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In 1985, Spielberg’s Young Sherlock Holmes billed itself as an “affectionate speculation” that addressed the question of what might have happened had Holmes and Watson first met at a boarding school. The ensuing mystery also introduces the young Moriarty and Inspector Lestrade. Holmes matures over the course of the action, acquiring a curly pipe and a deerstalker hat, and his doomed romance cleverly hints at why, in later life, he adopts a distant attitude toward women.

Holmes around the world

In the 1930s, the German film industry produced a number of Holmes movies, essentially adopting the character for use in a series of wild adventure films. The 1937 De Hund Von Baskerville, featuring a gun-toting Sherlock Holmes in a leather overcoat and flat cap, was a favorite of Adolf Hitler: in 1945, a copy of the movie was found in the Führer’s private collection in the Berghof, his mountain residence. In 1967, Germany produced a television series based on the scripts for the BBC’s Douglas Wilmer series, with stage actor Erich Schellow as a rather down-at-heel, drug-addicted version of the Baker Street sleuth.

Between 1979 and 1986, Soviet television screened a series of Sherlock Holmes films, split into 11 episodes. In 1986, a movie adaptation, The Twentieth Century Approaches, was made from the last four episodes. Produced by ❯❯

In Sherlock Holmes, Holmes can be seen Conan Doyle created a on televisions all over the world. He has appeared as

template that can be used

a puppet on Japanese TV.

in almost any art form or genre. Arguably, no other fictional character is so adaptable. The enduring flexibility of Holmes is itself a subject of study.

Holmes has been animated as a mouse, a duck, a bulldog, and even a cucumber. He has appeared in several manga series in Japan.

The great detective

has found his way into literary novels, comedy, and science fiction. In comics, he has teamed up with other Reimagined as a “contemporary dance detective show,” Holmes took to the stage at Moscow’s Natalya Sats Children’s Musical Theater.

More than 750 radio adaptations—in English alone—of the Holmes stories have been aired.

By 2015, Holmes

had starred in over 200 movies, played by 75 different actors. He is perhaps the most enduring screen character ever.

On the stage, Holmes has appeared in a “physical theater” production, a ballet, and two musicals, as well as numerous conventional plays.

fictional characters

Holmes and his world were the such as Batman. subject of board games in the 1980s and computer games in the 2000s.

334 THE WORLD OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Animated appearances

Some of the most eccentric depictions of Holmes have been made for children—in the form of cartoons. As early as 1946, Daffy Duck met the detective in “The Great Piggy Bank Robbery.” In 1986, Disney produced Basil, the Great Mouse Detective, who, along with his friend Dr. David

Q. Dawson, lived beyond the baseboards at 221B Baker Street. Professor Rattigan, their Moriarty-like adversary, was voiced by Vincent Price.

In the 1980s, Holmes’s ghost appeared in an episode of Scooby Doo, while in “Elementary, My Dear Turtle,” the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles enlisted Holmes’s help in thwarting Moriarty’s bid for world domination. In the 1999 US television series Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century, the detective was revived by a biologist to combat a clone of Moriarty; in order to assist him, Inspector Lestrade’s “compudroid” read Watson’s journals and assumed the doctor’s name, face, voice, and mannerisms. And in 2010, Holmes met Tom and Jerry in a full-length movie.

Lenfilm, the series featured Russian actors Vassily Livanov as Holmes and Vitaly Salomin as Watson; they were chosen for the “Englishness” of their appearance and for their likeness to the Paget drawings. The adaptations themselves remained very close to the original Conan Doyle plots, but tended to include a great deal of humor.

A definitive portrait?

During the 1980s and early 1990s, British actor Jeremy Brett gave what many consider to be the defining Holmes performance, in a series made by Granada Television. The intention was to create a truly authentic Holmes, and no actor before Brett had managed to embody so many of the attributes created by Conan Doyle. As Michael Cox, the series’ producer, observed, Brett “had the voice, the actor’s intelligence, the presence, the physique, the ability to jump over furniture, be convincing in a disguise, handle the horses, and whatever else that may be required.”

For millions of fans all around the world, Brett was Holmes. In his mesmerizing performance, the controlled eccentricities, the mannered delivery, and the furious outbursts combined to create an

I think people fall in love, not with Sherlock Holmes or with Dr. Watson, but with their friendship.

Steven Moffat

Co-writer of BBC’s Sherlock

Jeremy Brett portrayed Holmes in the 1984–1994 Granada Television series. The actor admitted that the role was “the hardest part I have ever played.”

enduring portrayal of the great detective. Brett was partnered by two excellent but contrasting Watsons: David Burke, who gave a sensitive and at times jovial performance, and then Edward Hardwicke, who inhabited the role for eight years, combining a strong sense of loyalty and tolerance with quiet authority.

Holmes in the 21st century

In the 21st century, the world’s fascination with the super sleuth of Baker Street is as strong as ever. In 2009 and 2011, two movies by British director Guy Ritchie presented an exaggerated, cartoonish, action-hero version of the great detective—played with anarchic relish by Robert Downey Jr.—with all his foibles and habits magnified or lampooned.

Meanwhile, on the small screen, two recent ventures have created a thoroughly modern reimagining of

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Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes (2009) is set in 1890s London. Robert Downey Jr. is a bohemian Holmes, while Jude Law is a tolerant, if often exasperated, Watson. A sequel was released in 2011.

the detective and his world. In Elementary, which had its US premier in 2012, Sherlock Holmes (played by British actor Jonny Lee Miller) is a recovering drug addict who helps the New York City Police Department solve crimes. His female Watson (Lucy Liu) is a former surgeon who is initially appointed as his sober companion (to prevent him from relapsing), but becomes a pupil of sorts when they begin to investigate cases together. Canonical characters, such as Moriarty and Irene Adler (who becomes Holmes’s lover), are gradually added to the mix and given unexpected twists.

Meanwhile, in the UK, a pair of self-confessed Sherlock Holmes fans, writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, conceived the notion of bringing Conan Doyle’s protagonists into a contemporary, high-tech London. The first series of Sherlock aired on the BBC in 2010, and its daring concept allowed the detective to manipulate modern technology in authentic Holmesian fashion to aid his investigations. He even has a website called “The Science of Deduction.”

The show has been hugely successful all over the world, especially with a younger audience. Its fast-paced, humorous, and intriguing plots are packed with references to the original stories, and its lead actors are also of similar ages to the literary Holmes and Watson when they first met. Benedict Cumberbatch’s Holmes is a geek, but despite his arrogance and, at times, lack of social skills, he is a fascinating individual. Martin Freeman’s Watson is a fragile mixture of independence of thought and unabashed loyalty to his friend. Indeed, his violent reaction to Holmes’s return after his “death” is more realistic than the rather tepid response of his literary counterpart. Andrew Scott’s Moriarty is perhaps the most chilling portrayal of the villain and a wonderful foil to Holmes.

Since he first appeared in print more than 125 years ago, Sherlock Holmes has been an almost constant presence in the media. Conan Doyle’s unstoppable creation has transcended literature to become a global phenomenon, continuing to fascinate and entertain fresh audiences. ■

The BBC television series Sherlock

brings Holmes and company firmly into the present day. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Holmes, while Martin Freeman’s Watson records their exploits in a blog.

THE MANY FACES OF HOLMES

E

ver since his first appearance on the page, Holmes has frequently been portrayed on stage and screen, with almost every decade offering new adaptations, adventures, and directions. It was Conan Doyle himself who initially penned the first Holmes-based drama, with his efforts later becoming the basis for William Gillette’s play, Sherlock Holmes (1899). Unlike the books and stories in which much of Holmes is left to the reader’s imagination, on screen in particular he is presented as a complete package—faults and all. While some portrayals are easily forgotten, many of the best, such as those of Rathbone, Cushing, Brett, and Cumberbatch have become the living embodiment of the great detective for successive generations.

SHERLOCK HOLMES

Stage (1899)

Originally written by Conan Doyle, the final version was reworked by William Gillette, who also directed and starred in the play. The story was based on material drawn from the canon, and despite Conan Doyle’s original misgivings, he consented to allow Holmes to be married. For Holmesians, this play marks an influential adaptation, since it introduced the detective’s now iconic bent briar pipe and his frequent use of a magnifying glass, and included the line, “Oh, this is elementary, my dear fellow.”

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Film (1921–1923)

This was a series of short, silent films, each based on one of Conan Doyle’s original stories; most are now lost. They starred English actor Eille Norwood, who, from the age of 60, made 47 films between 1921 and 1923, and was famous for his sharp features and piercing eyes. The films all stayed close to the originals, although there was no attempt at Victoriana—all were set in a London in which electricity, cars, and buses were the norm.

THE RETURN OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Film (1929)

This was the first sound-era Holmes movie—a so-called “talkie.” Paramount Pictures owned the rights to the characters of Holmes, Watson, and Moriarty but not to any specific story, so an original piece was concocted by borrowing various ideas from Conan Doyle. The movie presented the first of many dim-witted Watsons (here played by H. Reeves-Smith), and began with a murder via a trick cigarette case with a lethal needle—a device that Moriarty (Harry T. Morey) later tried to use on Holmes (Clive Brook). The closing lines of the movie also gave another first for Holmes: his trademark phrase, “Elementary, my dear Watson,” which was never uttered in the canon itself.

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

Film (1939)

This movie marked the first of Basil Rathbone’s fourteen outings as Holmes, establishing him as one of the key actors in the role. Watson was portrayed as likable but buffoonish by Nigel Bruce, with Richard Greene as the romantic lead, Sir Henry Baskerville. This was the first movie to be set in the Victorian period, and in which the actor playing Watson received equal billing with Holmes. Although the action followed the original plot, the great spectral hound simply appeared as a large dog.

THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

Film (1939)

“The strange case of the chinchilla fetish! The fiendish instrument that strangles, crushes, vanishes! The albatross of doom! The British crown jewels!” As the 20th Century Fox press release suggests, this

THE MANY FACES OF HOLMES 337

movie, starring Rathbone as Holmes, had an adventurous plot. An original piece, it was claimed to be based on Gillette’s 1899 play, Sherlock Holmes, in which Moriarty goads the detective, telling him of his plans for the crime of the century, for which Holmes would be discredited.

THE PEARL OF DEATH

Film (1944)

Starring Rathbone and Bruce as Holmes and Watson, this movie was one in a series of twelve made by Universal Studios. It was based on “The Adventure of the Six Napoleons,” and sees Holmes making a rare mistake—the loss of a famous, and seemingly cursed, pearl that he must then recover. The movies in the series were all made cheaply and quickly, with no attempt at period settings. They are particularly notable for the humor between Holmes and Watson, as well as their array of macabre elements. Other movies in the series include The Scarlet Claw (1944) and The Woman in Green (1945).

SHERLOCK HOLMES

Television (1953–1954)

Lost in the mists of television history, this American series was made with the cooperation of Conan Doyle’s son Adrian, who was eager to perpetuate his father’s franchise. Holmes was played by a youthful Ronald Howard (age 39), with Howard Marion Crawford as Watson. It was filmed in France, meaning that some of the London locations appear curiously Gallic. New, non-canonical plots were utilized that took aspects from Conan Doyle’s stories, with the scripts written by blacklisted Hollywood writers working in Europe. This was the only Holmes television series produced in the US until Elementary in 2012.

THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

Film (1959)

This adaptation was produced by a company celebrated for its Gothic horror outings—Hammer Films. True to form, the dark, gruesome elements found in Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles are graphically translated on screen. The cast included the classic pairing of Peter Cushing as Holmes and Christopher Lee as Sir Henry Baskerville. The movie was directed by Hammer’s signature director, Terence Fisher, who had already reenergized the company’s Frankenstein and Count Dracula franchises. It was the first of a projected series of movies that never materialized, although Cushing played Holmes again in later years.

A STUDY IN TERROR

Film (1965)

Directed by James Hill (better known for co-directing Born Free in 1966) this ingenious movie has Holmes hot on the trail of Jack the Ripper. The notorious murderer is terrorizing Victorian London’s East End, and the only clues are the crest of an aristocratic family and a box containing surgical instruments with the scalpel missing. Bizarrely, in the UK the movie was marketed as a violent and sexually graphic exploitation movie, while in the US it was sold as a camp, Batman-style comic-book caper. John Neville played a solid, energetic Holmes alongside Donald Houston as Watson.

SHERLOCK HOLMES

Television (1965–1968)

Produced by the BBC, this series initially cast Douglas Wilmer as a wry and amused Holmes. Like many of his fellow actors in the role, Wilmer bore a marked resemblance to the Sidney Paget illustrations in The Strand Magazine. He declined to do a second series, with the lead then going to Peter Cushing, himself a Holmesian, who had previously starred in Hammer’s The Hound of the Baskervilles in 1959. The series adapted many of the original stories, starting with “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” and extended to 29 episodes, the later Cushing shows being filmed in full color.