Sherlock: Season One

Bringing Sherlock Holmes squarely into 2010 sounds too gimmicky to work, but the fact that it does may be only part of the reason Sherlock is such a surprise. The 19th century iconography the Holmes concept is mired in only exists because that’s when Arthur Conan Doyle wrote all those stories. As far as he was concerned, he was telling tales set in the present. It takes someone who really gets what this Holmes thing is all about to pull off a feat such as this update, and co-creators Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss (both of Doctor Who fame) appear to relish the task. These guys are clearly drunk on Holmes. Nothing they’ve done taints the legacy; they’ve only added to it, and perhaps even whipped it into shape for audiences who might think the works of Conan Doyle are for stuffy old literature enthusiasts. If there’s one thing these three movies are not, it’s stuffy.

Here Sherlock Holmes is played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who has an impossibly deep voice for the wiry, young man that he is. He does an exceptional job in the role of mad genius, and draws you in from his very first scene. Dr. John Watson, a military doctor back from Afghanistan, is brought to life by the wonderful Martin Freeman, who many people know at this point as the actor destined to breathe life into Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit. Freeman also owns his role, and together the two make a perfect team, as they stumble into one another’s lives and take up residence at 221b Baker Street. Freeman may have scored the role of his career with Peter Jackson, but it’s only a matter of time until Cumberbatch gets top billing at the cinemas. It doesn’t take a sleuth to see that this guy’s destined for greatness.

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The Sherlock Holmes Collection

With a brand new Sherlock Holmes movie hitting the big screen in just a matter of days, it probably goes without saying that there will be a demand for classic adventures featuring the world’s most famous detective. The folks at A&E have unearthed this collection from the bowels of the BBC and are presenting these episodes from the ‘60s series starring Peter Cushing for the first time here in the States.

The back of the box claims that “only five episodes of the BBC’s celebrated 1960s Sherlock Holmes series survive. Coincidentally, all five star the inimitable Peter Cushing…” This is somewhat true, but also a bit misleading. The series spanned two seasons in the U.K. The first batch was produced in ‘65 and starred Douglas Wilmer in the title role. As I understand it, nearly that entire run exists, only it’s never been released on DVD either here or in the U.K. For the second season, which was produced three years later, Wilmer was unwilling to return, so Cushing was hired to take his place. (Nigel Stock played Watson in both seasons.) As is often the case with old BBC TV, many episodes were scrapped and the Cushing season was hit the hardest. Actually, six episodes still exist, but two of them comprise “The Hound of the Baskervilles,” so it’s actually five stories, rather than five episodes. The six episodes are spread across three discs, and as one might expect from a color ‘60s BBC show, the majority of the program is shot on videotape, while the occasional exterior work is shot on film. The picture and audio quality is acceptable across the board, but you can tell that no real restoration work has gone into this set.

Read the rest of this review by clicking here and visiting Bullz-Eye.