The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (TV Series)

The Red Headed League (1985)

Jeremy Brett: Sherlock Holmes

Quotes 

• Sherlock Holmes : I never guess.

• Sherlock Holmes : [about Inspector Jones]  He is an absolute imbecile at his profession but he does have the tenacity of a lobster when he gets his claws into someone.

• [first lines] 

  Sherlock Holmes : Hm!

  Dr. John Watson : [entering]  Oh. Sorry, Holmes.

  Sherlock Holmes : No no. You couldn't have come at a better time.

  Dr. John Watson : Well, I was, I was afraid you were engaged.

  Sherlock Holmes : I am. Very much so.

• Sherlock Holmes : He himself was educated at Eton and Oxford, so, Watson - bring the gun.

• Dr. John Watson : What are you going to do?

  Sherlock Holmes : To smoke. It is quite a three-pipe problem, and I beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes.

• Sherlock Holmes : Watson, we are spies in an enemy's territory.

• Sherlock Holmes : Excellent, Watson. You have a future as a cartographer.

• Sherlock Holmes : You, sir, should know, being not only the resident manager but also the director.

  Mr. Merryweather : I should know and I do know!

• [last lines] 

  Sherlock Holmes : Sometimes I think my whole life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence.

  Dr. John Watson : No no, you are a benefactor of the race, Holmes.

  Sherlock Holmes : Well, maybe it is of some little use after all. "L'homme c'est rien - l'oeuvre c'est tout," as Gustave Flaubert wrote to Georges Sand. Hm?

• Sherlock Holmes : [talking of John Clay]  His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself was educated at Eaton and Oxford. So Watson, bring the gun.

• Sherlock Holmes : Now I begin to think my reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I am so candid. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico.'

  Dr. John Watson : [to Mr. Wilson]  Everything becomes commonplace by explanation.

  Sherlock Holmes : Watson, that is a very loose translation!