Episode 335: Brettcon 2 – The Return

<h4 style="text-align: center;">“the affair which you have commemorated” [MUSG] </h4><h4 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyBmKJ8IZQ9plKhpfTwdd-MmpbgEBuCagk2w3PwERYvAuDcF7ZxXbcifBW6EnfFKEiabU3dLDv1mZ_56AQWncFRVj4NKQo-5DX2vx29bD6agu5tUTl1fcB4cst6NuvQbL-Ds6vAdZF0vEFpI892LphfPCsuO_3xDl_wJ0CumNdpQGusNXhMB8tJOdoroJC/s2250/ihearofsherlock335%20header.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2250" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyBmKJ8IZQ9plKhpfTwdd-MmpbgEBuCagk2w3PwERYvAuDcF7ZxXbcifBW6EnfFKEiabU3dLDv1mZ_56AQWncFRVj4NKQo-5DX2vx29bD6agu5tUTl1fcB4cst6NuvQbL-Ds6vAdZF0vEFpI892LphfPCsuO_3xDl_wJ0CumNdpQGusNXhMB8tJOdoroJC/w640-h426/ihearofsherlock335%20header.jpg" width="640" /></a></h4><div><div>We welcome back Gus and Luke Holwerda, hosts of <i><a href="http://sherlockpodcast.com/" target="_blank">The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast</a></i>, along with their producer, David Youell, to discuss <b>Brettcon 2: The Return</b>. Scheduled for September 19, 2026, at the Dancehouse Theatre in Manchester, this second conference in the series continues to celebrate the 40th anniversary of legendary Granada Television series and the incomparable Jeremy Brett. </div><div><br /></div><div>Following the success of their first conference in 2025, they reflect on the extraordinary sense of community the event inspired, bringing together fans from around the world with actors and crew members who shared memories of Jeremy Brett — a brilliant actor, and an admired and generous human being whose presence still resonates.</div><div><br /></div><div>We discuss Brettcon 2’s star-studded lineup, which includes actor Michael Siberry, BAFTA-winning costume designer Esther Dean, actor and stuntman Kiran Shah, and an exclusive for IHOSE of a very special pair of guests. From screenings of classic episodes to displays of original, unseen costumes, it’s a salute to the artistry and community that defined the Granada era. </div><div><br /></div><div>Beyond the main event, Gus, Luke and David also discuss the weekend extravaganza that takes fans into the heart of the show's production history, including a Friday meal at the former Granada Studios back lot, the original site of Baker Street. And they highlight the charitable mission at the heart of Brettcon, with all proceeds benefiting the mental health charity MindUK, in honor of Jeremy’s own journey.</div><div><br /></div><div>And you'll want to make sure you listen to additional bonus material as our conversation continued.</div><div><br /></div><div>Our “Learned Societies” segment kicks off with Sherlockian society activities coming up in the second half of July. Then, it’s a new edition of “Examining the Pictures,” with the film critic, journalist, and author Christian Monggaard, BSI, as he reviews a cult classic from the 1970s. Finally, the Canonical Couplet quiz will test your Sherlock Holmes knowledge, with a copy of something from the vaults for the winner. Send your answer to comment @ihearofsherlock.com by June 14, 2026 at 11:59 a.m. EDT. All listeners are eligible to play.</div></div><div><br /></div><p style="text-align: center;">As a reminder, our <a href="https://ihose.co/ihosepatron" target="_blank">supporters</a> can listen to the show ad-free and have access to occasional bonus material. Join us on the platform of your choice (<a href="https://patreon.com/ihearofsherlock" target="_blank">Patreon</a> | <a href="https://ihearofsherlock.substack.com" target="_blank">Substack</a>).</p><p style="text-align: center;">And if you need some show swag or gift ideas, or if you want to show off your good taste to other Sherlockians, check out our <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/merchandise" target="_blank">Merch Store</a>, with mugs, notepads and more.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Merriweather; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://traffic.libsyn.com/ihearofsherlock/ihearofsherlock335.mp3" style="color: #013fd3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Download</a> [Save As] | File size: 102 MB, 1:26:36</h3><p><iframe title="Embed Player" src="https://play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/41480115/height/192/theme/modern/size/large/thumbnail/yes/custom-color/414851/time-start/00:00:00/playlist-height/200/direction/backward/download/yes/font-color/FFFFFF" height="192" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" oallowfullscreen="true" msallowfullscreen="true" style="border-width: medium; border-style: none; border-color: currentcolor; border-image: initial;" data-dashlane-rid="ce4f2e99515886f0" data-dashlane-classification="other"></iframe><br /></p><p><br /></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Merriweather; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;">Leave I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere a five-star rating on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-hear-of-sherlock-everywhere/id258126625?ls=1" style="color: #013fd3; text-decoration-line: none;">Apple Podcasts</a> and <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/30WtRn1mnXfAtX7YaeRY5Y" style="color: #013fd3; text-decoration-line: none;">Spotify</a>; listen to us <a href="https://pod.link/ihearofsherlock" style="color: #013fd3; text-decoration-line: none;">wherever you listen to podcasts</a>.</h3><h2><br /></h2><h2>Links</h2><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://sherlockpodcast.com" target="_blank"><i>The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast</i></a></li><li><a href="https://www.tickettailor.com/events/thejeremybrettsherlockholmespodcast/1921947" target="_blank">Brettcon 2: The Return</a></li><li>Other episodes mentioned on the show:</li><ul><li><a href="https://pod.link/ihearofsherlock/episode/MDY1YjdjYjQtNGQwOC00MTI5LTg2ZTYtYjIyOGI3ZjJmY2Iy" target="_blank">Episode 334: Remembering David Burke</a></li><li><a href="https://pod.link/ihearofsherlock/episode/Y2EwMDI5YjItNjJjYi00YjcyLWE3MGItZTRmMTU5M2RlMTZi" target="_blank">Episode 284: Brettcon</a></li><li><a href="https://pod.link/ihearofsherlock/episode/MWEzMDJkNmYtZTIzYi00YWNiLWJmNmUtMWZhNjM1ZjJiOTcx" target="_blank">Episode 203: The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast</a></li><li><a href="https://pod.link/ihearofsherlock/episode/N2ExMGM0ZGYxMjM0MGEwYmE0ZmQ0ZTUxYTlkZGI3ZDQ" target="_blank">Episode 33: Remembering Edward Hardwicke</a></li></ul><li><a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/merchandise" target="_blank">I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere / Trifles Merch Store</a></li></ul><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj29cSHabGIObH4IdQeGyx88PTNcrOeD1J3l8-pjNYrpKNS5DLNjRjSVWxJzYbEhJGSvRPxOa9hIwgz4QYUYM-e4vALe1Tx2Je3pl8KQh6g_rueo9E8pd7SossrtPayueShhgt9Hd_JUqsj3yqVN7VUKghho7s3n51MIBgCKCsf_FAe34zDSNstKSge7Off/s590/IHOSE%20Mug%202%20closeup.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="590" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj29cSHabGIObH4IdQeGyx88PTNcrOeD1J3l8-pjNYrpKNS5DLNjRjSVWxJzYbEhJGSvRPxOa9hIwgz4QYUYM-e4vALe1Tx2Je3pl8KQh6g_rueo9E8pd7SossrtPayueShhgt9Hd_JUqsj3yqVN7VUKghho7s3n51MIBgCKCsf_FAe34zDSNstKSge7Off/w200-h200/IHOSE%20Mug%202%20closeup.jpg" width="200" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjif67emMEZTIJ0oOOOia1YWy-moeQpeIw00bsbuzhNZovbSSppBx05SmmLRe4_PaHc-glGFGx_w2o1a7uafYZT-6n7iEep6dJdkNTrcIWXW29Whwd6WrrzrpuE-rcRZED2WbBzPHXel946i-FPAg2mqW2oF7vt9TPW1vuWHntG1NVSqgYXE3JWKZSB3jH3/s768/Notepad%20-%20IHOSE.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="768" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjif67emMEZTIJ0oOOOia1YWy-moeQpeIw00bsbuzhNZovbSSppBx05SmmLRe4_PaHc-glGFGx_w2o1a7uafYZT-6n7iEep6dJdkNTrcIWXW29Whwd6WrrzrpuE-rcRZED2WbBzPHXel946i-FPAg2mqW2oF7vt9TPW1vuWHntG1NVSqgYXE3JWKZSB3jH3/w200-h200/Notepad%20-%20IHOSE.jpg" width="200" /></a><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/p/sherlock-holmes-gifts.html" target="_blank">Explore more here</a>.</h4><p>Find all of our relevant links and social accounts at <a href="http://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock">linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>And would you consider leaving us a rating and or a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Goodpods? It would help other Sherlockians find us.</p><p>Your thoughts on the show? Leave a comment below, send us an email (comment AT ihearofsherlock DOT com), call us at 5-1895-221B-5. That's (518) 952-2125.</p><div><br /></div><br /><br /><br />

Episode 335: Brettcon 2 – The Return

“the affair which you have commemorated” [MUSG]  We welcome back Gus and Luke Holwerda, hosts of The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast , ...

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by Scott Monty

Episode 334: Remembering David Burke

<h4 style="text-align: center;">“I fear that it is at a cost which will give pain to my friends” [FINA] </h4><!--x-tinymce/html--><h4 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKNY05gKMVo-Z6g_jIX-OaGxwa-kjtwfTYoY9ncfol8hrWuQLq9iv8d2KqiP_PnWfgTlSIVIJcMU9qEdO0vE-zGhCPYeOS4qF_LGgvATmj29v46eh21V5H66nmzNr55JOWDFpzVH4NCbKtq8yzgrJ-7POUIF0z5pGn8l9ASvOT5tURYYBxZbvhiJiPeG-d/s1442/ihearofsherlock334-header.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1442" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKNY05gKMVo-Z6g_jIX-OaGxwa-kjtwfTYoY9ncfol8hrWuQLq9iv8d2KqiP_PnWfgTlSIVIJcMU9qEdO0vE-zGhCPYeOS4qF_LGgvATmj29v46eh21V5H66nmzNr55JOWDFpzVH4NCbKtq8yzgrJ-7POUIF0z5pGn8l9ASvOT5tURYYBxZbvhiJiPeG-d/w640-h480/ihearofsherlock334-header.png" width="640" /></a></h4><div><div>This special emergency episode of <i>I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere</i> serves as a tribute to actor David Burke, the first performer to play Dr. Watson in the Granada television series, who passed away a few days ago at the age of 91.</div></div><div><br /></div><div>Burt is away, but Scott is joined by Gus and Luke Holwerda, co-hosts and creators of <b><i>The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast</i></b>. Ironically, we had recorded a regular episode with Gus and Luke earlier this week, but upon the news of David's passing, we pre-empted that show.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>Gus and Luke share their personal reminiscences about David, stemming from their visit to David's home, revealing how nervous he was at that meeting. We analyze Burke's unique portrayal, highlighting the many deeply human qualities he brought to the role in the 13 episodes in which he starred with Jeremy Brett, laying the groundwork for a well-rounded, three-dimensional Watson</div><div><br /></div><div>And we share and comment on a number of clips from those episodes. Listen to hear if a favorite scene of yours comes up and if you name the episodes from which they're drawn before we do.</div></div><div><br /></div><p>As a reminder, our <a href="https://ihose.co/ihosepatron" target="_blank">supporters</a> can listen to the show ad-free and have access to occasional bonus material. Join us on the platform of your choice (<a href="https://patreon.com/ihearofsherlock" target="_blank">Patreon</a> | <a href="https://ihearofsherlock.substack.com" target="_blank">Substack</a>).</p><p>And if you need some show swag or gift ideas, or if you want to show off your good taste to other Sherlockians, check out our <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/merchandise" target="_blank">Merch Store</a>, with mugs, notepads and more.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Merriweather; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://traffic.libsyn.com/ihearofsherlock/ihearofsherlock334.mp3" style="color: #013fd3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Download</a> [Save As] | File size: 57.2 MB, 57:26</h3><p><iframe allowfullscreen="" data-dashlane-classification="other" data-dashlane-frameid="2217" data-dashlane-rid="76b30297ac2dccb6" height="192" mozallowfullscreen="true" msallowfullscreen="true" oallowfullscreen="true" scrolling="no" src="https://play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/41305395/height/192/theme/modern/size/large/thumbnail/yes/custom-color/414851/time-start/00:00:00/playlist-height/200/direction/backward/download/yes/font-color/FFFFFF" style="border-color: currentcolor; border-image: initial; border-style: none; border-width: medium;" title="Embed Player" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="100%"></iframe><br /></p><p><br /></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Merriweather; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;">Leave I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere a five-star rating on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-hear-of-sherlock-everywhere/id258126625?ls=1" style="color: #013fd3; text-decoration-line: none;">Apple Podcasts</a> and <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/30WtRn1mnXfAtX7YaeRY5Y" style="color: #013fd3; text-decoration-line: none;">Spotify</a>; listen to us <a href="https://pod.link/ihearofsherlock" style="color: #013fd3; text-decoration-line: none;">wherever you listen to podcasts</a>.</h3><h2><br /></h2><h2>Links</h2><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2026/05/david-burke-first-watson-of-granada-era.html" target="_blank">David Burke, the First Watson of the Granada Era, Passes at 91</a></li><li><a href="https://sherlockpodcast.com" target="_blank"><i>The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast</i></a></li><ul><li>David Burke: A Sherlockian Conversation <span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;">(</span><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/david-burke-a-sherlockian-conversation/id1449254170?i=1000580031352" style="background-color: white; color: #013fd3; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">iTunes</a><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;"> | </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1ynDvkh8mU" style="background-color: white; color: #013fd3; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">YouTube</a><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;">)</span></li><li><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;">England 2022 Trip Report: David Burke, Granada Filming Locations and more! (<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/england-2022-trip-report-david-burke-granada-filming/id1449254170?i=1000581641634" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="color: #013fd3; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">iTunes </a>| <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2dlzAeZx5M" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" style="color: #013fd3; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">YouTube</a>) </span></li><li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=VwiWtZBj6tO4YtEJ&v=GPQiWcEJJEg&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">BRETTCON Video Greetings: Stephen Fry, Colin Jeavons, David Burke</a> (YouTube)</li></ul><li><a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/merchandise" target="_blank">I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere / Trifles Merch Store</a></li></ul><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj29cSHabGIObH4IdQeGyx88PTNcrOeD1J3l8-pjNYrpKNS5DLNjRjSVWxJzYbEhJGSvRPxOa9hIwgz4QYUYM-e4vALe1Tx2Je3pl8KQh6g_rueo9E8pd7SossrtPayueShhgt9Hd_JUqsj3yqVN7VUKghho7s3n51MIBgCKCsf_FAe34zDSNstKSge7Off/s590/IHOSE%20Mug%202%20closeup.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="590" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj29cSHabGIObH4IdQeGyx88PTNcrOeD1J3l8-pjNYrpKNS5DLNjRjSVWxJzYbEhJGSvRPxOa9hIwgz4QYUYM-e4vALe1Tx2Je3pl8KQh6g_rueo9E8pd7SossrtPayueShhgt9Hd_JUqsj3yqVN7VUKghho7s3n51MIBgCKCsf_FAe34zDSNstKSge7Off/w200-h200/IHOSE%20Mug%202%20closeup.jpg" width="200" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjif67emMEZTIJ0oOOOia1YWy-moeQpeIw00bsbuzhNZovbSSppBx05SmmLRe4_PaHc-glGFGx_w2o1a7uafYZT-6n7iEep6dJdkNTrcIWXW29Whwd6WrrzrpuE-rcRZED2WbBzPHXel946i-FPAg2mqW2oF7vt9TPW1vuWHntG1NVSqgYXE3JWKZSB3jH3/s768/Notepad%20-%20IHOSE.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="768" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjif67emMEZTIJ0oOOOia1YWy-moeQpeIw00bsbuzhNZovbSSppBx05SmmLRe4_PaHc-glGFGx_w2o1a7uafYZT-6n7iEep6dJdkNTrcIWXW29Whwd6WrrzrpuE-rcRZED2WbBzPHXel946i-FPAg2mqW2oF7vt9TPW1vuWHntG1NVSqgYXE3JWKZSB3jH3/w200-h200/Notepad%20-%20IHOSE.jpg" width="200" /></a><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/p/sherlock-holmes-gifts.html" target="_blank">Explore more here</a>.</h4><p>Find all of our relevant links and social accounts at <a href="http://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock">linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>And would you consider leaving us a rating and or a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Goodpods? It would help other Sherlockians find us.</p><p>Your thoughts on the show? Leave a comment below, send us an email (comment AT ihearofsherlock DOT com), call us at 5-1895-221B-5. That's (518) 952-2125.</p><div><br /></div><br /><br />

Episode 334: Remembering David Burke

“I fear that it is at a cost which will give pain to my friends” [FINA]  This special emergency episode of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere se...

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by Scott Monty

David Burke, the First Watson of the Granada Era, Passes at 91

<h4 style="text-align: center;">“the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask” [3GAR] </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_NAAXhc5uEhctm7SQKwCJ-Qp_Vz5rSToma0b-UV1Psu0oglIOwNwk9cbXm8j4VrzI25k6SL9bhH0SZeFf6fEpjn1n8L_dbEpDa2sgKhFD70uJJ0BwWM-VRolzgvX8YAuIqsl_53gr254RJ9XOtNiadngXGeyuIT2TRMcH1IUDLgUzDcIFYxVRe-3u7PvE/s620/jeremy-brett-david-burke.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="465" data-original-width="620" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_NAAXhc5uEhctm7SQKwCJ-Qp_Vz5rSToma0b-UV1Psu0oglIOwNwk9cbXm8j4VrzI25k6SL9bhH0SZeFf6fEpjn1n8L_dbEpDa2sgKhFD70uJJ0BwWM-VRolzgvX8YAuIqsl_53gr254RJ9XOtNiadngXGeyuIT2TRMcH1IUDLgUzDcIFYxVRe-3u7PvE/w640-h480/jeremy-brett-david-burke.jpg" width="640"></a></div><br><div><br></div>There are actors who play Dr. Watson, and there are actors who <em>understand</em> him. David Burke — who originated the role of John H. Watson opposite Jeremy Brett in Granada Television’s <em>The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</em> — was one of the rarest of the latter. We have learned that he passed away in recent days, as confirmed by his family.<div><br></div><div>In the 13 episodes he gave us between 1984 and 1985, he did not so much inhabit the good doctor as quietly rescue him from forty years of cinematic condescension. For a generation of viewers raised on Nigel Bruce’s harrumphing, hand-wringing Watson — lovable, certainly, but irredeemably the butt of the joke and <i>Boobus Britannicus</i> in the flesh — Burke’s arrival was nothing short of a corrective. <p>Here, at last, was the Watson Conan Doyle had actually written: an Army surgeon who had seen Maiwand, a man of action who carried his service revolver and knew how to use it, a physician of professional competence, and — perhaps most importantly — an intelligent, observant, fully grown human being whom Sherlock Holmes would actually have chosen as his friend.</p><p><br></p><span></span></div>

David Burke, the First Watson of the Granada Era, Passes at 91

“the depth of loyalty and love which lay behind that cold mask” [3GAR]  There are actors who play Dr. Watson, and there are actors who under...

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by Scott Monty

Remembering Michael Pennington

<h4 style="text-align: center;">“give my little impersonations your kindly praise” [MAZA] </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2eJ439WQ6refZb8O8A_Ug_9vjTUPHWDpZ5mSFiZuYlxay1BIpBwbK6WRqxjJHvuANfzkGWuf6Rf7Cn4LFHG9b-rc738xKdp-GmqmSFu8_h210Fg_tjq0px26L7iKyFkpp3aRGcMbI2pLRoGxLiVC7KlEI1K9QiJ4DwZilsax0J1VQFmcITeXy37JqU79p/s982/Michael%20Pennington%20-%201987%20Return.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="732" data-original-width="982" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2eJ439WQ6refZb8O8A_Ug_9vjTUPHWDpZ5mSFiZuYlxay1BIpBwbK6WRqxjJHvuANfzkGWuf6Rf7Cn4LFHG9b-rc738xKdp-GmqmSFu8_h210Fg_tjq0px26L7iKyFkpp3aRGcMbI2pLRoGxLiVC7KlEI1K9QiJ4DwZilsax0J1VQFmcITeXy37JqU79p/w640-h478/Michael%20Pennington%20-%201987%20Return.png" width="640"></a></div><br><div>Even though Sherlock Holmes holds the record as the literary figure most portrayed on film, it is shocking when we lose an actor who has played the role. The death of Michael Pennington (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0672190/?ref_=mv_close" target="_blank">IMDb</a>) at the age of 82, announced this weekend, takes one such impersonator from us. </div><div><br></div><div>His <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2026/05/10/michael-pennington-english-shakespeare-company-old-vic/" target="_blank">obituary in <i>The Telegraph</i></a> notes he was “acclaimed for its intelligence and flawless diction”, which one would hope from the founder (with Michael Bogdanov) of the English Shakespeare Company, the author of ten books on his craft, and over a half-century of stage work that any actor would envy. </div><div><br></div><div>But Sherlockians recall Pennington for a more particular distinction. In the span of six years, he played both halves of the most legendary archrivalry in literature: Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty. Few actors have stood on both sides of the abyss at Reichenbach. Fewer still have done so with his pedigree.</div><div><br></div><h2>The 80s Sherlock Holmes Renaissance</h2><h4>“and in 1887” [TWIS]</h4><div>To understand how Pennington landed in Baker Street at all, you have to understand the strange weather of the 1980s. Sherlock Holmes had never quite gone away (he never does), but the decade brought an extraordinary convergence. The Holmes stories had passed into the public domain in Britain in 1980, fifty years after Conan Doyle’s death, and a pair of producers, Sy Weintraub and Otto Plaschkes, seized on the opportunity, signing <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2007/02/much-shocked-by-death-houn_9.html" target="_blank">Ian Richardson</a> for a planned six-film series. Only two were filmed before Granada’s rival production scared the rest off the field — <i style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://amzn.to/4ppUrus" rel="nofollow" style="color: #013fd3; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Sign of Four</a></i><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;"> and </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://amzn.to/48hJF3b" rel="nofollow" style="color: #484848; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">The Hound of the Baskervilles</a></i>, both in 1983 — but Richardson’s urbane, mischievous Holmes set a high bar for the decade.</div><div><br></div><div>That rival was, of course, the production at Granada Television in Manchester, where <b>Jeremy Brett</b> began in 1984 what would become the most exhaustive and, for many of us, the definitive screen treatment of the Canon. Brett’s Holmes was a force of nature — sharp, mercurial, and pitched at a key the role had never quite been pitched at before. By 1986, the Granada series was hitting its stride with its own <i>The Return of Sherlock Holmes</i> season, the very title resonating with the centenary that loomed.</div><div><br></div><div>For 1887 was the year Sherlock Holmes first appeared print, in <i>Beeton’s Christmas Annual</i>, in a story called <i>A Study in Scarlet</i>. The hundredth anniversary did not pass unnoticed: scion societies held celebrations, publishers commissioned new editions, the BBC and broadcasters worldwide commemorated, and producers on both sides of the Atlantic angled for a piece of the moment. It was into this fizzing centenary year that an American TV movie called <i>The Return of Sherlock Holmes</i> (with a sly nod toward both the centenary and the Granada series) arrived on CBS, on January 10, 1987.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><h2>A Holmes Out of Time</h2><h4>“The date being—?” [CREE]</h4><div>The premise was the stuff that gives more traditional Sherlockians hives. A Boston private investigator, Jane Watson (played by <b>Margaret Colin</b>), great-granddaughter of the good doctor, discovers in her ancestral estate a cryogenic capsule containing one Sherlock Holmes — placed there in suspended animation after an attempt on his life by a previously unsuspected brother of Professor Moriarty, who had infected him with bubonic plague. Thawed, cured, and dragged into the late twentieth century, Holmes is hauled off to America to help Jane with a case that draws (loosely) on <i>The Sign of Four</i>: a man named Small, a woman named Morstan, and a long line of grudges.</div><div><br></div><div>It is, frankly, a weak premise. It was also a backdoor pilot for a series that never came. The script is uneven, the science is silly, and the second-act tour of suburban America with Holmes marveling at copy machines is exactly what you fear it might be. </div><div><br></div><div>And yet Pennington plays Holmes straight: alert, courtly, baffled but never broken, allowing the comedy to come from the world’s strangeness rather than from any softening of the man. His Holmes is tall, ascetic, slightly melancholy, and uncannily watchful. He looks, in fact, the way Holmes is supposed to look. </div><div><br></div><div>Reviews at the time were mixed (the <i>New York Times</i> harrumphed about a “felonious assault on the memory of Arthur Conan Doyle’s great detective”), but the IMDb reviews speak for themselves: more than one of them notes regret that the proposed series was never picked up. The chemistry with Colin worked, and the picture has a small but real cult following.</div><div><br></div><div>For those who haven’t seen it, or who’d like to revisit:</div><div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="451" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gfCotr7KQts" width="542" youtube-src-id="gfCotr7KQts"></iframe></div><br><div style="text-align: center;"><br></div><div><br></div><h2>From Holmes to the Napoleon of Crime</h2><div><h4>“I could not but think what a terrible criminal he would have made” [SIGN]</h4></div><div>The TV movie wasn’t Pennington’s only contribution to the Sherlockian entertainment world, though. In November 1992, BBC Radio 4 broadcast its long-running, faithful, story-by-story dramatization of the Canon with <b>Clive Merrison</b> as Holmes and <b>Michael Williams</b> as Watson, an ensemble that would in time produce the first complete radio adaptation of all sixty stories in the Canon.</div><div><br></div><div>The story that month was “The Final Problem,” and for the role of <b>Professor James Moriarty</b>, the producers cast Michael Pennington. He returned to the part for “The Adventure of the Empty House,” broadcast in February 1993.</div><div><br></div><h3><span></span></h3>

Remembering Michael Pennington

“give my little impersonations your kindly praise” [MAZA]  Even though Sherlock Holmes holds the record as the literary figure most portraye...

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by Scott Monty

The Great Hiatus Reimagined: A New Sherlock Holmes Series Coming in 2027

<h4 style="text-align: center;">“Three years had certainly not smoothed the asperities of his temper” [EMPT]</h4><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4Bt3Jfx1Ppw-9idaSl1xyXfTUzzTIuRG_VbgEwJlhTPBuLDlo7o8zKwTko1J_6Dwn7sz3f-fbCWOMVp6iiIeUiYMLyajsmko1MMnYkTe6H15U3TC1No6dfT2bDOsMsh_LrUW4Rj3SxiV7DOatj5ByIHq7Aab1n5p5ZTEyWqYwwDT5r0r8n5ku9gR7vrpE" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1620" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg4Bt3Jfx1Ppw-9idaSl1xyXfTUzzTIuRG_VbgEwJlhTPBuLDlo7o8zKwTko1J_6Dwn7sz3f-fbCWOMVp6iiIeUiYMLyajsmko1MMnYkTe6H15U3TC1No6dfT2bDOsMsh_LrUW4Rj3SxiV7DOatj5ByIHq7Aab1n5p5ZTEyWqYwwDT5r0r8n5ku9gR7vrpE=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Rafe Spall and Deleila Piasko (Sky)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Of all the periods in the Canon that have tantalized Sherlockians, there are two that consistently are intriguing, the first of which is Sherlock Holmes's formative years. The now-classic film <i>Young Sherlock Holmes</i> and the more recent series <i>Young Sherlock</i> have taken on this period with gusto.</div><div><br /></div><div>The other period is the Great Hiatus — those mysterious years between Holmes's plunge over the Reichenbach Falls on May 4, 1891, and his startling reappearance in Watson's consulting room in the spring of 1894. Conan Doyle gave us only the briefest sketch of Holmes's wanderings to Tibet, Persia, Mecca, and Khartoum. The rest has been left to our imaginations — and has proven to be fertile ground for scholars, pasticheurs, and screenwriters alike.</div> <p>The latest entry in this venerable tradition comes from a Swiss-German-Belgian co-production titled <em><strong>The Death of Sherlock Holmes</strong></em> (working title), which began filming this spring and is slated for a 2027 premiere.</p><p><br /></p> <h2>A Cast and Crew of Note</h2> <h4><span style="text-align: center;">“</span>extends over many nations<span style="text-align: center;">”</span> [SIGN]</h4> <p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1245863/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_7_nm_1_in_0_q_Rafe%20Spall" target="_blank">Rafe Spall</a> (<em>Under Salt Marsh</em>, <em>Trying</em>) takes up the deerstalker — or whatever passes for one in his amnesiac state — alongside <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1760420/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_5_nm_1_in_0_q_Deleila%20Piasko" target="_blank">Deleila Piasko</a> (<em>The Exposure</em>, <em>Transatlantic</em>). </p><p>The series is the brainchild of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3388080/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_0_nm_1_in_0_q_Claudia%20Bluemhuber" target="_blank">Claudia Bluemhuber</a> (<em>Fallen, Robin and the Hoods</em>), <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1825205/?ref_=fn_t_1" target="_blank">André Küttel</a> (<em>Needle Park Baby, </em><i>Die Beschatter</i>), and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1301190/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_3_nm_5_in_0_q_Pierre%20Monnard">Pierre Monnard</a> (<em>Needle Park Baby, </em><em>Winter Palace</em>), with Küttel and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22875000/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_1_accord_1_cdt_t_3" target="_blank">Simone Schmid</a> (<em>Die Beschatter</em>) handling the scripts. Monnard and Bluemhuber share directing duties.</p> <p>Producer Silver Reel, fresh off a 2025 International Emmy win for the YA series <em>Fallen</em>, is steering the project alongside Sky Switzerland, SRF, ARD Degeto, and Umedia. Sphere Abacus is handling international distribution, while Sky has acquired exclusive U.K. and Ireland broadcast rights.</p><p><a href="https://www.srf.ch/kultur/film-serien/drehstart-in-kuerze-srf-koproduziert-eine-neue-sherlock-holmes-serie" target="_blank">According to SRF</a>, filming will take place in Switzerland, South Tyrol, and Bavaria.</p><p><br /></p> <h2>What Happened After Reichenbach?</h2> <h4><span style="text-align: center;">“</span>It was, indeed, a fearful place<span style="text-align: center;">”</span> [FINA]</h4> <p>Here is where the premise gets interesting for those of us who have spent considerable time pondering the Hiatus. Set against what the producers describe as the "majestic and merciless" Swiss Alps, the story opens with an Englishman pulled barely alive from an icy mountain stream by a local woman named Alma and her young son Franz. When the village doctor turns up murdered, suspicion falls on the boy — leaving the amnesiac stranger as his only ally.</p> <p>The man remembers nothing of his past. But flashes of razor-sharp deduction begin to surface, betraying a hidden history. As fragments of memory return, he must reckon with a question that no Sherlockian will find suspenseful in the slightest, but which our hero apparently must work out for himself: who is he, really? </p><p>What begins as an isolated Alpine mystery widens into a far-reaching conspiracy, inching him toward the legendary name he may once have borne. It is, in essence, the Great Hiatus told as a memory-loss thriller, with the Holmes compelled to deduce his own identity.</p><p><br /></p> <h2>A Crowded Field and a Welcome Addition</h2> <h4 style="text-align: left;">“So many have said so, and yet here I am” [THOR]</h4> <p>SRF notes that there are more than 250 Sherlock Holmes screen productions — making him <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2012/5/sherlock-holmes-awarded-title-for-most-portrayed-literary-human-character-in-film-tv-41743" target="_blank">the most-portrayed literary character in cinema history</a>. Adding another television series to that already groaning shelf might seem redundant, particularly at this time, but the Hiatus has always been fertile ground precisely because Conan Doyle left it so sparsely filled in. </p><p>From Nicholas Meyer's <em>The Seven-Per-Cent Solution</em> to Caleb Carr's <em>The Italian Secretary</em> and Anthony Horowitz's <em>The House of Silk</em>, writers have repeatedly returned to the question of where Holmes went and what he did.</p> <p>What sets this production apart is its geography. Filming in the very Alps where Conan Doyle dispatched his hero — and where Sherlockians have made annual pilgrimages to Meiringen and the Reichenbach Falls for decades (the most recent by the <a href="https://pod.link/ihearofsherlock/episode/NmU4ZjQ1MjktMTNlZS00N2Y2LThmMzYtMmU5MDMwN2FmZjdm" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes Society of London having just concluded</a>) — promises an authenticity of setting that no soundstage can replicate. </p><p>Whether the storytelling rises to the level of the locations, we shall have to wait until 2027 to discover.</p> <p>For now, we will be following with great interest. As Holmes himself observed upon his return:</p> <blockquote> <p>“<strong style="font-style: italic;">My dear Watson, I owe you a thousand apologies. I had no idea that you would be so affected.</strong>”</p><p> </p> </blockquote> <p>We trust you will be affected by this latest addition to the canon of the Sherlockian screen.</p> <p><br /></p>

The Great Hiatus Reimagined: A New Sherlock Holmes Series Coming in 2027

“Three years had certainly not smoothed the asperities of his temper” [EMPT] Rafe Spall and Deleila Piasko (Sky) Of all the periods in the C...

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by Scott Monty

Basil Rathbone at the Oscars

<h4 style="text-align: center;"> “The credit of the execution is due to Monsieur Oscar” [EMPT]  </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQHUuP9vj87GHm5sWbafLqL8RV65A105sMZD6lpzCwpSQY_2ZIFZkrtf27s76BhgQCTebuSXWohBKNUJRljMOFzAuCqjtZIv-kAwC5sxE2JjRne4LIin41SkvUFFXuZuBteY7w0ekN2x6hAlZ1IoUAJny8Z0L7JBjQ6x55A5MCU7mHxvEvIerdUqetHaQ/s1412/Rathbone%20&%20Bruce.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="977" data-original-width="1412" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQHUuP9vj87GHm5sWbafLqL8RV65A105sMZD6lpzCwpSQY_2ZIFZkrtf27s76BhgQCTebuSXWohBKNUJRljMOFzAuCqjtZIv-kAwC5sxE2JjRne4LIin41SkvUFFXuZuBteY7w0ekN2x6hAlZ1IoUAJny8Z0L7JBjQ6x55A5MCU7mHxvEvIerdUqetHaQ/w640-h442/Rathbone%20&%20Bruce.PNG" width="640"></a></div><br><p>When watching the 2026 Academy Awards (the Oscars), we didn't expect any Sherlock Holmes connections. But then we were pleasantly surprised.</p><p>First, the announcer for the evening was <b>Matt Berry</b> (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1546196/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_2_nm_6_in_0_q_matt%20berry" target="_blank">IMDb profile</a>), who was being patched in from London. Matt's smooth British accent provided a sophistication that (let's be generous) isn't quite Conan O'Brien's style. For our purposes, though, Matt's inclusion brought a welcome connection to Sherlock Holmes: in the CBS drama <i>Watson</i>, he voiced Sherlock Holmes in Season 1, Episode 7 ("<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt33342933/?ref_=ttep_ep_7" target="_blank">Teeth Marks</a>").</p><p>For a more obscure Sherlock Holmes connection in his resume, Berry played Sherlock Kush in two episodes of Season 2 of <i>Lucas Bros Moving Co</i>: "<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4152218/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_1_accord_2_cdt_epp_sm_1" target="_blank">Tales from the Hoodie</a>" and "<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4368668/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_1_accord_2_cdt_epp_sm_1" target="_blank">Escape from Momma</a>".</p><p>What truly caught our attention, though, was a mention of <b>Basil Rathbone</b> during the Oscars. More on that context below.</p><p>Basil Rathbone (<a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001651/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_1_nm_7_in_0_q_basil" target="_blank">IMDb profile</a>) was nominated for two Academy Awards as Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Can you name the two films for which he was nominated? We'll give you a moment. </p><p><br></p><span></span>

Basil Rathbone at the Oscars

 “The credit of the execution is due to Monsieur Oscar” [EMPT]   When watching the 2026 Academy Awards (the Oscars), we didn't expect an...

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by I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere

Episode 325: The Unexpurgated Sherlock Holmes

<h4 style="text-align: center;"> “Holmes took it with admirable good-humour” [PRIO] </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivhjR6WxUxBm5799NDj7_aKRtb031fcAWaR4whWtVcWzXGWRgNLQFsl9Y9_v4NODlbYL30JmPYygs4M4RW8FlFqLfRI_04ea-csdwQJX_6eveBy9W7klnO1_GGkRr95ndlUNLOf_hp49yyvT89juHRfLavDlHiN0gF0g8Y5j3zbO2wQaYrR6LqCdu9MqNo/s2100/ihearofsherlock325-header.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1569" data-original-width="2100" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivhjR6WxUxBm5799NDj7_aKRtb031fcAWaR4whWtVcWzXGWRgNLQFsl9Y9_v4NODlbYL30JmPYygs4M4RW8FlFqLfRI_04ea-csdwQJX_6eveBy9W7klnO1_GGkRr95ndlUNLOf_hp49yyvT89juHRfLavDlHiN0gF0g8Y5j3zbO2wQaYrR6LqCdu9MqNo/w640-h478/ihearofsherlock325-header.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><p></p><p>For years, Holmes and Watson have served as a blueprint for an "odd couple" dynamic, usually by poking fun at the detective’s ego, and the doctor’s struggle to keep up. Humor can humanize these literary giants, making them feel less like statues and more like friends. </p><p>Now Nicholas Sercombe’s <i>The Unexpurgated Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</i> series goes down this path, suggesting Watson’s reports were just too risque for the morals of Victorian England. Join us as he shares the facts Watson really discovered about Holmes’s family, Mrs. Hudson’s real estate empire, and much more, and the live-action and animated television series under development.</p><p>Don't miss our round-up of Sherlockian society activities in the second half of February in "The Learned Societies" segment, and the Canonical Couplet quiz that tests your Sherlock Holmes knowledge, with a copy of one of N.P. Sercombe's books for the winner. Send your answer to comment @ ihearofsherlock.com by January 14, 2026 at 11:59 a.m. EST. All listeners are eligible to play.</p><div><br /></div><p>As a reminder, our <a href="https://ihose.co/ihosepatron" target="_blank">supporters</a> can listen to the show ad-free and have access to occasional bonus material, such as <b>additional conversation from this episode</b>. Join us on the platform of your choice (<a href="https://patreon.com/ihearofsherlock" target="_blank">Patreon</a> | <a href="https://ihearofsherlock.substack.com" target="_blank">Substack</a>).</p><p>And if you need some show swag or gift ideas, check out our <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/merchandise" target="_blank">Merch Store</a>, with mugs, notepads and more.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Merriweather; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://traffic.libsyn.com/ihearofsherlock/ihearofsherlock325.mp3" style="color: #013fd3; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Download</a> [Save As] | File size: 54.9 MB, 1:01:50</h3><p><iframe title="Embed Player" src="https://play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/39576765/height/192/theme/modern/size/large/thumbnail/yes/custom-color/414851/time-start/00:00:00/playlist-height/200/direction/backward/download/yes/font-color/FFFFFF" height="192" width="100%" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" oallowfullscreen="true" msallowfullscreen="true" style="border: none;" data-dashlane-rid="40fe0763d4480234" data-dashlane-classification="other" data-dashlane-frameid="1137"></iframe><br /></p><p><br /></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Merriweather; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;">Leave I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere a five-star rating on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-hear-of-sherlock-everywhere/id258126625?ls=1" style="color: #013fd3; text-decoration-line: none;">Apple Podcasts</a> and <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/30WtRn1mnXfAtX7YaeRY5Y" style="color: #013fd3; text-decoration-line: none;">Spotify</a>; listen to us <a href="https://pod.link/ihearofsherlock" style="color: #013fd3; text-decoration-line: none;">wherever you listen to podcasts</a>.</h3><h2><br /></h2><h2>Links</h2><p></p><ul><li><a href="https://unexpurgatedsherlock.com/" target="_blank">Unexpurgated Sherlock</a></li><li><a href="https://harryking.tv/" target="_blank">Harry King Films</a></li><li>Other links:</li><ul><li>The Learned Societies: <a href="http://www.sherlockiancalendar.com/" target="_blank">Sherlockian Calendar</a></li></ul><li><a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/merchandise" target="_blank">I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere / Trifles Merch Store</a></li></ul><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj29cSHabGIObH4IdQeGyx88PTNcrOeD1J3l8-pjNYrpKNS5DLNjRjSVWxJzYbEhJGSvRPxOa9hIwgz4QYUYM-e4vALe1Tx2Je3pl8KQh6g_rueo9E8pd7SossrtPayueShhgt9Hd_JUqsj3yqVN7VUKghho7s3n51MIBgCKCsf_FAe34zDSNstKSge7Off/s590/IHOSE%20Mug%202%20closeup.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="590" data-original-width="590" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj29cSHabGIObH4IdQeGyx88PTNcrOeD1J3l8-pjNYrpKNS5DLNjRjSVWxJzYbEhJGSvRPxOa9hIwgz4QYUYM-e4vALe1Tx2Je3pl8KQh6g_rueo9E8pd7SossrtPayueShhgt9Hd_JUqsj3yqVN7VUKghho7s3n51MIBgCKCsf_FAe34zDSNstKSge7Off/w200-h200/IHOSE%20Mug%202%20closeup.jpg" width="200" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjif67emMEZTIJ0oOOOia1YWy-moeQpeIw00bsbuzhNZovbSSppBx05SmmLRe4_PaHc-glGFGx_w2o1a7uafYZT-6n7iEep6dJdkNTrcIWXW29Whwd6WrrzrpuE-rcRZED2WbBzPHXel946i-FPAg2mqW2oF7vt9TPW1vuWHntG1NVSqgYXE3JWKZSB3jH3/s768/Notepad%20-%20IHOSE.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="768" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjif67emMEZTIJ0oOOOia1YWy-moeQpeIw00bsbuzhNZovbSSppBx05SmmLRe4_PaHc-glGFGx_w2o1a7uafYZT-6n7iEep6dJdkNTrcIWXW29Whwd6WrrzrpuE-rcRZED2WbBzPHXel946i-FPAg2mqW2oF7vt9TPW1vuWHntG1NVSqgYXE3JWKZSB3jH3/w200-h200/Notepad%20-%20IHOSE.jpg" width="200" /></a><br /></div><h4 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/p/sherlock-holmes-gifts.html" target="_blank">Explore more here</a>.</h4><p>Find all of our relevant links and social accounts at <a href="http://linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock">linktr.ee/ihearofsherlock</a>.</p><p><br /></p><p>And would you consider leaving us a rating and or a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Goodpods? It would help other Sherlockians find us.</p><p>Your thoughts on the show? Leave a comment below, send us an email (comment AT ihearofsherlock DOT com), call us at 5-1895-221B-5. That's (518) 952-2125.</p><div><br /></div>

Episode 325: The Unexpurgated Sherlock Holmes

 “Holmes took it with admirable good-humour” [PRIO]  For years, Holmes and Watson have served as a blueprint for an "odd couple" d...

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by Scott Monty

Young Sherlock Trailer: A Very Active Holmes

<h4 style="text-align: center;"> “What a rosy-cheeked young rascal!” [SIGN] </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja2m2KVHckLTLK3A-l_7FFrw5b97XXk_DtUhf2dWt6IxxYgE2bm6pK2tUE4B6yn9nhRB1EoGZzNkz1CKKV8UW99eWzQnx6rmfQtxBQo-6844g2Gq_-SNVCQCB2tRQbsxvgpTSvaaL_DUiVnLhI0DwS1Iqh_99eEUz3-1SqLIs7jP9HApfh0pVMjVz-Udf9/s1280/Young%20Sherlock%20Official%20Teaser.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja2m2KVHckLTLK3A-l_7FFrw5b97XXk_DtUhf2dWt6IxxYgE2bm6pK2tUE4B6yn9nhRB1EoGZzNkz1CKKV8UW99eWzQnx6rmfQtxBQo-6844g2Gq_-SNVCQCB2tRQbsxvgpTSvaaL_DUiVnLhI0DwS1Iqh_99eEUz3-1SqLIs7jP9HApfh0pVMjVz-Udf9/w640-h360/Young%20Sherlock%20Official%20Teaser.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>For fans of the Robert Downey, Jr. version under Guy Ritchie's direction — <i><a href="https://amzn.to/4qfCnTF" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes</a></i> (2009) and <a href="https://amzn.to/4aXPvbz" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows</a> (2011) — we were given an active, combative, and subversive Sherlock Holmes.</p><p>A new television series <i><a href="https://amzn.to/3KZ1xqG" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Young Sherlock</a></i> is coming to Prime Video trods familiar territory. Based on <a href="https://amzn.to/455I6TQ" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Andrew Lane's <i>Young Sherlock Holmes</i> book series</a>, this new version is grittier, irreverent, and action-packed. </p><p>Not to be confused with the Oscar nominated <i><a href="https://amzn.to/3YAun3H" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Young Sherlock Holmes</a></i> directed by Chris Columbus that debuted 40 years ago, we find Holmes at university rather than at public school, and in this origin story, rather than an early meeting of Holmes and Watson, we have an early meeting of Holmes and Moriarty. </p><p>The plot summary, from the official description:</p><blockquote><p>"Sherlock Holmes is a disgraced young man – raw and unfiltered – when he finds himself wrapped up in a murder case that threatens his liberty. His first ever case unravels a globe-trotting conspiracy that changes his life forever. Unfolding in 1870s Oxford and adventuring abroad, the series will expose the early antics of the anarchic adolescent who is yet to evolve into Baker Street's most renowned resident."</p></blockquote><p>The series stars Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Sherlock Holmes, Dónal Finn as James Moriarty, with Zine Tseng, Joseph Fiennes, Natascha McElhone, Max Irons, and Colin Firth. </p><p>The trailer, released by Prime Video, was released today. <a href="https://youtu.be/R-NEi8tRC8Q?si=iTMP4_KM1riABWFi" target="_blank">Watch it here</a>:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="361" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/R-NEi8tRC8Q" width="615" youtube-src-id="R-NEi8tRC8Q"></iframe></div><br /><p>Don't expect too much faithfulness to the Canon — partly because this is all speculation and fantasy, and also because it's Guy Ritchie. He forges his own path.</p><p>However, the scenes will be lavish (likely with an assist from CGI making up shots of 1870s Oxford), the humor will be blunt, and the action scenes will be... quite action-packed.</p><p>The series premieres on March 4, 2026.</p><p><br /></p>

Young Sherlock Trailer: A Very Active Holmes

 “What a rosy-cheeked young rascal!” [SIGN]  For fans of the Robert Downey, Jr. version under Guy Ritchie's direction — Sherlock Holmes ...

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by Scott Monty

Watson Returns

<h4 style="text-align: center;">“You’re surprised to see me” [EMPT]  </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiV4J5XaGf-1aDcOegcN5rPQdyIGw8dxJbA7iud5BtRKeb0tIf9KyD2YzLHlRlBIY9aCXHatn2WqS6RbKecxRDBRB9Vft7gVTo7NzfAeW36gvQQ1fr_dA5KXLArvAltOigFF31N1OjE-ZEZgpFpLM5jwWuiHurct1Jr-hnfBkXh_YPs5mKT6FarKICSiEGV" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiV4J5XaGf-1aDcOegcN5rPQdyIGw8dxJbA7iud5BtRKeb0tIf9KyD2YzLHlRlBIY9aCXHatn2WqS6RbKecxRDBRB9Vft7gVTo7NzfAeW36gvQQ1fr_dA5KXLArvAltOigFF31N1OjE-ZEZgpFpLM5jwWuiHurct1Jr-hnfBkXh_YPs5mKT6FarKICSiEGV=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><p>The TV show <i>Watson</i> returns tonight on CBS for its second season. </p><p>Below is a short trailer for "the world's greatest doctective" [sic] that teases the appearance of Sherlock Holmes (Robert Carlyle). We had previously heard Matt Berry as the voice of Sherlock in Season 1, although that was a hallucination. </p><p>In case you hadn't watched Season 1, which began airing its 13 episodes in January 2025... the show features Dr. John Watson (Morris Chestnut), having survived the Reichenbach Fall and mourning the loss of Sherlock Holmes, setting up a clinic in Pittsburgh to treat strange and rare medical conditions. </p><p>He works with four younger doctors: twin brothers Stephens and Adam Croft (both Peter Mark Kendall), the deceitful Ingrid Derian (Eve Harlow), and the overly-aiming-to-please Sasha Lubbock (Inga Schlingmann). Helping Watson run the clinic is Shinwell Johnson (Ritchie Coster), the only one who knew Holmes, and in charge of the hospital is Watson's ex-wife Mary Morstan (Rochelle Aytes). Her mother, suffering from dementia, is the patient in tonight's episode. </p><p>Familiar characters who have appeared in the first season include Moriarty (Randall Park), Irene Adler (Whoopie Van Raam), and Mycroft Holmes (Vincent Gale). The show was created by Craig Sweeny, who was an executive producer and writer on <i>Elementary</i>. Overall, reaction has been along the lines of "it's mostly like <i>House</i> instead of particularly Sherlockian." </p><p>Season 1 of <i>Watson</i> is also <a href="https://amzn.to/3KF1znc" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">available now on DVD</a>, with the following special features: </p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>"My Dear Watson" -- a half hour making-of, including the show's origin, the cast, and characters</li><li>"Creating the World of <i>Watson</i>" -- nine minutes on the setting, set design, and medical research</li><li>Deleted Scenes (on about half the episodes)</li><li>And a gag reel of various actors forgetting their lines. </li></ul><div><br /></div><div>Here's the teaser for Season 2:</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9xTM0LuHubQ?si=5nM-O2GDqnFAgp1k" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>The game's afoot!</div><div><br /></div><p></p>

Watson Returns

“You’re surprised to see me” [EMPT]   The TV show  Watson  returns tonight on CBS for its second season.  Below is a short trailer for ...

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by Johanna Draper Carlson

The Escalator Is Down — And Sherlock Holmes Is on It!

<h4 style="text-align: center;">“with which he would have ascended” [REDC] </h4><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-UuoBaQVgs1n5XwweIMmp0w9--Gy_Y26QYw6UEzHVrID9jFrgEnKcUlIrbURaGdwP_SEFCdCiziQHFgRjJmhns1UNv-r-BATa_g6IpANG56i0sGDv-agqUWyUy150pRri4hQbXX-NdjvUmhnX07MRnrDcSbxNE3LGse6TqAIIbgC5RgMMDT1hoFdw_VMR" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj-UuoBaQVgs1n5XwweIMmp0w9--Gy_Y26QYw6UEzHVrID9jFrgEnKcUlIrbURaGdwP_SEFCdCiziQHFgRjJmhns1UNv-r-BATa_g6IpANG56i0sGDv-agqUWyUy150pRri4hQbXX-NdjvUmhnX07MRnrDcSbxNE3LGse6TqAIIbgC5RgMMDT1hoFdw_VMR=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /></div><p>We really do hear of Sherlock everywhere these days.</p><p>In his monologue on September 24, Steven Colbert was determined to get to the bottom of just who shut down the escalator at the United Nations as President Trump was about to go up.</p><p>“Top minds are on the case,” Colbert said, before cutting away to press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who said the Secret Service was “trying to get to the bottom of it.”</p><p>“And it’s not going to be easy to get to the bottom of it, since it was an ‘up’ escalator,” Colbert quipped.</p><p>He continued by showing a tweet from Leavitt, who suggested that if someone from the U.N. was responsible, they should be investigated and fired.</p><p>Then the show rolled a graphic with a magnifying glass and the words <strong>ESCALATOR INVESTIGATOR</strong>.</p><p>Upon return from the graphic, Colbert was wearing a deerstalker and holding a meerschaum pipe.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijMt-d1NCQWq7OT-tHBGBPJL0jdyRHlyxernpGRUV0zE7L5q_T-YPadp7SChB-7WMVRFsC7UpSf3xw0751_5n6zNd22-eE0YHnuPV9mZsGMpmX7fSHtuyQqiIksHMMtB0I43d_e_32NbUInGWHnkzn5Czak1HHfJeMHZjVxaQqVdVGkSz5gPRAroZPnFCp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="1280" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEijMt-d1NCQWq7OT-tHBGBPJL0jdyRHlyxernpGRUV0zE7L5q_T-YPadp7SChB-7WMVRFsC7UpSf3xw0751_5n6zNd22-eE0YHnuPV9mZsGMpmX7fSHtuyQqiIksHMMtB0I43d_e_32NbUInGWHnkzn5Czak1HHfJeMHZjVxaQqVdVGkSz5gPRAroZPnFCp=w640-h360" width="640" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!Xsxi!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2f95dc3e-69be-427a-b20a-b4658e56596b_1280x720.jpeg" target="_blank"><div class="image2-inset"><div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>The case was cracked, via a U.N. spokesperson, who revealed the identity of the person who stopped the escalator.</p><p>“Well, that de-escalated quickly,” Colbert concluded, before taking off his clever disguise.</p><p><a href="https://youtu.be/eTdotWy9ZxE?si=pvSzVXPy8CdEK20Z&t=297" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Watch the video</a>.</p><p style="text-align: center;"><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eTdotWy9ZxE?si=8Sxcx3ZIvcde_7gN" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></p><p></p><p>The game’s afoot!</p><p><br /></p>

The Escalator Is Down — And Sherlock Holmes Is on It!

“with which he would have ascended” [REDC]  We really do hear of Sherlock everywhere these days. In his monologue on September 24, Steven Co...

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by Scott Monty

Jeremy Brett: Gone Three Decades

<h4 style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Merriweather; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-size: 18.2px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-emoji: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px; text-align: center;">"the stage lost a fine actor" [SCAN] </h4><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5iWmSgUZreZuL31HY5pCKhOluWkdM0F_vDpzMTL6fWZ1Ok3giNygYlfedO5o7pBeKnVf5GwlDi-TWOjw9bSzsfi1tUFAW38J3A9wks0D7Ynu4-gpOR2jchN-rGsb-1sE38O0PXAttV3T6/s1600/Jeremy+Brett.jpg" style="color: #013fd3; font-weight: bold; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5iWmSgUZreZuL31HY5pCKhOluWkdM0F_vDpzMTL6fWZ1Ok3giNygYlfedO5o7pBeKnVf5GwlDi-TWOjw9bSzsfi1tUFAW38J3A9wks0D7Ynu4-gpOR2jchN-rGsb-1sE38O0PXAttV3T6/s640/Jeremy+Brett.jpg" style="border-width: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%;" width="640" /></a></div><br style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;">On September 12, 1995, Jeremy Brett passed away at the age of 61 (although </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/14/obituaries/jeremy-brett-an-unnerving-holmes-is-dead-at-59.html" style="background-color: white; color: #013fd3; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">contemporary accounts gave his age as 59</a><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;">). It's hard to believe that one of the most influential impersonators of Sherlock Holmes has been gone 30 years.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;">Many have hailed Brett as the definitive Sherlock Holmes, although it can be argued that each generation has its own definitive Holmes. In our estimation, the value of Brett's performance in the Granada series are due in part to three things: </span><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;">The careful crafting of the Victorian setting and (in the earlier episodes mostly) </span></li><li><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;">The faithful adaptation of the many of the Sherlock Holmes stories</span></li><li><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;">Brett's own interest and expertise in the Canon and Sherlock Holmes</span></li></ol><br style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;">In </span><a href="https://www.wessexpress.com/products/a-study-in-celluloid-a-producers-account-of-jeremy-brett-as-sherlock-holmes" style="background-color: white; color: #013fd3; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank"><i>A Study in Celluloid</i></a><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;"> (Wessex Press), Michael Cox, the producer of the Granada series, noted that often times in script readings, Jeremy would make suggestions to steer the writing toward the Canon, with entire paragraphs of dialog being lifted directly from the original writings. Indeed, the team even had their own reference guide that kept the production crew and cast well informed as to Holmes's appearance and habits called </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://amzn.to/42udNVw" rel="nofollow" style="color: #013fd3; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">The Baker Street File</a></i><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;">.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><i><a href="https://mxpublishing.com/products/jeremy-brett-playing-a-part-b-w-paperback-edition" target="_blank">Jeremy Brett: Playing a Part</a></i> (MX Publishing) is Maureen Whittaker's performance biography of the actor with hundreds of incredible photos of Brett throughout his career. With a foreword from David Burke who played Granada's inaugural Dr. John H. Watson alongside Brett in the series, this book is a comprehensive review of Brett's career on stage and screen. It contains hundreds of rarely seen and some exclusive photographs with the kind permission of the Brett family, Granada Studios and many others. We <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2020/07/new-jeremy-brett-book-on-kickstarter.html" target="_blank">interviewed Whittaker about the undertaking</a>.<br style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"></div><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;">We personally remember the outpouring of grief and memories that Sherlock Holmes fans shared online in 1995 — the early days of the Internet — through discussion forums and listservs, and wonder just how the web would have exploded had his death occurred in the present day. TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and the like would have exploded with emotion.</span></div><div><br /></div><div>In 2020, we used the 25th anniversary of Brett's passing to hear more about him. The late David Stuart Davies, BSI ("Sir Ralph Musgrave"), author of Bending the Willow, joined us to give his personal perspective on the matter: <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2020/09/episode-201-remembering-jeremy-brett.html" target="_blank">Episode 201: Remembering Jeremy Brett</a>.<br style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" data-dashlane-classification="other" data-dashlane-frameid="3254" data-dashlane-rid="bc39d5cc3bc4ea75" height="192" mozallowfullscreen="true" msallowfullscreen="true" oallowfullscreen="true" scrolling="no" src="https://play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/16218056/height/192/theme/modern/size/large/thumbnail/yes/custom-color/414851/time-start/00:00:00/playlist-height/200/direction/backward/download/yes/font-color/FFFFFF" style="border: none;" title="Embed Player" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="100%"></iframe><br style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;" /><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;">Here are some happier memories of Brett, in his incarnation of Sherlock Holmes.</span></div><div><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FcPb4FKUWWM?si=hvoI93mpahfeA1PL" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Tell us how Jeremy Brett affected your view of Sherlock Holmes in a comment.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div>

Jeremy Brett: Gone Three Decades

"the stage lost a fine actor" [SCAN]  On September 12, 1995, Jeremy Brett passed away at the age of 61 (although  contemporary acc...

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by Scott Monty

Unique Letters to Douglas Wilmer Offered for Sale

<h4 style="text-align: center;"> <b>“there are points which make it quite unique” [MUSG]</b></h4><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8vlksqloXLGqo7mkJ3EZDHGKhzJSfOqWadd-qS4ZQKsmXc_sVKW_73moBbterXTGwZosUFMvgae8UUsb541B_6mwK2ZZ0d4-eSpQgdQYWeQ-rPQSwxn3SpEX9oWPehhJfc5l-OeTSkQ8kmxNs3oKzZW0cw6v_2utI8PYVSNITA_yOPSxUDbLJn1b85eAD/s680/Douglas%20Wilmer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="509" data-original-width="680" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8vlksqloXLGqo7mkJ3EZDHGKhzJSfOqWadd-qS4ZQKsmXc_sVKW_73moBbterXTGwZosUFMvgae8UUsb541B_6mwK2ZZ0d4-eSpQgdQYWeQ-rPQSwxn3SpEX9oWPehhJfc5l-OeTSkQ8kmxNs3oKzZW0cw6v_2utI8PYVSNITA_yOPSxUDbLJn1b85eAD/w640-h480/Douglas%20Wilmer.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Longtime readers of <i>I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere</i> and true fans of Sherlock Holmes on the screen will recall that in the 1960s, Douglas Wilmer was Sherlock Holmes on <a href="https://amzn.to/3WJZnOi" target="_blank">the BBC television series</a>.</p><p>A decade ago, we celebrated <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2015/02/celebrating-50-years-of-douglas-wilmer.html#.Vv0wK6QrLb1" target="_blank">his golden anniversary of taking that role</a>, including stories about him riding in your editor's car, <i>The Baker Street Journal</i> Christmas Annual dedicated to him, the grand exhibition in London, and Wilmer's investiture into the Baker Street Irregulars (in 2000, as "The Lyceum Theatre").</p><p><br /></p><p>As mentioned in the latest edition of "<b>A Most Valuable Institution</b>," the Sherlockian news segment for IHOSE supporters (<a href="https://ihearofsherlock.substack.com" target="_blank">Substack</a> | <a href="https://patreon.com/ihearofsherlock" target="_blank">Patreon</a>), serious collectors now have an opportunity to acquire a unique set of Wilmer items. These are not rare—they are one of a kind.</p><p>Al Gregory is offering four letters written by King Charles III, between 2013 and 2016, when he was still the Prince of Wales. They were sent from Highgrove House, Llwynywermod Carmarthenshire, and Birkhall.</p><p>Three of them were to Douglas Wilmer, of whose portrayal of Holmes the King speaks very highly. </p><p>The fourth one was a very warm letter of condolence to Wilmer's widow. </p><p>All are personally signed and marked up by Charles, who penned each greeting, underlined certain words, and signed each "Yours most sincerely".</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiDHI029tOM_l-t1TK6xb6vHpqHv_cl3baM8OF-nJTiSycsuyfI_4nxgiHMYoziWxUHQgqjkGCR6In7GK9DHxmBYcs6fDxZzv6tUxS66MySmlbHN2PCYBwrq_9cErnH0xGpWnxO0k0PHxGwgpSA8Mg0tw-RG1mUg3jTIx2Yy8rJIW5A1IKI5uNI5hhbXba/s2560/1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiDHI029tOM_l-t1TK6xb6vHpqHv_cl3baM8OF-nJTiSycsuyfI_4nxgiHMYoziWxUHQgqjkGCR6In7GK9DHxmBYcs6fDxZzv6tUxS66MySmlbHN2PCYBwrq_9cErnH0xGpWnxO0k0PHxGwgpSA8Mg0tw-RG1mUg3jTIx2Yy8rJIW5A1IKI5uNI5hhbXba/w640-h480/1.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;">27th July, 2013</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Dear Mr. Wilmer,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It was so kind of you to go to all the trouble of tracking down the Sherlock Holmes D.V.D.'s—in France! I never understood why the B.B.C. is so cavalier about its remarkable archive of such treasures... </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I shall watch these films with the greatest pleasure, and I suspect I shall remember seeing them on the television years ago, when I was much younger, as the moment I saw your face (and Dr. Watson's) on the cover it brought the whole series back to me! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thank you so much for your great generosity and I send my kindest possible wishes.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Yours most sincerely,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Charles</div></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1uzne2WWsDrqiNZQ8hENgmDPbx_1j0F8xNkF1YkPgEtZbSpnqqd9wtIW0Qy5ijmzmRtqUYJ25-LKWoigG2Ga59M6SLNvfQAotapVwnozz1rmKSA4bhT0ooEiQMf-usTaewLOerjjaC_u-6J7Yt_Bu3-QpBOwVf-EmNQYITKhxW_eL5BzNHkcmZYPbBNjH/s2027/P1140827TWO.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2027" data-original-width="1521" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1uzne2WWsDrqiNZQ8hENgmDPbx_1j0F8xNkF1YkPgEtZbSpnqqd9wtIW0Qy5ijmzmRtqUYJ25-LKWoigG2Ga59M6SLNvfQAotapVwnozz1rmKSA4bhT0ooEiQMf-usTaewLOerjjaC_u-6J7Yt_Bu3-QpBOwVf-EmNQYITKhxW_eL5BzNHkcmZYPbBNjH/w480-h640/P1140827TWO.JPG" width="480" /></a></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"></div><blockquote><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;">14th December, 2014</div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">Dear Mr. Wilmer,</div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">A "little bird" has told me that you will reach a milestone birthday on 8th January, and I did not want to let this pass without sending you my warmest possible congratulations on such a special occasion. </div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">I need hardly say how enormously touched I was that you should have thought of sending me your marvellous memoirs. What splendid characters you encountered during your career, and how well you have managed to recall everything! I do hope you can take great satisfaction in knowing what immense pleasure you have given to so many people — myself included — in your work over so many years.</div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">This comes with my warmest birthday wishes.</div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">Yours most sincerely,</div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">Charles</div></blockquote><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLx-j7OXpZqfl3GrMFl_zimlIhngXk4FXaujNxKoL6UEwVFLxi5kWpsEjAYsZuF7vI-bUwK0VWjSmR6JdVKhEYOnGAWwYF5aUutKNGad_XJQpJ1CFevHXwbRd5qCHGcbhmSdhgE63gSdJ5A1MOkbXbN1a35QqYPxuTPdADWTCowpCnKSIiedRD1ESXo-Bp/s2560/4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLx-j7OXpZqfl3GrMFl_zimlIhngXk4FXaujNxKoL6UEwVFLxi5kWpsEjAYsZuF7vI-bUwK0VWjSmR6JdVKhEYOnGAWwYF5aUutKNGad_XJQpJ1CFevHXwbRd5qCHGcbhmSdhgE63gSdJ5A1MOkbXbN1a35QqYPxuTPdADWTCowpCnKSIiedRD1ESXo-Bp/w640-h480/4.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: right;">12th April 2016</div><div>Dear Mrs. Wilmer,<br />I just wanted to write and say how [terribly] sorry I was to hear the very sad news about your husband's passing. You have my <u>deepest</u> sympathy. I can only begin to imagine what an immense emptiness there must now be in your life and my heart goes out to you all.</div><div>I was so very touched when your husband sent me his marvellous memoirs only a couple of years ago and I much enjoyed our subsequent correspondence! His memoirs were such a splendid account of the personalities he had come across during his career, and I was astonished at the way he was able to recall so much detail...</div><div>I am glad to say that I can just recall his brilliant portrayal of Sherlock Holmes on television during the 1960s and I shall now make absolutely certain I get a hold of that series to watch it again. I need hardly tell you that I can't help thinking that they did these things so much better in those days!</div><div>I cannot bear it that yet another wonderful figure from that remarkable generation has now left us. We are all so much the poorer for his absence and while I am only too aware that this letter is hopelessly inadequate under the circumstances, and will probably be of very little comfort in making your sense of loss any easer to bear, I did so want you to know just how much you are in my special thoughts and prayers at such a heartbreaking time.</div><div>Yours most sincerely,</div><div>Charles</div></blockquote><div><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijEzJ5Slhb01nZQhN1Dig9qYIjcnYRcEXOK0EzF_O3v2lZ1JRTBUp7bOCGnvETaTnV9I4CvKaaWsFeTHGlNXQHuHvLubaIWIvDaktQ9NBE_Y_O8AvHyApPjcXqDV3zdSiDghyOUgbg79LvCFAPW_oNYP7H1LGil6tT5FLJ4Q9TtyXKKFE-Ep8-DSC2tAX2/s1507/P1140835TWO.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1464" data-original-width="1507" height="622" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijEzJ5Slhb01nZQhN1Dig9qYIjcnYRcEXOK0EzF_O3v2lZ1JRTBUp7bOCGnvETaTnV9I4CvKaaWsFeTHGlNXQHuHvLubaIWIvDaktQ9NBE_Y_O8AvHyApPjcXqDV3zdSiDghyOUgbg79LvCFAPW_oNYP7H1LGil6tT5FLJ4Q9TtyXKKFE-Ep8-DSC2tAX2/w640-h622/P1140835TWO.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div>The four are matted and framed together as pictured above.<p><br /></p><p>Please direct questions and serious offers to Al Gregory at <a href="mailto:gaslightandfog@verizon.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">gaslightandfog@verizon.net</a>.</p><br /><br /></div>

Unique Letters to Douglas Wilmer Offered for Sale

  “there are points which make it quite unique” [MUSG] Longtime readers of I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere and true fans of Sherlock Holmes o...

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by Scott Monty

Remembering Joss Ackland

<h4 style="text-align: center;"> "a very smiling face, and a great heavy chin" [COPP]</h4> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwicp8cnAol00fYOKnpqpXtuZBjl6R93vYzxjvQUqG7Ra5fJc8I4efYUpnIm1C3I0hdEGvwsurM2dbQ54hP1eJkkKP9wNdLQjhj8vL5q4ZMW2IXLpJJf29qnuf9ameQaydUAR_SgG-CrXH/s1600/Jephro+Rucastle+%5BCOPP%5D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="490" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwicp8cnAol00fYOKnpqpXtuZBjl6R93vYzxjvQUqG7Ra5fJc8I4efYUpnIm1C3I0hdEGvwsurM2dbQ54hP1eJkkKP9wNdLQjhj8vL5q4ZMW2IXLpJJf29qnuf9ameQaydUAR_SgG-CrXH/s640/Jephro+Rucastle+%5BCOPP%5D.png" width="640" /></a></div> <br /> Actor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joss_Ackland" target="_blank">Joss Ackland</a> has passed away. He was 95 years old.<br /> <br /> Sherlock Holmes fans may recognize him from a number of roles which we'll detail below — which would seem to parallel his stage career. In 2010, the Express credited him as appearing <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/182273/Motor-neurone-disease-made-Joss-Ackland-and-his-wife-live-life-to-the-full" target="_blank">in more plays than any other living actor</a>.<br /> <br /> Born in London in 1928, he was trained at the Central School of Speech and drama and made his debut in 1945 in "The Hasty Heart." His first film was the thriller <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042949?ref_=nmbio_mbio" style="font-style: italic;">Seven Days to Noon</a> (1950), but he was uncredited; he made his credited debut in a supporting role in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044656?ref_=nmbio_mbio"><i>Ghost Ship</i></a> (1952). Ackland spent the late 1940s through the first half of the 1950s in regional theatrical companies, where he worked on his craft.<br /> <br /> In 1955, he left the stage and managed a tea plantation in Africa for two years, where he also served as a disc jockey and wrote plays. In 1957, he returned to England and joined the Old Vic theatre company and managed the Mermaid Theatre from 1962-1964. At this time, he established his prominence on the stage with many performances in London's West End, including Captain Hook in "Peter Pan," Juan Peron in "Evita," and Falstaff in "Henry IV Parts 1 and 2."<br /> <br /> During that time, he also began a run as a memorable character actor in films and television. He had roles in widely distributed films with great box office success such as <i>The Hunt for Red October</i>, <i>Lethal Weapon 2</i> ("<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOBXH-5QrGU" target="_blank">Diplomatic immunity!</a>") and <i>The Mighty Ducks</i>.<br /> <br /> He made his first Sherlock Holmes-connected appearance as The Hon. Philip Green in "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax" opposite Douglas Wilmer in the BBC's <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0163492/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_179" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes</a></i>.<br /> <br /> He also played the president in John Cleese’s disastrous parody, <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strange_Case_of_the_End_of_Civilization_as_We_Know_It" target="_blank">The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It</a></i>, in which Cleese played the grandson of Sherlock Holmes. In "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0687038/?ref_=ttep_ep13" target="_blank">The Mystery of the Amber Beads</a>," an episode of the BBC series <i>The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes</i>, based on the anthologies edited by Hugh Greene, Ackland played Grubber.<br /> <br /> Ackland joined Christopher Lee and Patrick McNee in 1992 to play King Edward in <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102115/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_64" target="_blank">Incident at Victoria Falls</a></i>. In that role, he sent a ready-to-retire Sherlock Holmes on a mission to South Africa to recover the Star of Africa diamond.<br /> <br /> But we remember him most vividly and fondly for his turn as Jephro Rucastle in "The Copper Beeches" from Granada's <i>The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</i>. This episode is toward the beginning of the Granada production, and it was a faithful adaptation with exquisite costuming, locations and casting.<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOKWmrblcpfkKaCcAlS1u1GSEUrlXdxYi2n3l070G6a8ARaNqi2i8iqqOzDpsy0wmESab_uaEm_7zlv2htTlqUUxsnA5107rFrq0-PiDjNo57f6gDqr2KGHnKjEoEcF6ELrHGu4hke1aQfxJpR547Hv0g14xI_7P744BiW3vBJTJWPCH6EnWlzDyHvLS0C/s1680/Joss%20Ackland%20-%20Jephro%20Rucastle.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1680" height="412" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOKWmrblcpfkKaCcAlS1u1GSEUrlXdxYi2n3l070G6a8ARaNqi2i8iqqOzDpsy0wmESab_uaEm_7zlv2htTlqUUxsnA5107rFrq0-PiDjNo57f6gDqr2KGHnKjEoEcF6ELrHGu4hke1aQfxJpR547Hv0g14xI_7P744BiW3vBJTJWPCH6EnWlzDyHvLS0C/w640-h412/Joss%20Ackland%20-%20Jephro%20Rucastle.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div> <br /> Ackland seemed perfectly cast as Rucastle, as Conan Doyle described him as "a round, jovial man" who was a "prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat...with a pair of glasses on his nose."<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Xh_dh5VnIGR44nov4cGiJVUqESVIkQ4AMau6uGvXBAPzzq-7JsoOmoAlVFZqgAF-qRNDIMtzRNDl0yNCc0VGq_1OCNgb-eI7JPIap8HWX3vo4QEPCCL__NziwdMvy3Ymi-s3ieezIt9E/s1600/COPP.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Xh_dh5VnIGR44nov4cGiJVUqESVIkQ4AMau6uGvXBAPzzq-7JsoOmoAlVFZqgAF-qRNDIMtzRNDl0yNCc0VGq_1OCNgb-eI7JPIap8HWX3vo4QEPCCL__NziwdMvy3Ymi-s3ieezIt9E/s1600/COPP.jpg" /></a></div> <br /> <br /> In <a href="https://youtu.be/nnwOdEu4A6Q?si=lDqK9gQZRTKvVd5F&t=1671" target="_blank">one of the signature scenes</a> (with the late Natasha Richardson as Violet Hunter), we're treated to this excerpt described in the original story:<br /> <blockquote class="tr_bq"> "Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest stories that I have ever listened to."</blockquote> <br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nnwOdEu4A6Q?si=lDqK9gQZRTKvVd5F&start=1671" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div> <div><br /></div> As a former disc jockey with decades of stage experience and as the father of seven children (whom he listed as his "hobby" in a 1981 interview), it's no doubt that Joss Ackland could have pulled off Rucastle's storytelling abilities.<br /> <br /> Joss Ackland was rewarded for his service to the profession in 2001 when he was made a Commander of the British Empire. In 2002, <a href="http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/182273/Motor-neurone-disease-made-Joss-Ackland-and-his-wife-live-life-to-the-full" target="_blank">he lost his wife of 51 years</a>, Rosemary, to motor neuron disease. With her permission, he published her diaries in 2009 under the title <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/My-Better-Half-Rosemary-Ackland/dp/0091930618" target="_blank">My Better Half and Me</a></i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Six of his seven children survive him, as do 32 grandchildren.<br /> <br /> --<br /> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div>

Remembering Joss Ackland

"a very smiling face, and a great heavy chin" [COPP] Actor Joss Ackland has passed away. He was 95 years old. Sherlock Hol...

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by Scott Monty

Jeremy Brett Would Have Been 90 Years Old Today

<h4 style="text-align: center;"> “your celebrated friend” [NAVA] </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrPkmevtZgehRTmGuesWhTOAKK6xlSNX_GaY0p_HL7oInX7NtqZCtWoMn1enIDpuF9OmNXbej5eAkepTxCmjq2CCWJuN9hXiX52VF40_L0pEQCFlB8-Z4nBOzzy-q9SeVTSa7xNyCTAEF6-wrVOFkBMlj99i2ZtEkfvnACrAkT5wVF6uaAyq6L6-5hr5Se/s954/NAVA%20-%20Rose.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="954" height="458" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrPkmevtZgehRTmGuesWhTOAKK6xlSNX_GaY0p_HL7oInX7NtqZCtWoMn1enIDpuF9OmNXbej5eAkepTxCmjq2CCWJuN9hXiX52VF40_L0pEQCFlB8-Z4nBOzzy-q9SeVTSa7xNyCTAEF6-wrVOFkBMlj99i2ZtEkfvnACrAkT5wVF6uaAyq6L6-5hr5Se/w640-h458/NAVA%20-%20Rose.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p>On November 3, 1933 Peter Jeremy William Huggins at Berkswell Grange in Berkswell, West Midlands. He would become known professionally as Jeremy Brett.</p><p>He came from an upper-class background — his father was an Army officer and his mother was from the Cadbury confectionary dynasty. Brett would go on to attend Eton, where he was a member of the choir and excelled at singing.</p><p>This singing would prove to be helpful as he took on one of his most significant and memorable film roles: Freddy Eynsford-Hill in <i>My Fair Lady</i> (1964). In it, he was reunited with Audrey Hepburn, who also starred in Brett's first film, <i>War and Peace</i> (1956). And although his singing was overdubbed, his presence in the movie was a delight.</p><p>The stage and television took much of Brett's attention, and without reviewing his entire <i>curriculum vitae</i>, we'll advance to the early 1980s, when Michael Cox approached him about portraying Sherlock Holmes for Granada Television. </p><p>From 1984 to 1994, Brett portrayed Sherlock Holmes in 41 productions for television, giving a believable, if sometimes manic portrayal of the detective that lifted Sherlock Holmes from previously could be described as two-dimensional performances in other productions.</p><p>Sadly, Jeremy Brett passed away from heart failure on September 12, 1995 aged 61.</p><p>It's difficult to imagine Jeremy Brett as a nonagenarian — although some of the clever disguises he donned as Sherlock Holmes give us an idea...</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQEmZDUrrLd5rZbSMVmc-L2vW0K-3TosQ2MWt3kZNM4kbyW7GBZEutfR4zHLaodPkag84eH4LstjuTK2lkCHfv75ws29gNkfC5CR3e2u6OYjtKQHEkMo-ooWsc4tsOfcfkkFSNhyphenhyphenlGY0svyOe0-Gi_FzO-8NlvBjIojxR4uIZFBy9ZP11CCsqbmjwIaev7/s1447/Screenshot%202023-11-02%20094339.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1447" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQEmZDUrrLd5rZbSMVmc-L2vW0K-3TosQ2MWt3kZNM4kbyW7GBZEutfR4zHLaodPkag84eH4LstjuTK2lkCHfv75ws29gNkfC5CR3e2u6OYjtKQHEkMo-ooWsc4tsOfcfkkFSNhyphenhyphenlGY0svyOe0-Gi_FzO-8NlvBjIojxR4uIZFBy9ZP11CCsqbmjwIaev7/w200-h149/Screenshot%202023-11-02%20094339.png" width="200" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF6mvSo6f1RMjNLaDjbDlV9jUTh_m-V8pX0p7hXZ8kMJtkKg1tkZHLiZDwe93i5j7YXeFtIolAo_w7Zplx2swrRPIT70RkzXT99XLNYS1jlCt5w7fADDaxlFrbOg2rx44TLx1ySAsgyZhTAWD4uheFuOUkQHro4xx2JsyDEDuW31AvXr0boNINjXBXBt6m/s1425/Screenshot%202023-11-02%20094526.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1074" data-original-width="1425" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF6mvSo6f1RMjNLaDjbDlV9jUTh_m-V8pX0p7hXZ8kMJtkKg1tkZHLiZDwe93i5j7YXeFtIolAo_w7Zplx2swrRPIT70RkzXT99XLNYS1jlCt5w7fADDaxlFrbOg2rx44TLx1ySAsgyZhTAWD4uheFuOUkQHro4xx2JsyDEDuW31AvXr0boNINjXBXBt6m/w200-h151/Screenshot%202023-11-02%20094526.png" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqhyphenhyphenLHwUrsMN5ZDAwk5dZX3zwMVdfmaFpNQyisxr7NCrY_f0qkSBQ0tK44m8QHNGpz-z2PtQ0HO-MtCkcUKIVEEVIEZ4fygLQpyotXghB02tHr8ggSXjnetCesKo7qhS-v_uQOIE1ZmtbxQ5G_Taye0xTnhCKQiFDXtHsfxugkFIYLAKJI-PbCtiEfGfK4/s1433/Screenshot%202023-11-02%20094724.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1075" data-original-width="1433" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqhyphenhyphenLHwUrsMN5ZDAwk5dZX3zwMVdfmaFpNQyisxr7NCrY_f0qkSBQ0tK44m8QHNGpz-z2PtQ0HO-MtCkcUKIVEEVIEZ4fygLQpyotXghB02tHr8ggSXjnetCesKo7qhS-v_uQOIE1ZmtbxQ5G_Taye0xTnhCKQiFDXtHsfxugkFIYLAKJI-PbCtiEfGfK4/s320/Screenshot%202023-11-02%20094724.png" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p>Like Sherlock Holmes, Brett will remain ever-ingrained in our minds as he looked during that glorious decade of the Granada series. His Sherlock Holmes, to borrow a phrase from Vincent Starrett, "can never die."</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="background-color: white; color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Merriweather; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">More Jeremy Brett from IHOSE:</h3><div style="background-color: white;"><ul><li style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://ihose.co/ihose201" rel="nofollow" style="color: #013fd3; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Episode 201: Remembering Jeremy Brett</a> (interview with <i>Bending the Willow</i> author David Stuart Davies)</li><li style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><a href="https://ihose.co/ihose203" rel="nofollow" style="color: #013fd3; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Episode 203: The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast</a> (interview with Gus and Luke Holwerda)</li><li style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><i>New Book - <a href="https://www.ihearofsherlock.com/2020/07/new-jeremy-brett-book-on-kickstarter.html#.Y1qgCXbMLb0" rel="nofollow" style="color: #013fd3; font-weight: bold; text-decoration-line: none;" target="_blank">Jeremy Brett: Playing a Part</a></i></li></ul><h3 style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Merriweather; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 21px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 10px;">For Your Shopping List</h3><ul><li style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><i><a href="https://amzn.to/3TXISeh" rel="nofollow" style="color: #484848; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Series [Blu ray]</a></i> (12-disc set of remastered episodes from Granada)</li><li style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><i><b><a href="https://amzn.to/47crKaH" rel="nofollow">Granada's Greatest Detective</a></b></i> by Keith Frankel</li><li style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><i><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/93253/9781787055902" target="_blank">Jeremy Brett: Playing a Part</a></i> by Maureen Whittaker</li><li style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><i><a href="https://bookshop.org/a/93253/9781787056688" target="_blank">Jeremy Brett IS Sherlock Holmes</a></i> by Maureen Whittaker</li><li><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="color: #0e0e0e;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i><b><a href="https://amzn.to/3FFLpnw" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">A Sherlock Holmes album: A centenary celebration of Sherlock Holmes, 1887-1987 (Granada companion)</a></b></i></span></span></li></ul><span style="color: #0e0e0e;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"> </span></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3UOTIW83oXs?si=-GC6UnocRaVSanfY" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe></div><div style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #0e0e0e; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"><br /></div> <script src="https://bookshop.org/widgets.js" data-type="book" data-affiliate-id="93253" data-sku="9781787056688"></script> </div><script type="text/javascript"> amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "onamzscottmon-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "manual"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_design = "enhanced_links"; amzn_assoc_asins = "B0007BUYN0"; amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "2c1c6f5fa9a5bb071dc5fc89fbe7b119"; </script> <script src="//z-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/onejs?MarketPlace=US"></script>

Jeremy Brett Would Have Been 90 Years Old Today

 “your celebrated friend” [NAVA]  On November 3, 1933 Peter Jeremy William Huggins at Berkswell Grange in Berkswell, West Midlands. He would...

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by Scott Monty

What Is Your Favorite Jeremy Brett Episode?

<h4 style="text-align: center;">“I have my old favourite” [3GAR]  </h4><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJFTGIk3rZjWXMQJmKvC5xZ9UnXKtj8-eA7Rr74Fgh7ZZqjM0qG1sgaTFksviB3IGd2-8H0hCuo8uvnx7PFZdOEwwKH7JqZCkaFVY4jAH0MKhytsO5Q4vKRQjH0Y2EEkw9vLZtc0-Ctpg_mkjJvwxPhGYSyhAhrnx-pM-qaRDULMaunTVw5DK_R6QUYA-B/s1280/Jeremy%20Brett%20David%20Burke%20Baker%20Street.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="1280" height="389" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJFTGIk3rZjWXMQJmKvC5xZ9UnXKtj8-eA7Rr74Fgh7ZZqjM0qG1sgaTFksviB3IGd2-8H0hCuo8uvnx7PFZdOEwwKH7JqZCkaFVY4jAH0MKhytsO5Q4vKRQjH0Y2EEkw9vLZtc0-Ctpg_mkjJvwxPhGYSyhAhrnx-pM-qaRDULMaunTVw5DK_R6QUYA-B/w640-h389/Jeremy%20Brett%20David%20Burke%20Baker%20Street.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>It's hard to believe, but next year — 2024 — will mark the 40th anniversary of the premiere of <i><a href="https://amzn.to/45t1YO6" target="_blank">The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</a></i> by Granada TV.</p><p>The series was part of a resurgence of Sherlock Holmes interest that carried over from the 1970s, with <i><a href="https://amzn.to/3RRs8Xx" target="_blank">The Seven Per-Cent Solution</a></i> in 1976 and <i><a href="https://amzn.to/48WEkwy" target="_blank">Murder By Decree</a></i> in 1979.</p><p>Then, the early 1980s featured not one but two productions of <i>The Hound of the Baskervilles</i> — one starring Tom Baker and another starring Ian Richardson, who also followed with a version of <i>The Sign of Four</i>.</p><p>But it was Michael Cox's production efforts on behalf of Granada TV that resulted in one of the most iconic Sherlock Holmes portrayals of the era. Starring Jeremy Brett as Sherlock Holmes and David Burke as Dr. Watson (portrayed by Edward Hardwicke in later episodes), we were treated to lavish productions that were mostly faithful to the original stories, with set designs, costumes, and locations that made the stories spring from the page.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Vote Here</h3><p>And to celebrate the 40th anniversary, our friends at <i>Sherlock Holmes Magazine</i> have commissioned <a href="https://www.sherlockholmesmag.co.uk/granada-holmes-poll" target="_blank">a poll</a> in which they ask us to <a href="https://www.sherlockholmesmag.co.uk/granada-holmes-poll" target="_blank">vote for the greatest Granada Sherlock Holmes episode</a>.<span style="color: white; font-family: enriqueta, serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">e</span><br /><br />The results will be published in the Spring 2024 issue of <i>Sherlock Holmes Magazine</i>.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Related:</h3><p>While we have you here, you can <a href="https://ihose.co/ihose206" target="_blank">listen to the interview with Adrian Braddy</a>, founder and editor of <i>Sherlock Holmes Magazine</i>.</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="" data-dashlane-frameid="924" data-dashlane-rid="4c44f84e5497aa56" data-form-type="other" height="192" mozallowfullscreen="true" msallowfullscreen="true" oallowfullscreen="true" scrolling="no" src="https://play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/17213351/height/192/theme/modern/size/large/thumbnail/yes/custom-color/414851/time-start/00:00:00/playlist-height/200/direction/backward/download/yes" style="border: none;" title="Embed Player" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="100%"></iframe></p><p><br /></p><p>And why not <a href="https://ihose.co/ihose203" target="_blank">hear how Gus and Luke Holwerda produce their show</a>, <i>The Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes Podcast</i>?</p><p><iframe allowfullscreen="" data-dashlane-frameid="928" data-dashlane-rid="6d780de6eb9ee892" data-form-type="other" height="192" mozallowfullscreen="true" msallowfullscreen="true" oallowfullscreen="true" scrolling="no" src="https://play.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/16622513/height/192/theme/modern/size/large/thumbnail/yes/custom-color/60011c/time-start/00:00:00/playlist-height/200/direction/backward/download/yes" style="border: none;" title="Embed Player" webkitallowfullscreen="true" width="100%"></iframe></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>

What Is Your Favorite Jeremy Brett Episode?

“I have my old favourite” [3GAR]   It's hard to believe, but next year — 2024 — will mark the 40th anniversary of the premiere of The Ad...

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by Scott Monty

Sherlock Holmes and the $64,000 Question

<h4 style="text-align: center;"> “It was sixty-four” [MUSG]</h4><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8rWN9rpkCLaimKzE8mfYe2Td0wVpnuiDSPwR9Uk673eh3uwqHA1lO96AM9HgScrTCgtYafxnJchSkplKJhoEu3nnnzIhUlvIWGKlhOpPkuTNnZwxz81BEoh1AmbE58iWUuJR5oKBqGzecfQhn2H7_-ipvj4r98QIbffg-tyrjrMyC3KXNXWktbwiVIrnL" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" data-original-height="692" data-original-width="911" height="486" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi8rWN9rpkCLaimKzE8mfYe2Td0wVpnuiDSPwR9Uk673eh3uwqHA1lO96AM9HgScrTCgtYafxnJchSkplKJhoEu3nnnzIhUlvIWGKlhOpPkuTNnZwxz81BEoh1AmbE58iWUuJR5oKBqGzecfQhn2H7_-ipvj4r98QIbffg-tyrjrMyC3KXNXWktbwiVIrnL=w640-h486" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Screengrab via <a href="https://youtu.be/Ytu4-oFPv48" target="_blank">YouTube</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />If you listened to <a href="https://ihose.co/trifles343" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Episode 343</a> of the <b><i>Trifles </i></b>podcast, "<a href="https://ihose.co/trifles343" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Canonical Sevens</a>," you'll know that the episode was inspired by Ruth Buchholtz's article "Seventy-Seven Canonical Sevens" from <i>The Baker Street Journal</i>.<p></p><p><br /><iframe allow="autoplay" frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1575275797&color=%23af6ac0&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true" width="100%"></iframe></p><div style="color: #cccccc; font-family: Interstate, "Lucida Grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", "Lucida Sans", Garuda, Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: 100; line-break: anywhere; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; word-break: normal;"><a href="https://soundcloud.com/sherlockholmes-trifles" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Sherlock Holmes: Trifles">Sherlock Holmes: Trifles</a> · <a href="https://soundcloud.com/sherlockholmes-trifles/canonical-sevens" style="color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Canonical Sevens">Canonical Sevens</a></div><p></p><p>Ruth was described as a contestant on "The $64,000 Challenge" [sic], having gone up against Bobbiye [sic] O'Rourke.</p><p>In the summer of 1956 millions of American viewers were glued to their television sets as, week-by-week, Air Force Captain Thomas O'Rourke and his wife Bobbye, answered questions about Sherlock Holmes on NBC's "The $64,000 Question."</p><p>We <a href="https://mediaburn.org/video/the-64000-question-the-buick-berle-show/" target="_blank">unearthed an archival clip of the show</a> in which Mrs. O'Rourke and her husband complete their heart-stopping journey. </p><p style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/228100999?h=b5dde4cb41" title="vimeo-player" width="640"></iframe></p><p>Spoiler: they win $32,000 each.</p><p>Can you imagine being <i>paid </i>to showcase your knowledge of Sherlock Holmes?</p><div>If you'd like to try your hand at the questions without watching the video, <a href="https://www.patreon.com/posts/86750224" target="_blank">we've got all of them on Patreon</a>. Just click through for access.</div><div><br /></div><div>Alternatively, you can find them all in Peter Haining's <i><a href="https://affiliates.abebooks.com/c/2670720/77416/2029?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abebooks.com%2Fservlet%2FSearchResults%3Fsts%3Dt%26cm_sp%3DSearchF-_-home-_-Results%26tn%3DA%2520Sherlock%2520Holmes%2520Companion%26an%3DHaining" target="_blank">A Sherlock Holmes Companion</a></i>, published in 1980.</div><div><br /></div>

Sherlock Holmes and the $64,000 Question

 “It was sixty-four” [MUSG] Screengrab via YouTube If you listened to Episode 343 of the Trifles podcast, " Canonical Sevens ," y...

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by Scott Monty