I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

June Wyndham Davies, Producer of Granada Sherlock Holmes Series, Aged 97

<h4 style="text-align: center;"> “a certain gracious lady” [BRUC]</h4><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1dAAmgcDoUVJkd-GE03FgaajObPv3yaP2AhBtSYMGFiu7BzjypEmDPd-ZYxvJNFe_Eds7oFK-B8NNpvSmB-op3Ge_dSzV8663M0KXviEdQo6LkkMKkJFts8A6IfZaEA6Cr4C8JXIOvbJVA8ohhC0pHc1DNCZJtVLC2io1ZRqm6zIfqchHBS_Ato0OcuGz"><img alt="" data-original-height="1451" data-original-width="2048" height="454" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg1dAAmgcDoUVJkd-GE03FgaajObPv3yaP2AhBtSYMGFiu7BzjypEmDPd-ZYxvJNFe_Eds7oFK-B8NNpvSmB-op3Ge_dSzV8663M0KXviEdQo6LkkMKkJFts8A6IfZaEA6Cr4C8JXIOvbJVA8ohhC0pHc1DNCZJtVLC2io1ZRqm6zIfqchHBS_Ato0OcuGz=w640-h454" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p>News reached Sherlockians today that <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0943921/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_1_nm_7_in_0_q_june%20wyndham" target="_blank">June Wyndham Davies</a>, the Granada Television producer who was a key part of the acclaimed Sherlock Holmes series, passed away on September 9 in Spain.</p><p>Fittingly, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SherlockPod/posts/june-wyndham-davies-1929-2026we-are-deeply-saddened-to-share-news-of-the-passing/1448175404037831/" target="_blank">word came</a> from our friends at <i><a href="https://pod.link/ihearofsherlock/episode/MWEzMDJkNmYtZTIzYi00YWNiLWJmNmUtMWZhNjM1ZjJiOTcx" target="_blank">The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast</a></i>, whose producers have become close to many of the cast and crew of the series. They wrote:</p><blockquote><p> “We are deeply saddened to share news of the passing of our friend, June Wyndham Davies. Her transition was peaceful and she was with loved ones."</p></blockquote><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">An Eye for Holmes</h2><h4 style="text-align: left;">“Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself; but talent instantly recognizes genius.” [VALL]</h4><p>Born on June 27th in Cardiff, Wales to Mervyn and Despina Wyndham Davies, June trained at RADA and began her career as an actress before moving behind the camera. She joined the BBC as a director in 1965, working across single-play strands including <i>30 Minute Theate</i>r and <i>Sunday Afternoon Theatre</i>, then went freelance in 1969, directing for the BBC, Anglia, and Yorkshire television as well as Granada — work that included the Emmy-nominated <i>Heidi </i>(1974) and long stretches on <i>Coronation Street</i> and <i>Crown Court</i>.</p><p><br /></p><p>From 1976 she worked almost exclusively for Granada, producing dark and supernatural drama <i>Shades of Darkness</i> among it — and the Victorian-set <i>Cribb</i> series. It was against that backdrop that <a href="http://www.dunwich.org/tv/sherlock/junewynd.html" target="_blank">she made the recommendation</a> for which Sherlockians can be the most grateful: she suggested Jeremy Brett for the title role in <i>The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</i>. By her own account, she was not even particularly fond of Sherlock Holmes. She simply knew talent when she saw it — which, as Holmes himself might have observed, is a rarer gift than it sounds.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Guiding the Canon to the Screen</h2><h4 style="text-align: left;">“A friendly native will surely guide us.” [CREE]</h4><p>Wyndham Davies went on to produce <i><a href="https://amzn.to/4A8vjxV" target="_blank">The Return of Sherlock Holmes</a></i>, taking over day-to-day running of the series when Michael Cox stepped back to his executive producing duties. When Cox resumed direct control for <i><a href="https://amzn.to/4yqUVo0" target="_blank">The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes</a></i> (1991), she returned to lead the two-hour feature films that followed — among them <b><i>The Master Blackmailer</i></b> (1992) — working with screenwriter Jeremy Paul to stretch thinner source material to feature length.</p><p><br /></p><p>Her fiercest fight came with <i><a href="https://amzn.to/4yx9kz3" target="_blank">The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes</a></i> (1994). Having initially been denied airtime, she fought for and won six one-hour episodes — then had to steer the production through Jeremy Brett's advancing illness, a circumstance that led to the decision in one episode to give Holmes this part to his brother Mycroft, rather than abandon the story. It was producing under the most difficult of circumstances, in service of a series she had helped propel.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">A Career Beyond Baker Street</h2><h4 style="text-align: left;">“Art in the blood is liable to take the strangest forms.” [GREE]</h4><p>Holmes was only ever part of her output. In 1997 she won a BAFTA Cymru for Best Drama for <i>August</i>, a Welsh-set adaptation of <i>Uncle Vanya</i>, directed by its star Anthony Hopkins. She had previously received the Chicago International Film Festival's Silver Plaque for <i>The Lady's Maid's Bell</i> (1985). Along the way, she gave early opportunities to actors including Michael Caine, Hugh Grant, and Rhys Ifans — a reminder that her eye for talent was no one time accident of casting Brett, but a career-long habit.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Granada series she helped shepherd to screen remains, for many, a fixed point in a changing age against which every subsequent Sherlock Holmes is measured. That debt is owed in no small part to a producer who knew a good thing the moment she saw it, and who spent the rest of her career proving it wasn't a fluke.</p><p><br /></p><p>You can listen to an in-depth conversation with June Wyndham Davies, conducted by <i><a href="http://sherlockpodcast.com/" target="_blank">The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast</a></i>: </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="416" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/yqiF69XzBOg" width="501" youtube-src-id="yqiF69XzBOg"></iframe></div><div><br /></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;"><br /></p><p><br /></p>