1 9 6 5Β (UK)
28 x 50 minute episodes
The adventures of the pipe-smoking Victorian detective were first filmed (for live transmission) by the BBC in 1951, in a version most notable for the future endeavours of its cast: Alan Wheatley (Holmes) went on to play the Sheriff of Nottingham in The Adventures of Robin Hood, Raymond Francis (Watson) starred inΒ No Hiding Place and, two decades later, Bill Owen (Lestrade) turned up as Compo inΒ Last Of The Summer Wine.
Returning to Conan Doyle’s books once more in 1964, the BBC produced a one-off (The Speckled Band) for theΒ DetectiveΒ anthology, following this up with a safely, safely series, with some levity introduced via an almost comically-bungling Watson.
The black-and-white series pleased the viewing audience and the BBC thought there was enough footage in the incompetent Watson idea to commission a second series in 1968, billed asΒ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.
For this ratings-topping outing, Douglas Wilmer was replaced as Holmes by Hammer star Peter Cushing.
Yet none of these BBC versions was remotely faithful to Conan Doyle’s dark portrait of Holmes as a half-mad, cocaine-snorting genius, and viewers had to wait until Jeremy Brett in TheΒ AdventuresΒ of Sherlock Holmes for a definitive, unsanitised version.
Sherlock Holmes
Douglas Wilmer (1)
Peter Cushing (2)
Dr Watson
Nigel Stock
Inspector Lestrade
Peter Madden