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Sherlock Holmes (1951 TV series)

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No. of seasons
  
1

Producer(s)
  
Ian Atkins

Original network
  
BBC Television Service

Final episode date
  
1 December 1951

Number of seasons
  
1

7.3/10
IMDb

No. of episodes
  
6 Episode list

Running time
  
35 min.

First episode date
  
20 October 1951

Network
  
BBC One

Written by
  
C. A. Lejeune

Starring
  
Alan WheatleyRaymond FrancisEric MaturinIris Vandeleur

Similar
  
Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd, Neon Rider, Bret Maverick, The Yellow Rose, Young Sherlock: The Myst

Sherlock holmes unsold tv pilot 1951 the man who disappeared w john longden


Sherlock Holmes (a.k.a. We Present Alan Wheatley as Mr Sherlock Holmes in...) was a 1951 television series produced by the BBC featuring Alan Wheatley as Sherlock Holmes, Raymond Francis as Dr. Watson and Eric Maturin as Colonel Moran. This was the first series of Sherlock Holmes stories adapted for television.

Contents

The case of the cunningham heritage ep 1 1


Production

Some sources state that a BBC filmed adaptation of "The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone" (which aired on 29 July 1951) starring Andrew Osborn as Holmes and Philip King as Watson was a pilot episode for the series while others claim the "Mazarin Stone" adaptation was a separate thing entirely and was filmed for the Festival of Britain.

Series star Alan Wheatley claimed that the genesis of the series resided with a review of his performance in a television adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's Rope.

C. A. Lejeune gave me a marvelous notice in the Observer and she finished up by saying, "If the BBC have got any sense they will commission a series of Sherlock Holmes stories and ask Alan Wheatley to play Sherlock Holmes." So the BBC, very unlike them, took this up and wrote to her and said, "All right, if you will do the scripts we will do the series," and that's how they came to be done...

C. A. Lejeune did indeed pen the scripts, writing all six episodes. Lejeune claimed the series strived for accuracy noting the first episode as "the first of many adaptations to trumpet canonical authenticity as the sine qua non for essays into Holmesesian lore."

In an interview for Radio Times, Lejeune stated "we picked the stories that seemed likely to give a variety of subject, while rounding out the portrait of the man..."

Each 35 minute episode was aired live and consequently no tapes exist of the series to date. Live television had its pitfalls of which Wheatley later complained.

I must say I found it the most difficult thing to speak I've ever done in the whole of my career. Unfortunately, Miss Lejeune also did some things that are just not possible - technical things like not allowing enough time for changes. You see, television was live in those days, and in one particular scene she finished up with a sentence from me, and opened the next scene also with a sentence from me, in heavy disguise, with no time at all for a change!

Cast

  • Alan Wheatley as Sherlock Holmes (6 episodes)
  • Raymond Francis - Dr. Watson (6 episodes)
  • Iris Vandeleur - Mrs. Hudson (5 episodes)
  • Bill Owen - Inspector Lestrade (4 episodes)
  • Donald Kemp - PC Barker (3 episodes)
  • Pamela Barnard - 1st Nursemaid (3 episodes)
  • Sebastian Cabot - Jabez Wilson (1 episode)
  • Alan Judd - King of Bohemia (1 episode)
  • Stanley Van Beers - Inspector Forrester (1 episode)
  • Olga Edwardes - Irene Adler (1 episode)
  • Alvys Maben - Lady Hilda Trelawney Hope (1 episode)
  • Eric Maturin - Colonel Moran (1 episode)
  • Henry Oscar - Mr. Culverton Smith (1 episode)
  • Martin Starkie - Vincent Spaulding (1 episode)
  • H.G. Stoker - Colonel Hayter (1 episode)
  • Larry Burns - Duncan Ross (1 episode)
  • Clement Hamelin - Tall thin man (1 episode)
  • Thomas Heathcote - Alec Cunningham (1 episode)
  • John Robinson - Mr. Trelawney Hope (1 episode)
  • John Stevens - Godfrey Norton (1 episode)
  • Beckett Bould - Mr. Cunningham (1 episode)
  • Arthur Goullet - Mr. Merryweather (1 episode)
  • John Le Mesurier - Eduardo Lucas (1 episode)
  • Michael Raghan - Old cabby (1 episode)
  • J. Leslie Frith - The Premier (1 episode)
  • Victor Platt - PC Perkins (1 episode)
  • Nicholas Tannar - Hopeful applicant (1 episode)
  • Iris Williams - 2nd Nursemaid (1 episode)
  • Clarence Bigge - Butler (1 episode)
  • Christopher Hodge - Rejected applicant (1 episode)
  • Sam Kydd - Unimpressed onlooker (1 episode)
  • Betty Turner - Housekeeper (1 episode)
  • Tony Burton - 1st Errand boy (1 episode)
  • Gordon Phillott - Mr. Acton (1 episode)
  • Meadows White - Ostler (1 episode)
  • Vernon Gibb - Ostler (1 episode)
  • Eddie Sutch - 2nd Errand boy (1 episode)
  • John Vere - Butler (1 episode)
  • John Fitzgerald - Ostler (1 episode)
  • Max Barrett (1 episode)
  • John Boddington (1 episode)
  • Geoffrey Chater (1 episode)
  • Eric Dodson (1 episode)
  • Alexis Milne (1 episode)
  • Florence Viner (1 episode)
  • Edmond Warwick (1 episode)
  • Reception

    The 23 October 1951 issue of The Times said "The performance was done in a proper spirit of seriousness. Mr Alan Wheatley, though rather younger and fuller in the face than the Holmes of his opponents' nightmares, yet catches the essential character."

    References

    Sherlock Holmes (1951 TV series) Wikipedia