Confession: After decades of loving both their movies and radio shows together, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce ARE Holmes and Watson to me (although Doyle's Watson was never the bumbler the writers had Bruce portray him as) to the point that I even resisted other actors in those roles. Until now.
I started watching this TV series on YouTube a few weeks ago and while Rathbone and Bruce still hold my virtual crowns, Ronald Howard and H. Marion Crawford have both charmed me after almost a dozen episodes. The series is much lighter and less dour than the Rathbone/Bruce collaborations could be and while some episodes are nothing close to Grammy material, others are quite decent. As others here have mentioned, Howard and Crawford work very well together and seem to be having fun with their roles. Howard is a younger and more buoyant Holmes than Rathbone and (a real bonus) Crawford's Watson is much closer to what Doyle seemed to have in mind: a step behind Holmes, yes, but nobody's fool and more colleague than subservient. They really carry the series even with the hit-or-miss writing they worked with. Archie Duncan does fine as Lestrade despite HIS role being written as a perpetual bumbler instead of Watson. The fact that episodes are set in Victorian times is a plus...no Nazi-chasing here.
If you're expecting the serious, sometimes darker version of Holmes as portrayed by Rathbone (who grew to hate the role because he was typecast by it) plus myriad plot twists, you won't find that here. What you will find is a more fun version sans plot twists because a 30-minute show is too tight for heavy intrigue. Just give it three episodes for a fair chance because, as mentioned, some scripts are simply not very good (the Texas Cowgirl episode being eminently avoidable altogether). It took three to win me over and I'm glad it did.
I started watching this TV series on YouTube a few weeks ago and while Rathbone and Bruce still hold my virtual crowns, Ronald Howard and H. Marion Crawford have both charmed me after almost a dozen episodes. The series is much lighter and less dour than the Rathbone/Bruce collaborations could be and while some episodes are nothing close to Grammy material, others are quite decent. As others here have mentioned, Howard and Crawford work very well together and seem to be having fun with their roles. Howard is a younger and more buoyant Holmes than Rathbone and (a real bonus) Crawford's Watson is much closer to what Doyle seemed to have in mind: a step behind Holmes, yes, but nobody's fool and more colleague than subservient. They really carry the series even with the hit-or-miss writing they worked with. Archie Duncan does fine as Lestrade despite HIS role being written as a perpetual bumbler instead of Watson. The fact that episodes are set in Victorian times is a plus...no Nazi-chasing here.
If you're expecting the serious, sometimes darker version of Holmes as portrayed by Rathbone (who grew to hate the role because he was typecast by it) plus myriad plot twists, you won't find that here. What you will find is a more fun version sans plot twists because a 30-minute show is too tight for heavy intrigue. Just give it three episodes for a fair chance because, as mentioned, some scripts are simply not very good (the Texas Cowgirl episode being eminently avoidable altogether). It took three to win me over and I'm glad it did.