# The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [September 21, 2024, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rivals-of-sherlock-holmes/1007550 "2024-09-21T09:17:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2024, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rivals-of-sherlock-holmes/1007550/1 "2024-09-21T09:17:38Z")
Has anyone else been watching this series on Britbox? It’s one-shots based on various fictional detectives in England around the time Sherlock was supposed to have been based. For example, there’s an episode based on a story by the [Baroness Orczy,](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroness_Orczy) who wrote the Scarlet Pimpernel as well as short stories featuring a female detective named _**[Lady Molly of Scotland Yard](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Molly_of_Scotland_Yard)**_. Fascinating variety of stories. ---
**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:** [September 22, 2024, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rivals-of-sherlock-holmes/1007550/2 "2024-09-22T00:11:55Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Has anyone else been watching this series on Britbox? It’s one-shots based on various fictional detectives in England around the time Sherlock was supposed to have been based. For example, there’s an episode based on a story by the [Baroness Orczy,](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroness_Orczy) who wrote the Scarlet Pimpernel as well as short stories featuring a female detective named _**[Lady Molly of Scotland Yard](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Molly_of_Scotland_Yard)**_. Fascinating variety of stories. I didn’t know it was on Britbox. I watched it when it was first broadcast (in the US) on PBS. They published a series of companion volumes with the original stories: **The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes The Further Rivals of Sherlock Holmes Cosmopolitan Crimes: The Foreign Rivals of Sherlock Holmes** The series ran in the 1970s. I assumed they were doing these because they couldn’t get the rights to the Sherlock Holmes stories, for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2024, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rivals-of-sherlock-holmes/1007550/3 "2024-09-22T06:24:38Z")
> [@Love\_Rhombus](#): > > Has anyone else been watching this series on Britbox? It’s one-shots based on various fictional detectives in England around the time Sherlock was supposed to have been based. For example, there’s an episode based on a story by the [Baroness Orczy,](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroness_Orczy) who wrote the Scarlet Pimpernel as well as short stories featuring a female detective named _**[Lady Molly of Scotland Yard](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Molly_of_Scotland_Yard)**_. Fascinating variety of stories. Orczy also created the first armchair detective: [The Old Man in the Corner.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Man_in_the_Corner) Note that in the first Scarlet Pimpernel novel, his wife is the main character. I remember the series when it first came out, and had read some of the stories in Ellery Queen’s _101 Years Entertainment_ anthology.