When Jeremy Brett first appeared as Sherlock Holmes in the mid 1980's he came as a breath of fresh air. Since the 1940's Basil Rathbone had been the "definitive" Holmes (even though he only appeared in two period adventures, and only one of those a Doyle original - 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'). Jeremy Brett's Holmes was a revelation: energetic, theatrical and cerebral. The screenplays were generally faithful to the source material and the production values very handsome.
In this final series those virtues have been lost. What were originally two separate stories are clumsily welded together for one episode. In 'The Mazarin Stone' (which has 'The Three Garridebs' thrown in) Sherlock barely appears (was Jeremy Brett too ill to perform?) and is replaced by his brother Mycroft. Worse still, Mycroft acts completely out of character and becomes far too energetically involved in the case.
The quality of the production is also down to the level of a standard period detective series. Compare 'The Cardboard Box' with earlier episodes such as 'Silver Blaze' with its glorious location work and you will see the difference. The supporting casts are equally colourless. There is no-one with the magnificent malevolence of Eric Porter's Moriarty. John Hallam in the 'The Red Circle' is a pantomime villain by comparison and totally fails to convince us he is a vicious Italian gangster.
It seems almost cruel to add that Jeremy Brett was now too ill to summon up the energy and dynamism that made his first outings as Holmes so wonderful, but unfortunately it is the truth. It would have wiser, and kinder, on the part of the producers to have left us with a Holmes at the peak of his powers.
In this final series those virtues have been lost. What were originally two separate stories are clumsily welded together for one episode. In 'The Mazarin Stone' (which has 'The Three Garridebs' thrown in) Sherlock barely appears (was Jeremy Brett too ill to perform?) and is replaced by his brother Mycroft. Worse still, Mycroft acts completely out of character and becomes far too energetically involved in the case.
The quality of the production is also down to the level of a standard period detective series. Compare 'The Cardboard Box' with earlier episodes such as 'Silver Blaze' with its glorious location work and you will see the difference. The supporting casts are equally colourless. There is no-one with the magnificent malevolence of Eric Porter's Moriarty. John Hallam in the 'The Red Circle' is a pantomime villain by comparison and totally fails to convince us he is a vicious Italian gangster.
It seems almost cruel to add that Jeremy Brett was now too ill to summon up the energy and dynamism that made his first outings as Holmes so wonderful, but unfortunately it is the truth. It would have wiser, and kinder, on the part of the producers to have left us with a Holmes at the peak of his powers.