Sherlock Holmes (My Rating: 6)

Jeremy Brett is the definitive one

Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes is the classic detective, solving crimes through keen observation, logical reasoning, rigorous deduction and forensic science. He was not the first such, that honor belongs to Edgar Allan Poe’s detective Dupin who first appeared in the 1841 tale The Murders in the Rue Morgue. But since Sherlock first appeared in 1887’s A Study in Scarlet, he became the model for all that followed. (In A Study in Scarlet, Holmes compares Dupin unfavorably to himself as “showy and superficial” though with “some analytical genius.”)

I first came upon Sherlock Holmes as a young lad seeking escape from life in a cramped apartment flat with four younger siblings. I’d sit on the stoop of a neighboring building and read my book: A Treasury of Sherlock Holmes, with a 1955 introduction by Arthur’s son, Adrian. (I still have this.) Sometimes in cold weather, I’d bundle up and treat myself to a baked potato (with salt and pepper) while reading. You can download Doyle’s Sherlock tales for your reading device at The Gutenberg Project.

According to Guinness World Records, Sherlock Holmes has the world record for the most portrayed literary human character in film & TV, having been depicted on screen 254 times and played by over 75 actors including Christopher Lee, Charlton Heston, Peter O'Toole, Christopher Plummer, Peter Cook, Roger Moore, John Cleese, Benedict Cumberbatch (in a modernized version) and Robert Downey Jr. When younger, I watched a fair number of the 14 films starring Basil Rathbone. But in my view, the best Holmes was Jeremy Brett, who played the role for ten years starting in 1984.

The Brett series – which included 43 of the 60 Holmes stories written by Doyle – played in the UK on ITV (and be found now on Britbox and the Internet). I first watched them on PBS Mystery. I consider them the definitive filmed version for three reasons: they are faithful to Doyle’s stories, the settings and costumes capture the period of the stories in marvelous detail (in a way not likely to be easily replicated these days), and the acting is superb.

Brett brought great intensity and focus to his Sherlock (and did his own marvelous disguises as the plots required). Wikipedia puts it this way:

“Brett was focused on bringing more passion to the role of Holmes. He introduced Holmes's rather eccentric hand gestures and short violent laughter. He would hurl himself on the ground just to look for a footprint, he would leap over the furniture or jump onto the parapet of a bridge with no regard for his personal safety…. Holmes's obsessive and depressive personality fascinated and frightened Brett. In many ways Holmes's personality resembled the actor's own, with outbursts of passionate energy followed by periods of lethargy. It became difficult for him to let go of Holmes after work…. Brett started dreaming about Holmes, and the dreams turned into nightmares…. During the final decade of his life, Brett was treated in hospital several times for his mental illness, and his health and appearance visibly deteriorated by the time he completed the later episodes of the Sherlock Holmes series. At one point, during the final series, Brett collapsed on set.”

David Burke and then Edward Hardwicke played Dr. Watson, both with the depth, calm and intelligence that Doyle intended. (The Watson of this series, however, is often seen trying to get a meal while Holmes – for whom food is simply fuel – is off and running.)

The shows often closely follow the stories – as with The Speckled Band, a locked-room mystery lifted right from the text. But sometimes the screenwriter decided to untwist the plot a bit, especially in the late stories – such as The Disappearance of Lady Francis Carfax – when Doyle may have been going through the motions. He always provides motives but not the psychological depth later added to the genre by PD James. In Doyle’s stories it is all about Sherlock’s observing and following the clues that lead to the how and who. It is Brett that provides moral and psychological depth in his version of Holmes and makes the series the one to watch. So on a scale of 1-5, this gets a six for Sherlock Holmes as brought to life by Jeremy Brett.