User Reviews

Given that Granada brought us this series, and that Granada also created the amazing Jeremy Brett series just a few years later, one might deduce that this would be an interesting, well- produced and imaginative production about Holmes' younger years.

One's conclusion would be truly erroneous, a misapplication of the general instance to the specific.

Pray take my advice, good reader, and spare yourself the torment of this series. The writing is lame, the cardboard characters and acting worthy of a bad soap opera. There is no subtlety to character or action. The dumb character is all dumb, the pompous character all pompous, the annoying character annoying. In places, characters are unaware of Holmes & companions snooping about even though they're ineptly hidden, and talking not-so-quietly in the same, otherwise quiet room. Suspense clichés are common: the bad guy is about to enter Holmes' hiding place for no apparent reason, but is interrupted at the last moment by the other bad guy who has an errand for him.

The mystery itself is fairly Holmesian: implausible and complex, but reasonably consistent. It's one of the few things this series didn't botch completely.

We also see the development of much of the Holmes that we know: although he already wears a cape in the start of the series, the trademark hat and a magnifying glass join him part way through; Moriarty's name is kicked around, and there's an suggested origin of Holmes' drug habit.

The series is one extended mystery, as opposed to eight individual stories. So, unfortunately, if you manage to suffer through 2 or 3 episodes thinking it will pick up, you're just setting yourself up to suffer through the remainder on a quest for a sense of completion. In retrospect, I should have given up and burned the media. My only consolation is that, having borrowed a copy, I didn't have to pay anything for it, though it probably wasn't even worth the gas to drive over to get and return it.