More observations on the Sherlock Homes series with Brett/Hardwicke

Cafe Society
1

I posted a few months ago about the Sherlock Holmes series starring Jeremy Brett and Edward Hardwicke (or David Burke) and how much I liked them. Unfortunately, our local station started goofing up on the televised episodes and was playing the wrong series entirely, so I had to buy the entire set on DVD to satisfy my addiction.

I wasn’t sorry; I’ve loved every bit of it. We’re now getting towards the end and it’s obvious that Jeremy Brett wasn’t at all a well man. His Holmes became subdued and puffy. He looked quite sick during “The Hound of the Baskervilles” TV movie.

I assumed that as soon as the series was over, he declined into further ill health and death, but just now I found this interview on youtube which, if I understand their conversation correctly, was taken after the series was completely finished. He looks completely lively and chipper, slim and pleased with himself. It brought a tear to my eye because I had just last night watched Baskervilles and was sad to think of his illness and loss.

And after watching both series, I still can’t make up my mind if I like David Burke or Edward Hardwicke better as Watson. Each has his strengths: Burke was younger and more hardy and athletic-seeming, but Hardwicke has that old-school clubman friendliness that I like.

At any rate, if you miss Jeremy Brett, take a look at the youtube interview and remember him as buoyant and bubbly and well.

2

The Two Watsons looked enough alike I thought that Hardwicke was just Burke, who aged a bit during a hiatus.

3

I thought that he died during the filming, with Charles Grey picking up the slack , but the iMDB says that the last series, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes came out in 1994, and Brett died the next year.
I suppose it’s possible that he rallied, but he looked appalling during the last of the memoirs, and they had Grey playing Sherlock’s brother Mycroft in stories where Mycroft didn’t appear so that a Holmes could still solve the mysteries.