# The best Sherlock Holmes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 20, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675 "2008-11-20T17:45:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/1 "2008-11-20T17:45:34Z")
I’m afraid I’ve come a bit late to the appreciation of Jeremy Brett’s portrayal of Sherlock Homes in the 1984 television series. The series is being shown lately on, I believe, the Mystery Channel, and I’m astounded at how Brett so precisely captured the character and mannerisms of the book Holmes. It’s uncanny. The Watson character is well portrayed, too, and not as a bumbling comedy relief sidekick. I’ve only seen two episodes of this series so far and I’m looking forward to seeing the others; however, some doofus employed at the Mystery Channel keeps mixing up the tapes of some other (very crappy) Sherlock Holmes series, even though the description on the program guide is of the 1984 Jeremy Brett series. Has anyone else seen this excellent program? If not, and you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan, I highly recommend it. Factoid: Jeremy Brett also played Freddy Einsford-Hill in the movie _My Fair Lady_. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/2 "2008-11-20T17:48:29Z")
> [@teela\_brown](#): > > I’m afraid I’ve come a bit late to the appreciation of Jeremy Brett’s portrayal of Sherlock Homes in the 1984 television series. The series is being shown lately on, I believe, the Mystery Channel, and I’m astounded at how Brett so precisely captured the character and mannerisms of the book Holmes. It’s uncanny. The Watson character is well portrayed, too, and not as a bumbling comedy relief sidekick. > > I’ve only seen two episodes of this series so far and I’m looking forward to seeing the others; however, some doofus employed at the Mystery Channel keeps mixing up the tapes of some other (very crappy) Sherlock Holmes series, even though the description on the program guide is of the 1984 Jeremy Brett series. > > Has anyone else seen this excellent program? If not, and you’re a Sherlock Holmes fan, I highly recommend it. > > Factoid: Jeremy Brett also played Freddy Einsford-Hill in the movie _My Fair Lady_. Long-time fan of that series here. It is indeed the best portrayal, or at least the best I’ve seen. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/3 "2008-11-20T18:13:27Z")
Another vote for Jeremy Brett. It was so sad he died before he completed the canon, which he apparently was set on doing. His wife had passed a few years before him and her death caused him to suffer extreme depression which took him out of commission for a long period; time which would have been presumably spent filming more stories. All of his performances are available on DVD; highly recommended. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/4 "2008-11-20T18:43:42Z")
Factoid:Jeremy Brett played **Dracula** onstage in the 1970s revival that Frank Langella first starred in. (I’ve seen the pictures) Factoid: I heard that Brett played _Watson_ to Charton Heston’s Holmes onstage, but I haven’t seen any pictures. Opinion: The later entries get overlong and bloated, after Brett started getting ill. The one based on The Advenbture of the Sussex Vampire is not worth watching. But the early ones he did are the best Sherlock Holmes adaptations I’ve ever seen. See the longer early ones – **The sign of Four** and **The Hound of the Baskervilles**. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/5 "2008-11-20T18:46:33Z")
Jeremy Brett is absolutely hands down the best Sherlock ever. We’ve been Netflixing the DVDs. My boyfriend is a VERY picky Sherlock fan and he’d have Jeremy Brett’s babies, if Jeremy Brett weren’t dead and they both weren’t men. He does such good face acting. It really makes you realize how much Watson had to put up with. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/6 "2008-11-20T19:23:48Z")
Brett was the best. I loathed Sherlock Holmes until I saw him do it. ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/7 "2008-11-20T19:31:04Z")
Mr. brown is a Sherlock fan. After we saw our first episode of this Brett series, I pronounced him as the best portrayal. Mr. brown held out for Basil Rathbone, an old favorite. Then we saw our second episode. and Mr. brown came around to my way of thinking. Now we are eager to see the rest and may have to resort to Netflix to get our fix. I also love the authentic-looking old London sets and real London street scenes. Now and then I’m seeing an actor I know from _Blackadder_ or _Duchess of Duke Street_, too. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/8 "2008-11-20T19:34:05Z")
Yes, Brett was the actor who made me love Sherlock Holmes, something even the otherwise wonderful Basil Rathbone could not make me do, although to be fair, Basil was crippled by bad scripts and and a clownish Watson. The second series “The Return Of Sherlock Holmes” has most of my favorite episodes. Brett was in peak form and replacing David Burke with Edward Hardwicke as Watson made a huge difference to the chemistry of the two characters. The scene where Watson comes face-to-face with Holmes after believing him dead for two years still makes me mist up. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/9 "2008-11-20T19:55:13Z")
At a church garage sale a while ago, I was able to score a huge box full of the Brett videotapes for $25. Best $25 I ever spent. But I do have to say that Rathbone looks exactly like Holmes should look. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/10 "2008-11-20T21:15:25Z")
Brett is undoubtedly the best, but for me Rathbone is a respectable second because he was the first Holmes I saw. In the 60’s I grew up watching seemingly endless repeats of Rathbone’s movies. And I still prefer his version of HOTB (the only movie set in period). ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/11 "2008-11-20T21:18:49Z")
Brett also looks EXACTLY like the Sidney Paget illustrations of Holmes. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/12 "2008-11-20T22:06:36Z")
Brett, Brett, a thousand times Brett! Rathbone is a distant second to him, IMHO; Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are even farther back. Brett just nailed Holmes as Conan Doyle envisioned him. Hard to imagine anyone will ever surpass Brett. My favorites with Brett in the top role: “The Norwood Builder” (with Holmes showing up Insp. Lestrade with characteristic verve and ill-suppressed glee), “The Red-Headed League” (Holmes putting the pieces of the puzzle together, decisively solving the case and catching the bad guys with style), “Silver Blaze” (Holmes at his cryptic but insightful best) and “The Musgrave Ritual” (some great scenes as he runs about his old friend’s country estate, figuring out the ancient riddle). ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/13 "2008-11-20T22:48:39Z")
Count me in as a long-time Brett fan. I remember watching him on PBS back in the mid-80s after having read the complete works and it really was like seeing the books come to life (though they weren’t always completely faithful to the stories they were very close). My creative writing teacher in HS said Brett made his teeth itch - he was a Rathbone fan to the core. But the Rathbone movies I saw all played fast and loose, just threw the characters into different situations and it never worked for me. ---
**Author:** ![PerditaX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/65b543/32.png) [@PerditaX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PerditaX)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/14 "2008-11-20T23:18:19Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Brett also looks EXACTLY like the Sidney Paget illustrations of Holmes. I had been reading Sherlock Holmes from an edition with the Paget illustrations when I first came across the Jeremy Brett series. I was astounded! He looked just like the pictures! ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2008, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/15 "2008-11-20T23:28:07Z")
> [@PerditaX](#): > > I had been reading Sherlock Holmes from an edition with the Paget illustrations when I first came across the Jeremy Brett series. I was astounded! He looked just like the pictures! By George, you’re [right](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/Sherlock_Holmes_-_The_Man_with_the_Twisted_Lip.jpg/300px-Sherlock_Holmes_-_The_Man_with_the_Twisted_Lip.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e36b37/32.png) [@Not\_A\_Tame\_Lion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_A_Tame_Lion)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/16 "2008-11-21T00:59:06Z")
Recently, one of the local PBS stations has been rerunning the first series of the Sherlock Holmes episodes, so I was thinking about this very subject not so long ago. I’ll not only concur with the Brett fans in this thread, I’ll take it a step further: I think his portrayal of Holmes is the greatest example of sustained excellence in a television performance in the history of the medium. Many television actors became synonymous with their signature roles, but none (in my mind) to the extent that Brett became the model for Holmes. If the man had held a press conference and announced, “Actually, I’m not an actor named Jeremy Brett–I really _am_ Sherlock Holmes,” I would have believed him. A shame he left us too soon. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/17 "2008-11-21T05:17:09Z")
Forgot to mention earlier, I saw Brett in a stage adaptation of a Holmes pastiche on New Year’s Eve, 1988, in London, and he was just as great as in the Grenada TV episodes. I spoke with him briefly at the stage door afterward and he was very cheery. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/18 "2008-11-21T05:24:35Z")
When I was a kid I watched and enjoyed several of the old Basil Rathbone movies that played on the local station (KTLA-5?) Years passed and I noticed this new Sherlock Holmes series starting on PBS. Jeremy Brett was amazing. He really nailed the character. I liked the costumes and the camerawork, and the music was good too. I can’t imagine there being a better Holmes. (Of course part of that is the times; a combination of filmmaking sensibilities, my youth, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/19 "2008-11-21T06:32:22Z")
Wow, you guys read my mind. I used to watch these with my Dad on A&E when I was a kid, and when I think Holmes, I think Jeremy Brett, hands down. I was watching My Fair Lady tonight, and I mentioned him to my roomate.. Now get the cameras out of my house!! > [@Mrs.Cake](#): > > … The scene where Watson comes face-to-face with Holmes after believing him dead for two years still makes me mist up. This is my absolute favorite scene in Doyle’s writing, and the series, Bar none. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2008, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675/20 "2008-11-21T06:42:47Z")
Yep, yet another vote for Jeremy Brett. Like many others, I first saw him when i was a kid watching him with my folks on PBS. I had read every Sherlock Holmes story before I finished jr. high, and Jeremy Brett was exactly the Sherlock I pictured. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-sherlock-holmes/473675.md?page=2)