are revealed, they seem raw and painful. As his vulnerability is one of my favorite parts of his character, I hope that this doesn’t change much as Sherlock grows older.
But to be frank, Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock could not exist the way he does without Jeremy Brett. Jeremy Brett read the original stories obsessively and fought to make his portrayal and the series as close to it as he could. Cumberbatch really does borrow quite a lot of Brett’s mannerisms: the way he sits in his chair, the variation on the prayer-position hands when thinking (Brett usually uses one finger-but see this gorgeous picture by erinpaint), the way he goes through his papers, throwing them everywhere like a lunatic. The closest his Sherlock approaches Brett’s Holmes, in my opinion, is at the beginning of “The Great Game” with the hung/hanged joke-the way he says, “No, no, no, Mr. Bewick, not at all,” very composed and sarcastic but enjoying the morbid little grammar joke to himself. Just as Brett built upon previous incarnations of Holmes onscreen, Cumberbatch is very lucky to have Brett’s shoulders to stand upon in refining Sherlock into someone even more intensely complicated and fascinating.
David Burke vs. Edward Hardwicke
Now to Dr. Watson: the battle between David Burke and Edward Hardwicke. Superficially they are very similar (my parents didn’t even notice that the actor had changed between one season and the next until I told them). A supreme irony of the series is that the actors switch after “The Final Problem”-it’s Holmes who “died,” but really Watson is the one who changed. I don’t think the question of “who’s better?” is really an answerable one because basically whomever you’re watching at the time is the perfect canonical Watson. Smart, knowledgeable, helpful, reliable, suspicious but not cynical, supportive of Holmes, personable with other people without going overboard, mild-mannered, gently humorous, slow to anger, easy to delight.
I think Burke has a bit more fun with the role and is thus more entertaining, drawing out Watson’s playfulness and a hint of mischievousness, but Hardwicke’s Watson is more…trustworthy, I suppose, more solid: Hardwicke’s Watson is maybe a bit more boring on his own, but this guy has your back, Holmes. And his usual stoicism makes the moments when he is being comical, or truly impressed and laughing happily at Holmes, even more special. So while Burke is more fun to watch, Hardwicke feels more right as Watson, and I believe his take on the character edges out Burke’s. It does irritate me to no end, however, that David Burke is rather invisible when it comes to “The Best Watson” lists, because this guy is a superb Watson.
On Setting, Writing, Directing
A note on setting: I greatly admire this series for being as faithful to the originals as it can, time and place included. However, for the most part (with some notable exceptions), this London is very…clean in a way that is almost unnatural. The streets are dry and mud-free (it hardly ever rains in this series, which is odd for London), the people are usually well-groomed and attractive (unless it’s a blatant part of their character to be disheveled): the slop and filth and pollution and construction I’ve come to fondly associate with London are absent. It makes me think wistfully of the Guy Ritchie films, where everything is sloppy and dirty and nasty-the way I assume it probably was in Victorian England.
Other observations: Women are very frequently either the victims or the clients or both. But a fairly high number of these stories have women being the villains, or in on it with the villains, too. So yay for a surprising number of multi-dimensional women. (I also think Arthur Conan Doyle may have had a thing for Hispanic ladies. They seem to turn up a lot.)
Also, the way this series is directed, particularly in later episodes, is just all over the place and sometimes really weird and unsettling, but not in a way that pleasantly advances the story or sets an appropriate mood. I mean, it makes some episodes look very pretty and artistic, but I’m not sure why; it doesn’t really help viewers to understand what’s going on or to advance plot or show characterization much. Some directors are fans of the extreme close-ups or layering one scene on top of another-but unlike the direction of Sherlock, in which the camera serves as Sherlock’s eyes and helps viewers to “see what he’s seeing,” the strange camerawork here doesn’t appear to serve much purpose. Sometimes I had no idea what a character was actually supposed to look like from afar because I’d only seen his or her eyeballs and cheeks. Ah, well, at least they tried something different-and it must be said that when it does go right, it looks very pretty.
[Mini-reviews of each episode]
With David Burke as Watson:
-The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes:
- A Scandal in Bohemia (1984)-Interesting woman who manages to elude Holmes. See my more thorough write up at this link.
- The Dancing Men (1984)-Little stick figure drawings turn out to be a code. Holmes is really amusing here trying to decode homemade hieroglyphics.
- The Naval Treaty (1984)-Holmes climbs all over the furniture (reminiscent of Reichenbach) to figure out how an important document was stolen.
- The Solitary Cyclist (1984)-Creepy guy stalks a woman via bicycle. Watson on a high-speed bike chase = way more amusing than I think was intended.
- The Crooked Man (1984)-A different take on being handicapped in the Victorian age. Rather tragic backstories.
- The Speckled Band (1984)-A young lady is suspicious of her stepfather after her beloved sister dies in her room. If a write-up and a corpse is the only thing we get from this case in Sherlock, I will be moved to tears. This one is extremely memorable and frankly terrifying with its solution (I am still afraid of things in the night). Absolutely loved it. Oh, and I actually figured out the mystery well in advance of Holmes thanks to having read Mona Gardner’s brilliant short story “The Dinner Party.” Go me!
- The Blue Carbuncle (1984)-Missing gemstones! Geese! Basingstoke’s The Regent’s Park Regulars is the best take on this story I’ve read. So, so great.
- The Copper Beeches (1985)-A couple has some very weird requirements of their new governess. The creeping horror of the truth behind this case is unmatched. Extremely memorable and disturbing as hell.
- The Greek Interpreter (1985)-Scary villains kidnap a translator in order to threaten a Greek guy. I think Google translate might have taken the place of Greek interpreters here. But kidnapping and torture is also interesting!
- The Norwood Builder (1985)-I think Elementary might be doing a take on this with the hidden rooms?
- The Resident Patient (1985)-Mmm, extreme paranoia. The resident doctor in this was really cute.
- The Red-Headed League (1985)-Hundreds of red-headed men line up to compete for a position to be well-paid to hand-write the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. And yet a guy (a very sweet guy, by the way) who’s balding is chosen! Clearly something is fishy (and apparently a “three-pipe problem”). Holmes and Watson take a break during the case to go on a date to see a violinist. Also notable because the HR rep, Duncan Ross, is played by a young Richard Wilson (Gaius in Merlin!) and because Moriarty is introduced and has long, creepy fingernails (which, it later turns out, can scratch paintings).
- The Final Problem (1985)-This episode could really be a full-length film, and I think maybe it should have been in order to show us more of Moriarty. First off, they slowed down/changed the opening theme here to be something more somber and sinister. Vaguely reminded me Sherlock’s theme in the graveyard. As to the plot: Holmes gets super-paranoid after three assassination attempts, and meanwhile, Moriarty has freakin’ stolen the Mona Lisa from the Louvre-that’s pretty badass. Holmes diligently refers to him as a spider at the center of a great web, then Moriarty shows up in 221B and begs Holmes to leave off or he will have to kill him (and it would pain him, he assures Holmes, it really would). With Moriarty on their heels, Holmes takes Watson on a honeymoon through Europe, unfortunately culminating in Switzerland with a certain waterfall, and…well, you know the rest. Holmes here is kinder and doesn’t force Watson to watch.
-The Return of Sherlock Holmes:
- The Empty House (1986)-Colonel Sebastian Moran! Watson fainting! Holmes sleeping from exhaustion in Watson’s office and Watson tenderly covering him with a blanket! But that scene at Reichenbach where Holmes is about to call out to Watson and cuts himself off…*sob*
- The Abbey Grange (1986)-Rather romantic solution to this case! Holmes also crawls all over the furniture again.
- The Musgrave Ritual (1986)-Mmm, trigonometry. Also hell hath no fury as a woman scorned. I rather missed the human chess pieces that were in the Basil Rathbone version of this story, though!
- The Second Stain (1986)-A diplomat with a mysterious wife has an important letter stolen. Lestrade plays a big role in this one. I adored the scene when Holmes desperately tries to get Lestrade out of the room so he can throw himself on the floor and scrabble for the hidden compartment, then he and Watson set everything to rights and appear unmoved and composed when Lestrade comes back in. :D
- The Man with the Twisted Lip (1986)-A friend of Watson’s enlists his help in getting her husband out of an opium den, then it turns out that another remarkable woman is having a similar problem with her husband. This one highlights people we don’t see much of in this series: the very lower classes, many of whom are homeless people or addicts or prostitutes or those with deformities and handicaps. The titular character here is a “professional beggar” with a fondness for classical literature and rather beats Holmes at what is usually his own game! (Also Holmes wakes Watson up by tickling his foot. Hee!) And I learned a new vocabulary word in looking up what “the Laskar” meant.
- The Priory School (1986)-A duke’s ten-year-old son is kidnapped from his school. Tip: if you’re going to try to hide your illegitimate son, make sure he’s not crazy jealous first.
- The Six Napoleons (1986)-Some people really just can’t stand Napoleon and have to break any busts of him they see. The Mafia is no exception.
- The Sign of Four (1987, full-length movie)-Mary Morstan! Her father was a captain who disappeared, and ever since she has been receiving pearls in the mail. I liked the one-legged seaman and his complicated backstory. There seems to be no sign of a romantic relationship between Morstan and Watson because in this series, Holmes and Watson are life partners. :)
- The Devil’s Foot (1988)-A game of cards leaves one woman dead and her two brothers literally insane. One of my favorites: this one has pretty much everything. A disturbing mystery, plausible motives, interesting perpetrators, and the startling depth of trust between our two heroes. Holmes and Watson go on holiday, deliberately poison themselves, and nearly die due to Holmes’ recklessness, except Watson saves the day. Cue some hurt/comfort elements! We get hints of this in Sherlock’s “Hounds of Baskerville,” but I would absolutely love to see Moffat/Gatiss take on this story.
- Silver Blaze (1988)-Horsies! A racehorse has been stolen and its trainer has died. Holmes toying with the horse owner was pretty funny.
- Wisteria Lodge (1988)-A very disturbed Englishman and his cartographer friend get caught up in brutal Central American politics. Notable mainly for the intriguing Inspector Baynes of Scotland Yard, who actually manages to outwit and impress Holmes.
- The Bruce Partington Plans (1988)-Mycroft asks Holmes to find some missing governmental diagrams related to a new submarine. Sherlock does a fairly loyal adaptation of this one with the body on top of the train and falling off at the point. Notable, though, because Holmes and Mycroft are almost affectionate with each other here: Holmes says he would love to take Mycroft’s case.
- Hound of the Baskervilles (1988, full-length movie)-I really like Henry Baskerville. But Holmes isn’t in this much, which is sad.
- The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax (1991)-This one reminded me a lot of Laurie R. King’s A Monstrous Regiment of Women with the focus on women’s suffrage and religious con artists.
- The Problem of Thor Bridge (1991)-A woman is blamed for shooting her employer’s wife on a bridge. I figured out what happened right away, but how it happened was really genius. Well done, smart lady!
- Shoscombe Old Place (1991)-An indebted horse trainer and his sister are clearly hiding something from their servants. Ironically, Jude Law (who would later play Watson in the Guy Ritchie series) is in this! I figured out this mystery right away, but it was still cool.
- The Boscombe Valley Mystery (1991)-A guy dies by a river, and his son is blamed for it. Sherlock adapted this but made it much cleverer with the boomerang guy in “A Scandal in Belgravia.” So when I saw it, I thought a boomerang was the solution, but that was actually better than the given solution, lol.
- The Illustrious Client (1991)-Holmes teams up with the awesome lower-class ex-mistress of a nasty psychopath. He is set to marry a lady who is extremely deluded about her evil fiancé. It’s almost like she’s been brainwashed. Holmes trying to show her this and then giving up was rather sad. If Sherlock Holmes is trying to give you advice on your love life, I strongly suggest you take it.
- The Creeping Man (1991)-Apes have gone missing, and a lady thinks one is watching her through her high bedroom window at night. The solution to this case is…um, freaking hilarious, probably impossible, and like watching Spiderman. I feel ridiculously sorry for the actor involved. But at the same time it’s very, very unsettling.
- The Master Blackmailer (1992, full-length movie)-Loved the villain, Charles Augustus Milverton, here. And another kickass woman. Holmes’ smack-down on blackmailing is interesting, too.
- The Last Vampyre (1993, full-length movie)-A man seems to act like a vampire and has enthralled a younger boy with a penchant for the violin and a hatred for his stepmother. Creeepy pedophilic vibes in this one. Very mysterious.
- The Eligible Bachelor (1993, full-length movie)-Cool American lady is set to marry a crazy psychopath. Vengeful ex-wife is also awesome. And there are exotic animals. But this one is notable because Holmes is suffering from a kind of PTSD from Reichenbach mixed with prophetic dreams about his upcoming case.
- The Three Gables (1994)-Interesting lady antagonist. This is notable for Holmes’ relationship with the professional gossiper Langdale Pike, who totally has a crush on Holmes.
- The Dying Detective (1994)-Holmes pretends to be dying without telling Watson or Mrs. Hudson. Hey, does this sound familiar? :( If Sherlock pulls something like this again, I will strangle him.
- The Golden Prince-nez (1994)-“The professor-it was she,” gasps a dying secretary. The professor in question, though, is an admittedly suspicious chain-smoking man. Watson isn’t in this one, so Mycroft takes his place! His relationship with his brother is fascinating and includes a discussion on their father’s magnifying glass, apparently given to Mycroft. (“He gave it to you?” asks Holmes, clearly hurt but trying not to show it. “How ironic. Excuse me.”)
- The Red Circle (1994)-Mrs. Hudson basically demands that Sherlock help her landlady friend out with a very strange lodger.
- The Mazarin Stone (1994)-Sherlock is hardly in this one (I think Brett was very sick), so Watson and Mycroft team up to find solve the Three Garridebs mystery. I love the two sisters who demand Watson take on this case and get their brother out of trouble. They’re basically cute life-partners, sleeping together in the same bed, and I’m guessing never married.
- The Cardboard Box (1994)-I love getting ears in a box for Christmas *shudder*…a.k.a. three sisters and their complicated relationships.
End result: we owe so very much to Jeremy Brett. If you’re a Sherlock fan, please at least watch one episode with him in it; I think you’ll be very pleasantly surprised. They’re all up on Netflix at the moment. I can honestly say I enjoyed them all, but my favorites were: A Scandal in Bohemia, The Speckled Band, The Copper Beeches, The Second Stain, The Devil’s Foot, The Problem of Thor Bridge, Shoscombe Old Place, The Illustrious Client, The Eligible Bachelor, and The Mazarin Stone. Let me know if you’d like info on anything else about the series! :)
Back to my Sherlock Holmes Adaptations Masterlist: ( Taxi!)