Prompt – A book with a title with more than twenty characters
Medium – Book
About the Book – Keith Frankel tells the ‘behind the scenes’ story of the Granada production of ‘Sherlock Holmes, filmed in the 1980s and 1990s. The incomparable Jeremy Brett played the role of Sherlock Holmes, alongside David Burke (seasons 1-2) and Edward Hardwicke (season 3 onwards) as Watson. The book tells the stories behind the episodes, including the casting of supporting actors, the choices made with adapting the stories and the gradual decline of Jeremy Brett as he fought through mental and physical health issues. Each episode is examined in detail, with it being analysed in its contemporary and historical context.
My Rating – 8.5/10. I love Sherlock Holmes, and as much as I adore Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal of the detective, ‘my’ Holmes is the one played by Jeremy Brett. He was fantastic at taking the character and portraying him with all the quirks and eccentricity of Doyle’s character, as well as his inherent humanity. Similarly, ‘my’ Watson is the one played by David Burke and latterly, Edward Hardwicke – clever, kind and well-educated, with the spirit of adventure and the long-suffering but still feisty nature that the Great Detective would have appreciated. This book takes a look at each of the episodes in detail, and charts the rise of the programme from its heady beginnings to its sadly uninspiring end.
I really enjoyed the ‘sound bites’ for each episode from the cast and crew – those helped me to think about the people behind the programme, but didn’t take away the magic – in fact, I am looking forward to re-watching all the shows again to re-acquaint myself with the brilliance! I think the sound bites also allowed me to get a better feel of the actors as well – to see Jeremy Brett, for example, as his own man, rather than just as Holmes. The added inserts about the political context within the organisation were also fascinating, and gave lots of light bulb moments about why things were the way that they were in the adaptations (i.e. why the adaptation of the Hound of the Baskervilles is so (for want of a better term) shoddy and why they re-used clips in some parts of the programmes). I’ve knocked some points off because I think that some of the analyses of the episodes are too subjective. There are also a few spelling mistakes!
Would I read it again? Definitely – I have a lot of books about films and TV so the book is going straight in that collection!
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