Sherlock Holmes - your favourite?

[Nearly Sane]

Just catching up with this, rather jolly. For me it's a dead heat between Robert Stephens and Christopher Plummer


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pzsd9

[BeRational]

Basil Rathbone every time.

[Gordon]

Basil Rathbone every time.

Yep - the definitive Sherlock, plus Nigel Bruce was the definitive Watson - in my view anyway.

[Rhiannon]

I have a huge crush on Mr Cumberbatch. But I love Clive Merrison on the wireless.

David Burke was a great Watson. Edward Hardwick a good one.

[Stranger]

Jeremy Brett.

[Rhiannon]

Jonny Lee Miller’s version is fun if nonsensical.

[Aruntraveller]

JEremy Brett - I think. Although I have fond memories of Peter Cushing's BBC series in the late 60s?

[Nearly Sane]

Jonny Lee Miller’s version is fun if nonsensical.

It's rather lovely but I find the whole addict idea overplayed

[Nearly Sane]

I have a huge crush on Mr Cumberbatch. But I love Clive Merrison on the wireless.

David Burke was a great Watson. Edward Hardwick a good one.

Agree, Merrison is brilliant in role. And Michael Williams matched him as Watson. You can't help but love Nigel Bruce but he isn't Watson.

[Rhiannon]

Agree, Merrison is brilliant in role. And Michael Williams matched him as Watson. You can't help but love Nigel Bruce but he isn't Watson.

Agree. Watson is so nuanced. Compassionate, far from stupid, but with an edge to him.

[Harrowby Hall]

No one has yet mentioned Peter Cushing.

Sherlock Holmes is the most ... err ... impersonated character in the history of the film industry. There will be many characterisations of which none of us will be aware.

Rowan Atkinson has recently taken on the role of Jules Maigret. He certainly was not bad - unlike an appalling Richard Harris attempt a few decades ago. But I have never seen characterisation of Maigret that comes anywhere close to that of Rupert Davies (and I have seen the much acclaimed Bruno Cremer). And the great tragedy? The Beeb wiped the tapes during some economy drive or other!

[Aruntraveller]

No one has yet mentioned Peter Cushing.

I don't like to quibble - oh ok I do like to quibble, but I did.

[Nearly Sane]

I don't like to quibble - oh ok I do like to quibble, but I did.

I think the Sherlocks I like are the ones who appear the most human. Too many play him as ratiocinating machines.

[Rhiannon]

Murder by Decree’s a flippin’ good film.

[Nearly Sane]

Murder by Decree’s a flippin’ good film.

One of my favourites . The  idea is nonsense but Plummer is extraordinary.

[Harrowby Hall]

I don't like to quibble - oh ok I do like to quibble, but I did.

Sorry, Trent. I must have been having some perceptual crisis.

Peter Cushing also appeared in a cinema film version of The Hound of the Baskervilles and - for a Nottingham connection John Neville in A Study in Terror.

[Humph Warden Bennett]

Basil Rathbone every time.

Yep.

[Aruntraveller]

Sorry, Trent. I must have been having some perceptual crisis.

Peter Cushing also appeared in a cinema film version of The Hound of the Baskervilles and - for a Nottingham connection John Neville in A Study in Terror.

The film with Cushing was very much a bastardisation of the original story if memory serves me well. The TV series again from memory was of a much higher quality altogether.

[Rhiannon]

The film with Cushing was very much a bastardisation of the original story if memory serves me well. The TV series again from memory was of a much higher quality altogether.

I liked the Jeremy Brett version of this. The Rathbone one is shocking with its fake happy ending.

The Cumberbatch Baskerville themed episode is good, some laugh out loud moments. Very silly plot of course, but still brilliant.

[Aruntraveller]

I struggle with Cumberpatch's Sherlock. Or rather the writers and creators of said series. Tries to be altogether to clever. It doesn't have the simple, brilliant elegance of Conan Doyle's creation.

I accept many people enjoy it and think it is great tv, but Sherlock Holmes it ain't.

[Rhiannon]

I struggle with Cumberpatch's Sherlock. Or rather the writers and creators of said series. Tries to be altogether to clever. It doesn't have the simple, brilliant elegance of Conan Doyle's creation.

I accept many people enjoy it and think it is great tv, but Sherlock Holmes it ain't.

No, I think you have to approach it from the POV that it isn’t true Holmes, but some kind of elaborate fantasy fanfic. I do think it’s clever and I like the nods to the original canon. And some of it incredibly funny. Holmes as best man at Watson’s wedding is priceless.

I’d like to see Cumberbatch play the original.

[floo]

I think Jeremy Brett was the best actor in the role of Sherlock Holmes. I don't rate Cumberbatch's Holmes.

[jeremyp]

Yep - the definitive Sherlock, plus Nigel Bruce was the definitive Watson - in my view anyway.

I disagree. The Watson of the books is not a bumbling old fool.

[floo]

Holmes reminds me of someone with Asperger's syndrome, I think Watson keeps Holmes on an even keel.

[jeremyp]

Holmes reminds me of someone with Asperger's syndrome, I think Watson keeps Holmes on an even keel.

I agree.

To an extent, Watson is an avatar for the readers/audience. However, the Watson of the stories is a far more capable person than the trope would suggest. For this reason, I like the BBC Sherlock adaptation because Martin Freeman's Watson is true to the spirit of the original.

Interestingly, Arthur Conan Doyle wrote some Holmes stories from the point of view of Holmes himself. In those he suggests that the normal stereotype of Watson not having a clue and Holmes only revealing all at the end was dramatic licence introduced by Watson to make the stories have more of a bang. It is all pretty meta.