Sherlock Holmes and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (a.k.a. The Cases of Sherlock Holmes) are two British series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations for television produced by the BBC in 1965 and 1968 respectively. The 1965 production, which followed a pilot the year before, was the second BBC series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations, after one starring Alan Wheatley in 1951. The role of Holmes was played by Douglas Wilmer in 1965, and Peter Cushing in 1968. Nigel Stock starred in both series as Dr. Watson.

Plot Set in the Victorian era (1837-1901), Sherlock Holmes is a brilliant consultant detective, as well as a private detective. He is consulted by the police and by other private detectives to aid them in solving crimes. He also takes private cases himself, and his clients range from paupers to kings. His deductive abilities and encyclopedic knowledge help him solve the most complex cases. He is assisted in his work by the military veteran, Dr. John Watson, with whom he shares a flat at 221B Baker Street.

Cast Douglas Wilmer - Sherlock Holmes (1964–1965) Peter Cushing - Sherlock Holmes (1968) Nigel Stock - Doctor Watson (1964–1968)

Recurring Mary Holder (1964)/Enid Lindsey (1965, 3 episodes) - Mrs. Hudson Grace Arnold - Mrs. Hudson (1968, 8 episodes) Peter Madden - Inspector Lestrade (1965, 6 episodes) (Madden would also portray Bill McCarthy in the 1968 series adaptation of "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" and Von Tirpitz in The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes in 1970) William Lucas - Inspector Lestrade (1968, 2 episodes) George A. Cooper - Inspector Gregson (1968, 2 episodes)

Guest stars David Burke - Sir George Burnwell in "The Beryl Coronet" (portrayed Dr Watson in the first two series of Granada's 1980's series Sherlock Holmes) Edward Hardwicke - Davenport in "The Greek Interpreter" (portrayed Dr Watson in the remaining series of the Granada series, after Burke left the role.) Frank Middlemass - Peterson in "The Blue Carbuncle" (portrayed Henry Baker in the 1984 Granada adaptation of the same story, and Dr Froelich in Sherlock Holmes and the Leading Lady) Ballard Berkeley — portrayed two roles in the series opposite the two Holmes actors: Sir James Damery in "The Illustrious Client" (1965) and Sir Charles Baskerville in "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (1968).

Production Development In 1964, the BBC secured rights to adapt any five Sherlock Holmes stories with an option for a further eight from the Doyle estate. A handful of Doyle's stories were excluded from the deal: The Hound of the Baskervilles because Hammer Films' rights would not expire until 1965 following their 1959 film adaptation, and "A Scandal in Bohemia", "The Final Problem" and "The Adventure of the Empty House" which had been secured by producers of the Broadway musical Baker Street.

In 1964, an adaptation of "The Adventure of the Speckled Band" was commissioned as a pilot for a twelve part series of Sherlock Holmes stories. Giles Cooper wrote the adaptation and Douglas Wilmer was cast as Holmes and Nigel Stock as Watson, with Felix Felton as Dr. Grimesby Roylott.

The hour-long pilot was aired as an episode of the BBC anthology series Detective on 18 May and was popular enough to re-air on 25 September this time under the banner of Encore which was a BBC2 repeat slot.

Wilmer and Stock were secured for a twelve part series (in black-and-white) to air the following year. Wilmer was a lifelong fan of Doyle's stories and looked forward to portraying the legendary sleuth.

Wilmer responded to criticism of his portrayal by pointing out that he played the character as written.

Once the series was underway, new opening and closing titles of The Speckled Band were recorded to better match the ongoing series so the pilot episode could be included in a package to be sold abroad. It has been reported that having viewed 25 September repeat of The Speckled Band, Wilmer came to the conclusion that his performance of Holmes was "too smooth, urbane, and civilised" and as filming progressed Wilmer altered his performance to reflect "a much more primitive person, more savage and ruthless." Wilmer himself disputed this in a 2009 interview.

At the time, due to strict agreements with the talent unions, BBC drama productions could generally only be repeated once within two years of the first transmission, and thus all twelve episodes were re-run over the late summer and early autumn of 1966, albeit in a different running order. The continued favourable reception led the BBC to proceed with the option of a second series.

Hiatus and changing lead In the late summer and early autumn of 1966, the Wilmer series was granted a repeat run and the success of the run convinced the BBC to take up an option on a second run of episodes. BBC television drama chief Andrew Osborn contacted Wilmer's agent about potential availability for a second series. Wilmer declined the invitation after discovering the plan to reduce the number of rehearsal days. Wilmer later stated that the series was "fraught with difficulty", riddled with incompetence and the scripts often came in late. He claimed that the scriptwriters ranged from "the brilliant to the absolutely deplorable". Some of the scripts were so lacking in quality that Wilmer himself rewrote them, sometimes staying up until two o'clock in the morning rewriting. Years later, Wilmer would briefly return to the role (albeit in a supporting role) in Gene Wilder's The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother, with Thorley Walters as Dr. Watson.

The BBC searched for a new actor to play Holmes. The first person Osborn suggested was John Neville. Neville had previously assayed the role in A Study in Terror (1965) and Nigel Stock felt the film was quite good. Neville had prior commitments to the Nottingham Playhouse and was unable to appear in a series at the time.

Next, Osborn looked at Eric Porter. While Porter ultimately did not get the role, he did portray Professor Moriarty opposite Jeremy Brett's Holmes in Granada Television's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

While the hunt continued for a new Sherlock Holmes, William Sterling was appointed to produce the second series. Sterling created a wish list of "International Guest Stars" to appear on the programme including Raymond Massey (an early interpreter of Holmes in the 1931 version of The Speckled Band) as Jefferson Hope in A Study in Scarlet, George Sanders as Mycroft Holmes in The Greek Interpreter, Leo McKern (who later portrayed Professor Moriarty in The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother) as Black Gorgiano in The Red Circle (though an adaptation of The Red Circle never took place in the series) and Hayley Mills as Alice Turner in The Boscombe Valley Mystery. None of which came to pass as the budgets would not allow for it.

Finally, Peter Cushing was approached to take over the role of Sherlock Holmes for the 1968 series. Having already played Holmes in the Hammer films adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959), Cushing was eager to play the role again. Like Wilmer, Cushing was an avid fan of Doyle and looked forward to portraying the detective correctly.

Unlike the Wilmer episodes, this series was produced in colour. Economic cut-backs required the production to abandon plans for celebrity villains such as Peter Ustinov, George Sanders, and Orson Welles.

The initial plan was for 90% of the programme to be shot on film on location. Production began with a two-part version of The Hound of the Baskervilles giving Cushing another go round at the tale. This version was the first actually filmed on Dartmoor and the cost ran £13,000 over budget causing the BBC to scale back their intentions and the bulk of the remainder of the series was shot on studio sets.

As filming continued Cushing found himself facing production difficulties the likes of which had prompted Wilmer to forgo another round. Wilmer summarised a later conversation with Cushing:

Filming time was cut back. Cushing stated that the hectic schedule affected his performance.

Twelve of the Cushing episodes except the episodes The Second Stain, The Greek Interpreter, Black Peter, and The Blue Carbuncle were repeated between July and September 1970, again in a different running order.

Episodes

Detective (1964)

overall Title Written by Directed by Original air date Status 1 "" Giles Cooper Robin Midgley 18 May 1964 Survives

Sherlock Holmes (1965) overall in series Title Written by Directed by Original air date Status 2 1 "" Giles Cooper Peter Sasdy 20 February 1965 Survives 3 2 "" Max Varnel 27 February 1965 4 3 "" Vincent Tilsley Gareth Davies 6 March 1965 5 4 "" Anthony Read Peter Duguid 13 March 1965 6 5 "" Clifford Witting Peter Cregeen 20 March 1965 First half missing; second half survives 7 6 "" Giles Cooper Gareth Davies 27 March 1965 Survives 8 7 "" Jan Read Eric Tayler 3 April 1965 9 8 "" Nicholas Palmer Max Varnel 10 April 1965 10 9 "" Giles Cooper Shaun Sutton 17 April 1965 First half survives; second half soundtrack only survives 11 10 "" Clifford Witting Philip Dudley 24 April 1965 Survives 12 11 "" Jan Read Michael Hayes 1 May 1965 13 12 "" Vincent Tilsley Shaun Sutton 8 May 1965

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes (1968) overall in series Title Written by Directed by Original air date Status 14 1 "" Jennifer Stuart Henri Safran 9 September 1968 Missing, audio soundtrack survives 15 2 "" Michael and Mollie Hardwick William Sterling 16 September 1968 Missing 16 3 "" Hugh Leonard Henri Safran 23 September 1968 Survives 17 4 " Graham Evans 30 September 1968 18 5 " 7 October 1968 19 6 "" Bruce Stewart Viktors Ritelis 14 October 1968 20 7 "" John Gould David Saire 21 October 1968 Missing 21 8 "" Antony Kearey 28 October 1968 22 9 "" Harry Moore 4 November 1968 23 10 "" Alexander Baron Viktors Ritelis 11 November 1968 24 11 "" Richard Harris Antony Kearey 18 November 1968 25 12 "" Alexander Baron Roger Jenkins 25 November 1968 26 13 "" Donald Tosh Bill Bain 2 December 1968 27 14 "" Stanley Miller Viktors Ritelis 9 December 1968 Missing, audio soundtrack survives 28 15 "" Michael and Mollie Hardwick William Sterling 16 December 1968 Survives 29 16 "" Stanley Miller Bill Bain 23 December 1968

Planned continuation The Cushing series of 1968 was a success and the BBC's Andrew Osborn was interested in making a third series. Had this third series commenced, the plan was to dramatise stories from The Exploits of Sherlock Holmes, a short story collection written by Adrian Conan Doyle and John Dickson Carr, but was not eventually made.

Unused scripts

1965: "Charles Augustus Milverton" (different adaptation) "The Red-Headed League" (different adaptation) "The Blue Carbuncle" (different adaptation to 1968 version) "The Three Garridebs" "The Priory School" "The Boscombe Valley Mystery" (different adaptation to 1968 version) "The Golden Pince-Nez" "The Sussex Vampire"

1968: "The Hound of the Baskervilles" (two episodes, different adaptation) "The Musgrave Ritual" (different adaptation) "Wisteria Lodge" (different adaptation) "The Red Circle"

Missing episodes