This gaslight crime anthology from Thames Television showcased a number of detective contemporaries and competitors of Sherlock Holmes, such as R. Austin Freeman’s forensic expert Dr Thorndyke (John Neville); Ernest Bramah’s blind detective Max Carrados (Robert Stephens); E. Phillip Oppenheim’s Laxworthy (Bernard Hepton); Palle Rosenkratz’s Danish policeman Holst (John Thaw); and William Le Queux’s William Drew (Derek Jacobi).
The detectives featured in suitably Victorian/Edwardian atmosphere-drenched self-contained cases.
Other actors who appeared in the series included Donald Pleasence, Peter Vaughan, John Nettleton, Charles Lloyd Pack, Judy Geeson, Michele Dotrice, Donald Sinden, Charles Gray, Ronald Fraser, Michael Bates, Paul Eddington, Joss Ackland, Una Stubbs, Richard Beckinsale, Jean Marsh, James Bolam, Catherine Schell, Windsor Davies and Jeremy Irons.
The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes was based on a collection of detective stories compiled by Sir Hugh Greene, brother of Graham Greene and sometime Director-General of the BBC.
